18005038622

Breaking News: Gambia Government Issues Over 100 Diplomatic Passports to Foreign Nationals

-Among them Moroccans, Sudanese, Cassamance rebels, Guinean Drug barons and Mercenaries

By EBRIMA G. SANKAREH, Editor-In-Chief

Unassailable sources nestled within the corridors of state power reveal that in the past year alone, the autocratic government of President Yahya Jammeh has issued well over 100 Gambian diplomatic passports to very dubious foreign nationals with worrisome credentials. A highly placed source in the Foreign Ministry says most of the passports were issued to belligerents in the Cassamance debacle, hardcore fighters for the independence of Senegal’s southern region.

Abdourahman Cole is Acting Gambian ambassador in Washington, DC

Read More..

Nopin Long Distance Launches ‘Nopin Africa’

First we announce a New Year’s special for all calls to Africa. When you recharge by phone from December 30th 2008 to January 1st 2009, you receive 10% bonus minutes on the amount spent. The 10% bonus can only be redeemed through our Customer Service Center @ 1-800-503-8622. This special offer ends January 1st at 10:00 PM. So mark it down, call our Customer Service at 1-800-503-8622.

South African Beauty Queen Nyasha Zimucha Wins Miss Africa 2008-09 Contest Sponsored by Nopin Long Distance  

Read More..

ANALYSIS

Coup in Guinea: Implications for The Gambia

By MATHEW K. JALLOW, Associate Editor

It has only been a week since General Lansana Conte, the man who ruled Guinea with an iron-fist for the better part of the past two and half decades, passed away, but his death was completely upstaged by the military coup in that country. The takeover by Guinea’s military was, however, somewhat predictable and somehow inevitable. The writing had been on the wall for the entire duration of Mr. Conte’s imperial reign, yet, not a single African Head of State, ever once denounced that regime’s brutal reign of terror.

Cpt. Moussa D. Camara, Guinea's New Ruler

Read More..

ANALYSIS

Programmed Retardation

By Professor FLOYD W. HAYES, III

Senior Lecturer, The John Hopkins University, Department of Political Science

 The concept of “programmed retardation” comprises policies, programs, and instructional practices designed to guarantee educational failure for students. Significantly, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s momentous Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, education strategies originally implemented to deny quality education to many black students began an overall decline of America’s public schools in both urban and suburban areas.

Professor FLOYD W. HAYES, III

Read More..

Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade Backs Guinea’s Military Coup

(Culled from BBC News)

Leader of Guinea's coup has said contracts for the country's vital mining industry will be reviewed and pledged to stamp out corruption. Without naming firms, Capt Moussa Dadis Camara told a public meeting in Conakry that any contracts found to be "defective" would be revised. Capt Camara took power after the death of President Lansana Conte on Monday.

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade backs Guinea Coup

Read More..

Military Coup Follows Death of Guinea’s Autocratic

'Life President';

Who is Next?

BY LT. COL. SAMSUDEEN SARR (Rtd.)

Before detailing my opinion on this subject I will first express my sincere condolences to the family of the late President Lansana Conte and the people of Guinea following his death on Monday, December 22, 2008.  It is sad to add that two weeks ago when his deteriorating health was reported to have reached an alarming state, members of his government refused to acknowledge the facts.

Cpt. Moussa D. Camara, Guinea's New Ruler

Read More..

Military 'Seizes Power' in Guinea

A Guinea army statement has announced the dissolution of the government, after President Lansana Conte's death. An army officer said on state radio a "consultative council" of civilian and military chiefs would be set up. The EU and African Union condemned the move. A BBC correspondent in the capital Conakry says tanks have been seen on the streets.

Read More..

  ANALYSIS

The Gambia: Towards Food Self-Sufficiency

By **JALLOBEH HAMADI MAATONG

 Mr. Editor,

Please allow me space in your esteemed newspaper to respond to the Daily Observer’s editorial on the above captioned subject. I do not wish to quote any statistics on food production, external trade, and gross domestic product, the external and domestic debt and household economics in The Gambia, since such data is readily available to all. In this piece, I am by no means attempting to put down our beloved country that in no small measure has provided us with the foundation to attain the level of education that many of us have today.

Read More..

History of Banjul’s St.Augustine’s High School, The Gambia

By Wakerr Labbeh

Below is probably, the only original copy of The History of St. Augustine’s High School up to 1983 as was written by the late Father Michael Flynn Cssp. Most of the information herein was found archived at the School and also The Mission House at Hagan Street. “Wakerr Labbeh” picked it up from 1978 to 1983 and we did not miss a bit. This document is for every alumnus’s archive. Written by Fr. Michael J. Flynn CSSp and produced in the School Newspaper ‘Sunu-Kibaro’. Includes information up to 1983.

