Author: Edrissa Jallow

Edrissa Jallow is a journalist with over three years of experience working for two online media platforms. Mr Jallow joined Gainako News during the Nomination process for the December 2021 Presidential Elections. Since joining Gainako, Mr Jallow has published over 50 stories in less than a year. He is currently a final year student at the Media Academy for Journalism and Communications (MAJaC), a leading journalism training institution in The Gambia. Mr Jallow is currently the Project Manager of The Gambia Parliamentary Newsletter and reports extensively on Parliamentary proceedings.

By Edrissa Jallow, @EdrissaJallow10 President Adama Barrow has declared a seven-day national mourning following the death of Vice President Alieu Badara Joof effective yesterday 18th January 2023. The seven days are expected to expire on Tuesday 24th January 2023. VP Joof, was reported to have died on Wednesday 18th January 2023 at the age of 65, served as the Minister of Higher Education Research, Science and Technology from 22nd February 2017 to 4th May 2022. On the same day 4th May 2022, President Barrow promoted him as the Vice President of The Gambia until his demise. “In memory of the…

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By Edrissa Jallow and Yusef Taylor The Sixth Stake in the Nation Forum (SNF) brought together Officials from the Gambia Government, Gambians from the Diaspora and the donor community on Saturday 14th January 2023 in what has become an annual gathering to take stock of Diaspora contributions towards National Development. This year’s event took place at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center in Bijilo. The theme for the Sixth SNF focused on “Supporting Private Action for Public Benefit”. Spearheaded by GK Partners and the Migration and Sustainable Development in the Gambia (MSDG) Project, this year’s event highlighted that…

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By Edrissa Jallow, @EdrissaJallow10 The Hansard department is a key element of the National Assembly, archiving all the plenary sessions verbatim. The Director of the Gambia’s Hansard Department, Ms Isatou Gassama shared some of the challenges that her department is currently faced with on the sidelines of a training organised by Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) on 12th January 2023. According to Ms Gassama, despite the Hansard Unit having only ten staff of which three are editors and seven are transcribers, challenges remain due to a lack of the required Human and Technical resources. “If you compare the fifty-eight NAMs…

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By Edrissa Jallow, @EdrissaJallow10 The President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall has announced in a tweet that the country will observe a three-day mourning for the death of over thirty-nine people on Sunday 8th January 2022. The unfortunate incident believed to be the deadliest bus crash in the country occurred in the central part of Senegal, Gniby some kilometres from Kaffrine. President Sall took to social media to express his sincere condolences to the bereaved families and to declare three days of national mourning from Monday 9th to Wednesday 11th January 2022. Yesterday 8th January 2022, Senegal woke…

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By Edrissa Jallow, @EdrissaJallow10 The current party leader of Citizens’ Alliance (CA), Dr Ismaila Ceesay is set to continue as party leader for the rest of his two-year term as no elections were held during its two-day national congress. Newly appointed Senior Administrator, Mr Carayol also disclosed that over D1.6 million had been spent by the party from 2020 to 2022. The two-day congress was held on the 29th and 30th of December 2022 at Paradise Suites Hotel. The Acting Deputy Secretary General, Alpha MK Lowe disclosed that CA didn’t hold an election during the congress but rather appointed a…

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By Edrissa Jallow The National Assembly member for Serrekunda West, Hon Madi Ceesay told Gainako News that Transitional Justice stakeholders should conduct more mapping of victims of former President, Yahya Jammeh. Hon Ceesay spoke to our reporter during a two-day conference in Dakar to facilitate knowledge exchange on the successful trial of the former President of Chad, Hisène Habré. The conference was attended by Government and non Government stakeholders involved in the Gambia’s ongoing Transitional Justice process. Hon Ceesay is a journalist by profession and a former President of the Gambia Press Union. He narrated how he was tortured together…

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By Edrissa Jallow The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) concluded its investigation of human rights violations committed during the leadership of former President Yahya Jammeh in 2021. The TRRC Report and Recommendations indicted the former President for numerous crimes ranging from unlawful killing, sexual and gender-based violence and enforced disappearances to name a few. The TRRC’s Recommendations have been mostly accepted by the current President Adama Barrow and are being implemented by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Victims Led Groups. To learn from Chad and Senegal who collaborated to successfully prosecute former Chad President, Hissene Habre, the…

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By Edrissa Jallow reporting from Dakar, Senegal Various government Institutions and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) including prominent Lawyers involved in the Gambia’s Transitional Justice process converged in Dakar, Senegal for a two-day conference focusing on the trial of the former Chad President, Hissène Habré. The two-day conference occurred between the 13th and 14th of December 2022 at the Good Rade Hotel in Sacre Coeur 3. Our reporter, who attended the conference engaged stakeholders after the two-day conference to document some of the key lessons learned from the trip. This three-part report canvases the experiences of experts, CSOs, and victims gained…

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By Edrissa Jallow reporting from Dakar, Senegal The founder of the African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED), Ms Nana-Jo Ndow believes that the meaningful participation of stakeholders is vital for victims of The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission’s (TRRC) to achieve justice. In a first of its kind, ANEKED is currently hosting an International Conference which converged victims of the former Presidents of Chad and The Gambia, legal experts, Civil Society Organisations and Government Officials to learn from experiences and ideas gained during the prosecution of former Chad President Hissène Habré in Dakar, Senegal. The now…

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By Edrissa Jallow reporting from Dakar, Senegal A victim of the former President of Chad, one Mr Clement Abaifouta has urged victims of former President Yahya Jammeh not to lose hope and to pursue the implementation of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission’s (TRRC) Recommendations. Mr Abaifouta was a victim of Chad’s former President, Hissène Habré. According to his narration, he was arrested on Friday 12th July 1985 and imprisoned for over four years with hard labour by the Government while he was on his way to pursue his educational career in Germany. “I will be happy sitting with victims…

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