Jammeh will be personally held responsible should Ebola spread into Gambia

Gambian dictator

The Gambian dictator has been acting in the most irresponsible way while the rest of the world is stepping up its efforts against the Ebola epidemic.

Spain is now the first known transmission of the virus outside West Africa.  The patients in the United States have all contracted the disease while working in Liberia.

As more resources are being put in place in Liberia and Sierra Leone by the United States Defense Department, including an additional $1 billion, Guinea-Bissau which shares borders with Guinea and The Gambia that shares borders with Guinea-Bissau are proving to be two of the weakest links in the Ebola chain.

Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia represent two countries that have suffered from corrupt and incompetent military regimes that have weak health systems.  In the case of The Gambia, the current regime inherited one of the best Primary Health Care System that has been left to deteriorate due to negligence, in favor of a secondary care system.

The regime favored policies that built hospitals for its propaganda value that are all ill-equipped without the basic medication necessary to simple illnesses associated with environmental cleanliness like treat malaria, diarrhea and basic illnesses that ordinary Gambians face daily.

The current health system that exist in the Gambia is both inadequate and inappropriate to fight any outbreak.  There is also no indication of national preparedness, including public sensitization, is at a reassuring level.

While neighboring countries are busy sensitizing their citizenry, the regime in Banjul is busy organizing celebrations as if the threat to public health is not real.

To further expose the vulnerability of the population, the Medical Research Council (MRC), a world class medical research that engages in valuable field trials and were scheduled to take part in the Ebola vaccine trials, is being threatened with expulsion by the Gambian dictator.

What a deliberate and invidious timing that can only expose an unsuspecting citizenry to the dangers of a rapidly deteriorating public health emergency.    

Senegalese President Sall calls for vigilance against rampaging Ebola virus with more cases in Senegal

President Sall of Senegal 

On the occasion of the Muslim feast of Eid ul Adha or Tabaski, the Senegalese President asked Senegalese to increase their vigilance against the outbreak of the Ebola virus.

Speaking in Wollof after the Eid prayers, Macky Sall was quoted in Seneweb website as saying "There are more cases in the country, but we must remain vigilant against the threat of the epidemic..."

The Senegalese leader praised the work of the health personnel for caring for the Guinean who contracted the virus.

"We must avoid unnecessary gatherings, the government will also strengthen its communication policy to increase awareness among the various sections of the population," the Senegalese president warned his people.

By contrast, in neighboring Gambia, Yaya Jammeh is planning to bring together thousands of his Gambian supporters for a week of celebration on the occasion of what has been dubbed 20th Anniversary of the July Revolution despite the international alter across the globe to contain the deadly virus.

Over the years, these type of gatherings, especially those held in Jammeh's native Kanilai, have developed the reputation of being attended by a large number of men and women who have been known to engage in promiscuous behavior.

We hope the regime comes to its senses by canceling the celebrations, and join the world community to increase vigilance against the outbreak that threatens the entire West African region, including The Gambia.

Jammeh threatens to expel Medical Research Council

International panel of experts

The Medical Research Council (MRC) established in The Gambia in 1947 is being threatened with expulsion from the country by Yaya Jammeh.

MRC is UK-government funded representing the single largest medical research investment in a developing country.  The MRC compound in Fajara was part of the British Army Hospital during WWII which was handed over to the MRC at the end of the war.

The Council's research focus is on communicable diseases that are particular to The Gambia and Africa.   Malaria research has been a major activity of the unit in addition to the basic scientific research, clinical trials and various types of surveys. The unit has also been involved in the studies of tuberculosis and the HIV/AIDS virus.

The MRC Mission is thus in direct conflict with the herbal treatment of the Gambian dictator which has interfered with the efforts of the international and donor communities, and thus, a great source of frustration.

Although the HIV/AIDS treatment offered by the Gambian dictator has become the butt of jokes worldwide,  it raises great concern in medical circles because the program uses coercive means to siphon off patients from medically-sound retroviral treatment programs into Jammeh's treatment program, assisted by Dr. Mbow.

