By Demba Baldeh, Gainako Associate editor In any society that aspires to be democratic, the role of the three branches of government must be established and separated for the citizens to have their fair share of political representation. The constitutional line of separation of powers between the executive, the judiciary and the legislative is clearly drawn in the constitution so each institution can function on its own and serve as a checks and balance on the other. In the absent of those checks and balances as is the case in present day Gambia, power gets concentrated in the hands…
Author: Gainako
To err is human and the only people who don’t make mistakes are those doing nothing. To that effect we profoundly apologize for a story we carried this morning captioned “Ousman Jammeh a convicted felon rewarded with Public Service” detailing that former Secretary General Ousman Jammeh who was convicted of negligence and abuse of office and sentence to three years before being pardoned by Jammeh was reappointed as Director of Agriculture. This story was reported in error after we read a story on the point newspaper and contacted few sources regarding the validity of the story. We wanted to…
BY Abdul Savage To my critics Allow me to address this to all: Relative to “using force” in the Gambia, I know what is involved in terms of logistics and manpower, and since I did not and do not have access to such “logistics” and “manpower” that is why I did not come out publicly and told Monster Jammeh “to pack up or he will be packed up”/. And notice that there is a difference between what you say you want, and what you say you will do. You can say you want monster Jammeh removed,…
By Burama Jammeh Should CORDEG and/or other groups succeed – Yahya will probably go and we may have something better than of Yahya. Should they fail – the status quo in the diaspora remain. The problems at these organizations are neither to be celebrated nor national problems to mourn. Hope we can collectively and/or individually strive to make them work for what they exist for – that could be a winner for all! If you’re a member of these organizations in question and/or sympathizer I can understand your frustration. If you’re in perceived competition with organizations in…
‘Twenty Years of the Jammeh ‘Revolution’ – The Promises Versus the Realities’ By D. A. Jawo As Gambians gear up to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the July 22nd ‘Revolution’, it is incumbent upon all of us to reflect on what it has meant to us and whether or not all or any of the lofty promises made by its architects have been realized. Are a majority of Gambians better off in the ‘Revolution’ or are they nostalgic for the ‘good old days’? When Yahya Jammeh first came to power in a military coup back in1994, hardly anyone…
The whereabouts of the former Head of Civil Service, Secretary General and PresidentialAffairs Minister is still a mystery for family members. At the time of going to press, reports indicated that he has disappeared without trace after the termination of his very recent appointment as the Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Technology on 7th July, 2014. According to the family, Momodou Sabally’s whereabouts is still unknown to them since his termination “we don’t know or have any information about Momodou Sabally after his appointment was terminated,” said a family source. However, this reporter revisited his residence at Kotu on several occasions but the home was well…
Our nation is in the middle of an escalating situation that must come to an end and if we do not act, this will devastate our country, which our children would inherit. We all want a Gambia, where every young person, no matter where you come from, or what you look like, or who your parents are, can make it if you try and work hard not to live in poverty; a Gambia where there is economic progress, meaningful development, security, respect for human rights and the rule of law. For the past 20 years, we have been…
Opinion By A Concern Citizen When we tell our family members to look the other way and stay mute about the current events, do we realize that we are actually empowering and feeding the beast to clamp down on others!!The argument concerned family members make is all pointed at their own safety and could care less if the whole country cries and mourns over their loved ones. The beast keeps feeding on our fears and gets stronger to silence the rest of the population.If leaders of the civil rights movements only thought about their families and safety, the…
Keynote Address for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights Panel Discussion on Human Rights in The Gambia House of Commons, London, England July 14, 2014 By Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh Coordinator, Coalition for Change – The Gambia (CCG) Madam chairperson, Ms Kathy Clark (Honourable Member of Parliament); my friend and comrade in the struggle, Paul Dillane (Amnesty International); and Jim Boumelha (President of the International Federation of Journalists), of whom I have heard wonderful stories from Gambian journalists about his knowledge of, and dedication to, the course of press freedom in The Gambia; distinguished ladies and gentlemen.…
Opinion By Abdul Savage Who fired the first shot and from where? Who is our Rosa Parks or Che Guevara? Or, better yet, who is our Gambian Mandela? Just who or what made up this “Diaspora struggle”? Who is in charge? Who are our leaders, and the followers? How many want to lead, and who wants to follow? CAN WE FORGET HYPOCRISY AND COMPLICITY, AND EMBRACE SOLIDARITY? How quickly must we, or should we embrace benefactors, enablers and praise singers who, few months or few years ago, were cuddling that regime? How quickly must we embrace…