Author: Gainako

Gambian Movement for Democracy and Development (GMDD) condemn in the strongest terms the Government of President Yahya Jammeh celebrating the July, 22nd 1994 Coup D’etat and call for the Restoration of Genuine Democracy and end Dictatorship in The Gambia:Gambians, friends of the Gambia, Democratic Governments and Human Rights Organizations worldwide are hereby called upon to condemn in the strongest terms the (APRC) Government of President Yahya Jammeh on the day of July 22nd 1994 Coup D’etat, the day he among some junior undisciplined, noncommissioned officers of the Gambian national army seized the freedom of Gambians by over throwing a…

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The Gambia Consultative Council (GCC), an organization designed to raise awareness about the tyranny in The Gambia, unequivocally condemns the celebration of twenty years of senseless and merciless murder, executions, incarcerations, exile and forced disappearances of fellow citizens and non-citizens alike over the past two decades. The military regime, under Yahya Jammeh, has imposed the worst kind of dictatorship known to West Africa since the dawning of independence in the 1960s. In Gambia today, fear reigns, and the price of having an independent voice is stiff; ranging from incarceration, forced disappearance, exile and death. There is hardly a Gambian…

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By Sarjo Bayang Cost of burden in keeping Yaya Jammeh as president for 20 years Critical assessment of damage incurred by Yaya Jammeh since 1994 reveals true life loss in thousands. This evidence is clear to see without complicated mathematics required. Gambia has a population pegged at 2 million. Everyone lost 20 years of life time in waste moments. By proper accounting of real time values, the figure is even higher. Take 2 million as the compromised basis of counting. Total loss of time incurred means everyone having equal share of potentially productive time lost while one person makes…

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As we usher in yet another year of Yaya Jammeh’s brutal rule, CORDEG would like to express a heartfelt sympathy to all the families that have either lost loved ones, faced or continue to face persecution in the hands of this brutal regime. The sad reality is, not a single family in the Gambia, has gone untouched by Yaya Jammeh’s wrath- it has been a disastrous 20 years for Gambians. On this day of infamy, we urge all Gambians to take stock of the last two decades, and contemplate ways to remedy the situation- we do not deserve this madness. Let…

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History bears us witness that all progressive nations have had to go through periods of darkness. Some went through cycles of bitter wars; civil, political and religious and had to almost rebuild their societies from scratch. We do not have to look far into history to reference ample evidence to back our assertions. In fact some of the most progressive societies with full fledge existing democracies where freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are guaranteed to their people had to go through some of the ugliest of social, political and religious upheavals to get to where they are…

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By Mathew K. Jallow This is not another heart-wrenching narrative about the intoxicating barbarity, which the AFPRC military regime has foisted on the Gambia for the past twenty years. Far from it. It is a narrative about a struggle in much need of unanimity in action and a clear sense of direction. What brought Gambians around to this level of political discourse is a long, painful journey fraught with daunting pitfalls and seemingly intractable obstacles; often unanticipated and invisible, and sometimes deliberate and man-made. It is a learning process in which the cries of agony and the voices of acrimony constantly…

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Fatou Jaw-Manneh is a Gambian journalist and activist who received political asylum from the United States in 1994 and has lived in the U.S. ever since. She is a well-known member of the Gambian community in the U.S. and runs the popular news and politics website Maafanta.com.[1] She was the first female reporter at the Gambian Daily Observer[2] and is widely known as “Gambia’s Iron Lady” and the “Dame of the Flaming Pen.” During a visit to her native country in 2007, Jaw-Manneh was arrested and tried for sedition. Her arrest and trial were widely covered by international human…

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An August summit in Washington aims to take some modest steps toward an old dream. The journalist and Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey wrote a poem about it. The reggae great Bob Marley sang about it. And the Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi poured his oil wealth into it. But none lived to see a United States of Africa. This history of disappointed hopes will provide the backdrop in early August when President Barack Obama hosts the inaugural U.S.-Africa summit in Washington. Only a few of Africa’s 54 leaders—including Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who is still the target of U.S. sanctions—haven’t been invited.…

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Twenty years of Jammeh’s tyranny has dawned upon our beloved Gambia!  Since that infamous day of July 22, 1994, many have been unwavering, whether publicly or silently in the stance that Jammeh and his Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) would hinder progress and freedom for the Gambia, and put the country on the wrong trajectory. Throughout this period, we have witnessed an awakening of the Gambian people, and increased participation of our compatriots in the struggle to rescue our nation from the clutches of tyranny.  Although we made significant gains, we maintain that 20 years is too long to…

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  22 JULY 2014, WINDHOEK NAMIBIA – Today marks the 20th anniversary of the bloodless coup, which instated Yahya Jammeh as President of the Gambia. Often referred to as Africa’s last dictatorship, the Gambia is one of the most repressive States on the continent. On this significant anniversary, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) joins civil society organisations all over the world in urging President Yahya Jammeh to protect journalists, human rights and political activists by repealing legislative provisions that restrict freedom of expression, and immediately and unconditionally releasing all prisoners of conscience and those imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom…

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