By Yusef Taylor Twelve Gambian Civil Society advocates have been released on bail after two separate arrests were made today, Sunday 21st April 2024 at Banjul and Barra. Just yesterday 20th April, the Coalition of Sess Nen Advocates consisting of Gambia Participates, National Youth Parliament and Nuimi Hands held a press conference lamenting the Police’s decision to reject their protest permit request due to the upcoming OIC Summit. Sess Nen translates to “we’ve had enough” in Wollof and is being used to galvanize citizens after the ferry disaster which occurred last week when the Kanilai Ferry broke down offshore and…
Author: Yusef Taylor
Yusef Taylor
Yusef Taylor, commonly known as Flex Dan is an editor and practising journalist based in the Gambia with a keen interest in human rights, the economy and good governance among many others. He continues to break news on the economy, human rights violations and is highly engaged in security sector reforms, constitutional reform and the transition of the Gambia from dictatorship to a democracy, the NewGambia. Yusef has been working with Gainako as a media practitioner from 2015 to date. He has a degree in Civil Engineering with 5 years of Design Consultancy experience.
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT The National Assembly member for Lower Fulladu West, Hon Gibbi Mballow, held a multi-stakeholder engagement with over 70 Imams in his Constituency on Saturday 13th April 2024. The event was supported by Gambian Civil Society Organisation Women’s Association for Victims’ Empowerment (WAVE) as part of their Legal Empowerment Fund. The frank discussion featured presentations from Executive members of the Imam Association of Lower Fulladu West, Health Practitioners, the Chief, Local Councillors and Hon Mballow and presented an opportunity to discuss the controversial Bill to repeal the ban on Female Genital Mutilation/ Circumcision (FGM/C). It can be…
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT Gambia Parliamentary Newsletter (GPN) can reveal that the National Assembly will host its first Extra-Ordinary Session of the year to consider the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) Bill and the Special Accountability Mechanism (SAM) Bill on 22nd and 23rd April 2024. Information received from numerous sources states that President Adama Barrow has signed a Certificate of Urgency for the Bills to be tabled and scrutinised by Parliament. President Barrow met Gambian Victims and Civil Society Organisations on 5th April 2024 where he spoke to members of the Alliance of Victim Led Organisations on the Bill. During the…
By Yusef Taylor, FlexDan_YT and Saul Slim Njie Justice A Jallow Sey of the High Court dismissed an application for an Injunction against the Clerk of the National Assembly on Friday 5th April 2024 submitted by lawyers of three national assembly members seeking to be reinstated into the ECOWAS Parliament. The three members; Hon Fatoumatta Njai (Banjul South), Hon Kebba K Barrow (Kombo South) and Hon Samba Jallow (Niamina Dankunku) have been replaced by Hon Maimuna Ceesay (Nominated), Hon Amadou Camara (Nianija) and Hon Sheriff Sarr (Jeshwang). Currently, The Gambia’s National Assembly ECOWAS Delegation is in Abuja, Nigeria for an…
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT and Sol Slim Njie The Gambia’s High Court has dismissed the injunction application of three National Assembly Members (NAMs) seeking to be reinstated into the ECOWAS Parliament based on Judicial Precedence. The application was dismissed earlier today around midday of 5th April 2024. The three members booted out of the ECOWAS Parliament are Hon Fatoumatta Njai (Banjul South), Hon Kebba K Barrow (Kombo South) and Hon Samba Jallow (Niamina Dankunku). The applicants’ lawsuit filed against the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr Momodou Sise, appeared to be succeeding after an injunction was granted by the High…
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT Earlier this week The Gambia’s Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) announced that they would commence a fuel strike yesterday 4th April 2024, however, after visiting several fuel stations it was observed that the strike did not take place. The Government’s Public Utilities Authority (PURA) also stated on Wednesday indicating that the strike had been resolved after a meeting between the “OMCs and other key stakeholders in the petroleum products business”. The strike was announced earlier this week when OMCs complained that the government is making over D19 per litre for Petrol and D17 per litre for Gas…
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT The Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) D12 million corruption scandal involving former CEO Mrs Sainabou Martin Sonko and four other staff is currently at the Supreme Court according to the President of the KMC Staff Welfare Association. The scandal which saw over a million dalasis being seized from the KMC Staff Welfare Fund is currently preventing some 12 staff from accessing lands due to them and has been dragging in the courts for two years said Mr Modou Njie. Speaking to Gainako from his office at the Serrekunda Market, President Modou Njie revealed that his association has…
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT The Gambia’s High Court in Bundung issued an Injunction restraining the Clerk of the National Assembly from removing three National Assembly Members from the ECOWAS Parliament on 2nd April 2024. The three members; Hon Fatoumatta Njai (Banjul South), Hon Kebba K Barrow (Kombo South) and Hon Samba Jallow (Niamina Dankunku) have been replaced by Hon Maimuna Ceesay (Nominated), Hon Amadou Camara (Nianija) and Hon Sheriff Sarr (Jeshwang). The Gambia’s ECOWAS Parliament delegation which includes the newly replaced members, Hon Billay Tunkara (Head of Delegation) and Hon Alhagie Darboe are currently in Abuja Nigeria for an ECOWAS…
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT The outrage which met the revelation that the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) had accepted the Amnesty of the second in command of the Military Junta which ushered in the 22-year misrule of the Armed Forces Provisional Council was certainly quenched by the Government’s decision not to grant him Amnesty. A Gainako review of The Gambia Government’s White Paper has revealed that out of the 25 Amnesty Applications received by the TRRC, only five were accepted and only one, out of the five recommended for Amnesty was rejected by the Government. The TRRC is a…
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT Three National Assembly Members filed a lawsuit against the Clerk of the National Assembly at the High Court earlier this week, 26th March 2024. The three applicants in the case are Hon Fatoumatta Njai of Banjul South, Hon Kebba K Barrow of Kombo South and Hon Samba Jallow of Niamina Dankunku who are seeking to be reinstated to the ECOWAS Parliament. According to a letter from the Clerk of the National Assembly, Momodou A Sise, addressed to one of the suing lawmakers, Speaker Jatta received a letter from the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament that “the…