The outbreak of the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia is added potential source of conflict between the MRC and the Jammeh regime.  The international mobilization effort is led by the US, with the full support of the UK government, and the rest of the international community.  The seriousness of the effort in containing the virus - an outbreak of the virus that has now reached the United States and may have infected some Europeans who were transiting airline passengers at the Brussels airport.

The outbreak has become very real in the eyes of many, except Jammeh who is insisting on organizing a big gathering in Banjul and Kanilai to celebrate what he calls the 20th Anniversary of the July Revolution.

Finally, the ownership of the present location of the British High Commission (now British Embassy) Compound has never been an issue of contention until Jammeh claimed that the premises legally belonged to the State and not the British government.  Legal documents in the custody of the British government proves the contrary.

The MRC premises at Fajara may now be a target by a regime whose anti-British is a matter of public record.  We will continue to monitor events as "negotiations" between MRC and the dictatorship continue with the hope that the issue is resolved amicable.

If Jammeh succeeds in expelling the Medical Research Council both the Gambia and the world who benefit from the world-class medical research conducted at the various units will be the losers.  

Travel advice to opponents of the regime

Here are a few common sense suggestions to those Gambians who MUST travel to Gambia for whatever reason that can save them a lot of headache:

• Leave your loptops behind.  Taking them with you will invite the NIA to rummage through them looking for trouble for you, your family, friends and colleagues. 
• Similarly, leave your smart phones behind for the same reason you are leaving your laptop computers behind.  You will be forced to provide the NIA with your passwords, and once they gain access, they will go through your phone book and any name that closely resembles an opponent of Yaya Jammeh will be arrested, if that person happens to be in The Gambia or will be targeted if they happen to leave abroad.
• Those travelling with a U.S. passport should notify the American Embassy as soon as you land at Banjul International Airport.  Although we are not recommending this method, others have left their passports in Dakar and travel with their Gambia National ID to avoid having their foreign passports being seized by the NIA agents or police.  

There are certainly internet cafes and business centers across the Greater Banjul Area, in hotels and in nooks and crannies up and downriver that one can use without much hassle.  It may sound inconvenient but nothing is more inconvenient than being bundled up and thrown in jail because you look like a "Semester" or a "Struggler" with the latest iPhone 6 and a lap top loaded with your personal information that will only invite the NIA to go through it looking for more people to put in trouble.  You can always get access to a cell phone to use privately. 

The Gambia is a dictatorship and travelers, be they Gambians or foreigners, must recognize this as a fact.  If the immigration misses you, you will not be so lucky with one of hundreds of soldiers or NIA agents manning the numerous check points from one end of the country to the other.

Being inconvenienced for a few weeks without your personal laptop and cell phone is better than being inconvenienced for an indefinite length of time from a dictatorship that will not hesitate to frame charges against anyone they label as an enemy of the APRC regime.    

Radio journalist Ousainou Sankareh held prisoner

Ousainou Bai Sankareh

An online radio journalist who was on a visit to The Gambia has been arrested by agents of the notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA) shortly upon arrival in Banjul.

According to a release from the management of Kibaaro newspaper, radio and television, an online media outlet that focuses on Gambian issues, Mr. Ousainou Bai Sankareh was in The Gambia to visit family and also to "attend the Muslim feast of Eid Ul Aida (known locally as "Tabaski")."  The Kibaaro website lists Mr. Sankareh as the anchor of the radio's Sarahuleh (local language) program

The release further stated that the circumstances surrounding the arrest are still unclear, and further investigations are being conducted in an attempt to piece together this bizarre incident.  

The early stages of this type of arrest by a regime that has a poor human rights record is critical. Many Gambians, including journalists, have disappeared in similar fashion and who have remained missing and unaccounted for to this day.