Read More..

Editorial

Deyda Hydara: Turning Tragedy into Triumph

By Mathew K. Jallow, Associate Editor

It was the least of the worries to occupy the minds of his family and friends, and when it happened, it took a whole nation by surprise. Even today, the murder of Deyda Hydara is making headlines all across the world of journalism, four years after his tragic and brutal death. Everyone who knew Deyda knew him as a soft-spoken, affectionate and very kind person, with a deep passion for the profession of journalism embedded in the depth of his soul.

Slain Gambian Journalist Deyda Hydara

Read More..

Reporters Without Borders

Press Release

15 December 2008

GAMBIA

Journalists still live in fear four years after unpunished murder of Deyda Hydara

Reporters Without Borders today expressed its disgust at the obstruction and bad faith of the Gambian authorities who have allowed continuing impunity to the killers of Deyda Hydara, co-founder of privately owned daily The Point, four years after his murder on 16 December 2004. Hydara, who was also correspondent in Gambia for Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reporters Without Borders, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen travelling in a taxi as he was driving his car in an outlying district of the capital Banjul.

Read More..

ANALYSIS

Robert Mugabe Typifies Most of Africa’s Post Colonial Leaders

By Lt. Colonel Samsudeen Sarr (Rtd.)

As we went to press, the consensus all over the world is that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has to go because of the deteriorating economic situation but more so, the appalling health conditions of the Zimbabwean people. In my own interpretation, that translates to using all means possible to ensure that Mugabe is removed from power. 

**Lt. Colonel Samsudeen Sarr (Rtd.)

Read More..

  Commentary

Gambia’s Slow March towards One Party State

By Mathew K. Jallow, Associate Editor

The numbing ethical and political issue that has emerged around National Reconciliation Party (N.R.P) candidate, Abdoulie Jallow, and the Niani-Jah by-election is symptomatic of the moral corruption and intellectual dishonesty prevailing among many of the few educated class remaining in our country. The manifest deception as exemplified by this fake N.R.P. candidate and his contemptuous defection to the A.P.R.C, just a day before an election, is reflective of how Yahya Jammeh has used money to tempt, entice and buy loyalty with the intent

Gambian Head of state, Professor Ignoramus Jammehof state Professor Ignoramus Jammeh

Read More..

Coming Soon: January,2009

The Paradox of Third-Wave Democratization in Africa: The Gambia under the AFPRC-APRC Rule, 1994—2008

By **Abdoulaye Saine

Professor Abdoulaye Saine


In this book, Abdoulaye Saine provides a superb account of the domestic political conditions that explain the persistence of poverty and economic crisis in Africa. With a focus on The Gambia under Yahya Jammeh (1994-2008), and drawing from other African cases in a comparative perspective, the author skillfully traces the causes of development crisis in The Gambia to poor governance, authoritarianism and human rights violations. Although the analysis is focused on The Gambia, the findings reflect the African situation by drawing on relevant examples from other states. This is a must-read book for scholars, activists, and policy makers interested in the comparative political economy of development. —Sakah Saidu Mahmud, Transylvania University

Professor Abdoulaye Saine & Professor Ignoramus Jammeh

Read More..

Analysis

The Mumbai Attack, Global Concern

 By **Lt. Colonel Samsudeen Sarr (Rtd.)

I am afraid you’ll once more bear with me on the Mumbai tragedy unraveling fascinating discoveries everyday. The developments I hope will in the end help map out better guidelines on how President-Elect, Barack Obama can best approach the South Asian region for eternal peace and prosperity.  Obama being on strict observation of protocol has made it clear that it is still President Bush who is in charge; until January 20, 2009. Therefore little should be expected from him on key issues such as what he would do about India and Pakistan.

Read More..

 OPINION

Socialist Market-Solution to Gambia’s                       Ailing Economy

BY TIJAN NIMAGA, Bronx New York

About a year ago, we had a raging debate on socialism on this platform. It was a mature debate, which brought together many Gambian elites from all-walks of life who frankly expressed their views. Some were members of The Gambia National Army, radical economists and one extraordinary fellow- PDOIS’s desk officer, Mr. Suwaibou Touray. The debate forced some pundits to bite their fingers with anxiety and some to completely deny the principles of socialism altogether.

Read More..

   Friends: 2 British Missionaries Arrested in Gambia
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 4, 2008

A British missionary couple working in the small West African country of Gambia are under arrest and have been charged with sedition, friends of the couple said Thursday.
Gambian police detained David Fulton and his wife Fiona on Saturday, according to Pastor Martin Speed at Westhoughton Pentecostal Church in the northern English town of Bolton, which has supported the couple in the past.

Read More..