Lisa Sherman Nikolaus Amnesty International Researcher for West Africa base in Dakar Senegal was live on Gainako radio discussing Gambia’s decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth. The Amnesty representative said Gambia’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth does not excuse it from its’ obligations to upholding human rights and other treaties the nation is a signatory to. Lisa said Gambia will continue to be on the radar of Amnesty International on its human rights records particularly the freedom of the press and the rights of citizens to express themselves.
Author: Gainako
By Ndey Tapha Sosseh The President of The Gambia has done it again. Less than one week after the ‘unstatesmanlike’ statement made at the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Gambia Government announced its decision yesterday to “withdraw” its membership of the Commonwealth, stating that “The Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism.”
The organizing secretary of the United Democratic Party Shyngle Nyassi has strongly reacted to the arrest and continuous detention of former Accountant General and executive member of the United Democratic Party Mr. Amadou Sanneh. Mr. Nyassi who called our reporter with his reaction said he strongly believe that Mr. Sanneh’s arrest is politically motivated and amounts to a witch hunt by the Jammeh administration. In speaking to our reporter Mr. Nyassi said it is not a crime for Mr. Sanneh to write an attestation for Mr. Malang Fatty as his situation is true. He asserted that many UDP youths…
In an unprecedented move the Gambia government on Wednesday October 2nd, 2013 announced the abrupt move to pull out of the British Commonwealth. The Gambia has been a member of the Commonwealth of nations since the country attained Republican status under Sir Dawda Jawara in 1970. Commonwealth of member States have benefited from their affiliation with their former colonial power the UK. Such benefits ranges from bilateral cooperation, economic aid, trade and industry including but not limited to military and technical support, legal support etc. This move by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh is…
Proposal to the President of The Gambia Dear Mr. President, I had written to the first lady during the month of Ramadan hoping that the message would bring something positive from your end but I didn’t get any response. However, I got a lot of emails from Gambians and even a tourist supporting the proposals and idea I had in mind to plead with you. To be honest, I also got cautionary advice from family members to be careful and stay out of your way. Mr. President, I don’t think that am standing in your way but all my…
Baba G. Jallow, The Grave Yard Cannot Pray: One Man’s Battle to Save His Daughter from Female Circumcision (Leicester: Global Hands Publishing, 2013) By Abou Jeng For many decades, discourses and stories on ritualized culture and cultural rituals have tendentiously appropriated a kind of dialogue that forestalled a narrative framed around the victim-saviour metaphor. Whilst the nature of this metaphor and its corresponding binaries of distinction exposed the ‘impurities’ of ritualised culture and the imbalance of power structures in patriarchal organised communities, its most visible outcome remains the formulation and reinforcement of difference. Much of this could be attributed to…
PRESS RELEASE Mai Ahmad Fatty, GMC Leader With grave concern, we learnt of the arrest of Mr. Amadou Sanneh, former Accountant-General of The Gambia and member of the National Executive of the UDP. We believe that the underlying pretext for his reported arrest is grounded on malignant political calculations; making his case yet another senseless political persecution in our Land. Our concern is born out of the reckless scorn with which this regime handles due process rights, the rule of law, and it’s notoriously settled track record in breaking the law with impunity. Again, we hold the regime including its…
(The boom in Gambian Studies continues) Alagie Yorro Jallow, co-founder and former managing editor of the banned Independent newspaper in The Gambia, has just published a highly recommended book on the Gambian Media, which will be officially released (available for sale) on 26th October 2013. The book cover, meanwhile, is attached here, for your information; and the price of the paperback edition is £19 dollars per copy. Appropriately titled Delayed Democracy: How the Press Collapsed in The Gambia, the book has 250 pages and is published by Author House, USA (www.authorhouse.com)
President Jammeh once again received a rousing orchestrated welcome back to the Gambia after what could go down in history as the worst and most humiliating performance he has ever undertaken during his Presidency. The President whose absolute reign dare not be challenged in any shape or form in the four corners of the Gambia quietly left the country to attend the 68th UN General Assembly in New York, his first in at least several years. His high profile delegation accompanied by his own wife and children a rare company seen in his 19th years rule over the tiny…
Lamin Sabally- Minneapolis, Minnesota Irrefutable Genesis of HIV/AIDS Typically, but rather not surprising, a bulk of Western media assessment of HIV/AIDS has portrayed Sub-Saharan Africa as an area chronically synonymous with the AIDS pandemic. Whether this characterization is true in its entirety or is grossly exaggerated, what has become irrefutably evident is the credible statistics indicating that the widespread nature of the pandemic is decimating populations, deteriorating economies, deepening poverty, and destabilizing social values in Africa as a whole with Sub-Saharan African forming what can be described as the epicenter of the killer virus. Because of this unfortunate picture…