It is, therefore, imperative that the situation is monitored so that the regime is not allowed yet another opportunity to unleash its vicious agents against another journalist.  We must not allow the regime of Yaya Jammeh, to yet again, get away with another disappearance of a journalist who was on a private visit to see his relatives and to attend the Eid prayers.  Ousainou Bai Sankareh's only crime is the read and analyse the news in his native tongue.  FREE OUSAINOU BAI SANKAREH

Gambia : A broken judiciary

Old Banjul  Magistrate Court 

Just as the Old Banjul Magistrate Court building (pictured here) has been left to rot, the Gambian judiciary is equally rotten to the core.

While the former is rotting out of neglect, the former is crumbling under it own weight because of its persistent abuse by a dictatorship that sees the judiciary as an integral part of the regime's repressive machinery.

Since you are guilty in the eyes of Yaya Jammeh until proven otherwise, the accused is always at the mercy of Yaya Jammeh and not the court.  He routinely dictates to magistrates and judges the desired outcome of cases, most of which are political in nature despite the economic and criminal nature that these cases are framed.  Most "economic crimes" in The Gambian court system, by design, are political.

The abuse of the court system has reached a crescendo when magistrates are rebelling but freeing falsely accused victims of the dictatorship and discharging cases at a higher rate than usual.  Magistrates have begun admonishing prosecution for refusing to report to the courts on time, and providing ridiculous excuses for prosecution witnesses that are coached, and frequently encouraged, to absent themselves from court as a means of delaying cases.

Outstanding cases in the court system is on the increase because of the delay in dispensing justice has reached astronomical levels resulting in innocent Gambians, and non-Gambians alike, languishing in jail, in the hands of the notorious National Intelligence Agency or being subjected to reporting on a daily basis to the nearest police station.

The wheels of justice have grinded to a halt because of the huge number of persons in the system for the most frivolous of charges.  The venerable retired 80-year old Imam is in court because he led the Eid prayers on a day that the Gambian dictator did not approve of, and because the cleric defied Jammeh, he was hauled to court where he still is defending his right to lead his followers to prayers.  This was almost two months ago.

Bundung Magistrate Pierrette M. Sarre has finally said what has been in the minds of many ordinary Gambians when she was dispensing of a case in her court by describing the criminal justice system as being "accusatorial and not inquisitorial".  It follows, Magistrate Sarre argues, "that those saddled with the responsibility of accusing others of a crime must leave the evidence bare for all to see."

Hunger in The Gambia

A third of Gambia's 1.8 million people are struggling to have three square meals a day, the UNDP Resident Representative in The Gambia tells donors meeting in Dakar.

Floods, drought and pestilence have aggravated the food deficit levels in The Gambia to historic highs but you cannot tell by the actions of the government that still pretends to the contrary, with its constant sloganeering of 'eat what you grow and grow what you eat" under its new Vision 2016.

The donor's meeting in Dakar revealed the stark reality facing a country that has refused to take the threat of the Ebola virus seriously.   Although it is Ebola-free, the devastating impact of the outbreak is impacting agriculture and prices not only in the three affected areas but in the region, including The Gambia.

The outbreak is also impacting the tourism sector negatively.  According to the UNDP Resident Representative, "the outbreak in the region has caused visitors numbers to plummet to 60% compared to last year."

The UNDP official warned the donors that the Ebola outbreak is threatening the tourism industry, "a lifeline to farmers who need to top up their household income."  That lifeline will not be available this year, and perhaps in the years ahead because of the outbreak.

According to the United Nations, the hunger levels in the Gambia are to such levels that 200,000 Gambians are in desperate need of food assistance.  The Gambia has really never recovered from the food defect levels of 2011.  Despite all these challenges, including shift in climatic conditions, the regime of Yaya Jammeh is still insisting that Gambians grow what they eat and eat what they grow.

The deterioration in the food deficit situation in The Gambia has lead many Gambians to struggle to feed their families three meals a day leading many have had to sell cattle and take children out of school to buy food.

All indications are condition will continue to deteriorate, both from the weather standpoint - there's been late rains this year - to the negative impact the Ebola outbreak is expected to have on the number of tourists that will be visiting Gambia this and subsequent years.  Meanwhile, the regime continues to pretend that very thing is fine and dandy while things are falling apart.