By D. A. Jawo President Yahya Jammeh’s address to the recently concluded Elysee Summit convened by President Francois Hollande of France, once again saw him pass the buck for the present mess that Africa still finds itself to western hegemony rather than accepting the failure on the part of African leaders, including himself, to tackle the continent’s problems with sincerity, due mainly to their greed and insatiable lust for power. It was indeed a shame that President Jammeh singled out the western media’s role in fanning wars across Africa while failing to acknowledge his regime’s hostility towards the…
Author: Gainako
By Burama Jammeh Over the years I have articulated my views of our political problems and possible solutions. I’ve not only expressed my views but also advanced a proposal that will address these problems. In additions I wrote and circulated a document titled ‘The Working Paper” in draft that detailed out democratic governance arrangements from Banjul right down to the villages with clearly separated powers. In that documents I went to an extent to deliberate how such arrangement can be put in place and safe guard its functionality to serve our nation as a people rather than accentuating an…
First Ladies, like presidents, come in different shades, sizes and shapes, and most importantly different levels of dedication and commitment to the human condition. Some countries are luckier than others in their share of First Ladies. There are countries blessed with empathetic ones who’s interest is to bring voice to the voiceless, be they the poor, the powerless, the young and defenseless. In short, First Ladies are usually associated with, and lend their names to, the good works of charities and other non profit organizations that exist to compliment, supplement or fill a need otherwise ignored by government. Some…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Mr. Ebrima Solo Sandeng, the Executive Secretary of the UDP youth wing was today Monday December 9th 2013 picked up by the NIA from his house in Serrekunda and taken to their headquarters in Banjul The Gambia. Mr. Sandeng called his colleagues while en route to Banjul with the NIA and spoke to some of them upon his arrival to confirm his custody and location. A UDP youth delegation then quickly made their way to NIA offices in Banjul but they were told Mr. Sandeng was not held there. The delegation then decided to go to Police Headquarters in…
In addressing a town hall meeting organized by DUGA DC in Maryland, former Gambian Press Director and close confidant of President Jammeh Fatou Camara told Gambians that our country is at a cross road and facing the most difficult time in our history. She said “we live in a country dominated by uncertainty, brutality, censorship, injustice, fear and terror among many things”. She pledged to work with brave Gambians the likes of Imam Baba Leigh who she described as a brave soul who “represents the face of strength and morality in modern day Gambia” Below we reproduce Ms Camara’s…
By Baba Galleh Jallow Dear Mr. Jammeh, One cannot help but agree with you that following Mandela’s passing “all that we need to do is to live by his legacy and live by the ideals and virtues that he stood for.” These, according to the Daily Observer griot, are your very words uttered in Paris as part of a tribute to Mandela. Inspired by those words of yours, some of the questions we wish to reflect upon in this open letter are these: What is Mandela’s legacy? What are the ideals and virtues he stood for? And to what…
As the saying goes “desperate times requires desperate measures”. President Jammeh’s illusive and Sham financial and economic strategies for “vision 2020” has gradually being exposed as the flow of funding from close allies tightened during the last few years. Ruling the tiny West African nation on purely domestic borrowing, international loans and donor manipulation, the President appears to be running out of options to continue to fund his ‘white elephant projects’ in his personal name. His economic strategies largely involve building a mini kingdom by engaging in fewer eye catching projects designed to temporary impress foreign donors while…
By Yero Jallow Experiences with villagers and the stranger who came to explore Africa take many humorous paths. There are some wonderful aha moments, and to rewind back, especially after so many years of interaction with Whites, one is forced to laugh nonstop. I recalled in High School, one of my Geography teachers, Mr. Camara telling stories about a certain village. According to the humorous Mr. Camara when the villagers see a Whiteman, they waived their hands and greeted the White tourists aloud. He found it very funny and it was mostly how he entertained the class. Eddie Murphy’s…
Yaya Jammeh’s almost two decades of terror-filled rule has brought the Gambia’s economy, together with the spirits of Gambians, to its knees. It is evident from the past several months that the regime in Banjul has lost control of the state’s machinery, further threatening the very well-being of ordinary Gambians. Functions of the Central Bank have been unilaterally transferred to the Presidency causing severe disruptions to the markets, especially the foreign exchange markets, resulting in massive losses to private investors as well as government foreign exchange accounts.
By Baba Galleh Jallow Following the passing of Nelson Mandela, it is perhaps useful to revisit the system he fought against, that put him in jail for 27 years, and that eventually crumbled in 1994 when he became South Africa’s first Black president. The word Apartheid was first coined in the mid-1930s as a means of asserting Afrikaner identity and independence from the British. Following the end of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 – 1902, Alfred Milner, the British governor of South Africa alienated the Boers (Dutch) through his policy of Dutch denationalization which banned the use of Duct…