Free Musa Sheriff and Sainey M.K.Marenah

                        Sainy M. K. Marenah      Musa Sheriff                            

The case of two journalists, Sainey Marenah and Musa Sheriff was postponed yesterday because the magistrate was ill, according to the regime.

Musa Sheriff is editor-in-chief of The Voice newspaper and Sainey M.K. Marenah is a freelancer were charged with conspiracy to cause fear and alarm to the public by publishing false news.

Their crime?  Last year, they published an article in the Voice newspaper with the headline "19 Green Boys join the opposition UDP."  The Green Boys being supporters of the dictatorial regime of Yaya Jammeh and the United Democratic Party (UDP) being the largest opposition party in The Gambia.

Their case has been on for almost a year with countless number of adjournments, a favorite ploy employed by the regime to continue to deny the freedom of Gambians like Musa Sheriff and Sainey Marenah - two journalists whose only crime was to publish the truth.

The defense has submitted a no-case-to-answer.  Because the case is so weak, the prosecution knows they cannot win - assuming that the magistrate is fair - and thus the continuous delay in a case that should not have taken this long to settle.

These two journalists deserve a speedy disposal of their case so that they can gain their freedom to pursue their journalism careers.  "Justice delayed is justice denied".

Gambia's domestic debt position continues to worsen

The Governor of the Central Bank (CBG) informed a joint parliamentary committee that the budget deficit went from D 1.3 billion in 2012 to D 2.7 billion in 2013 representing 5.9 percent to 8.0% of GDP respectively.

The financing of the debt was done domestically through the issuance of treasury bills by the Central Bank starves the domestic commercial banking sector of much needed financial capital to finance expansion of the private sector activities.

The Governor told the joint parliamentary committee that government recognizes that in addition to crowding out the private sector, the consequences of the persistent deficit financing of government's activities 'limits the ability of monetary policy to have the desired effect.'

The joint committee was also informed of the fact that short-term treasury bills have been increasing dramatically to finance government's fiscal operations, some of which are frivolous expenditures that this regime is so fond of funding.

Inflation becomes a persistent problem that the Central Bank is limited in capacity to fight effectively.

The International Monetary Fund (Fund) has warned in report after report about the need for 'prudence' in managing the domestic debt.  But it is evident that the warnings have been falling in deft ears.  What else would explain the doubling of the domestic debt in one fiscal year if it not a regime that flouts international rules, procedures and requirements.





 

Vision 2016 is unattainable in two years

Edrissa Mass Jobe of Elton

The Jammeh cavalry is out to defend the indefensible by reframing the question to meet the regime's desired goal of misinforming the Gambian people.

The Daily Observer was first off the blocks with the qualifier to Vision 2016 Statement issued by Yaya Jammeh and his former Secretary General, Momodou Sabally, that states categorically that self-sufficiency in rice will be attained by 2016.   

This was reaffirmed by Jammeh's own Agriculture Minister, Owens, during the ongoing tour of Jammeh in the Central River Region.  In fact, the Minister claimed this week that the regime is on target to achieving the ultimate by the end of 2016.

During the recent visit of the president of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to the Gambia as guest of Jammeh, he said that self-sufficiency in rice "is ambitious but attainable but it also calls for strengthening of institutions, consistencies in policies, an enabling environment for the private sector and massive investment in rural infrastructure."     

In its desperation to look for an international validators to his unreasonable timeline of banning the importation of rice - a  market valued at $50 million annually - in December 2016, the regime, in my view, distorted the IFAD boss's statement by stressing the "attainability" part of his statement while ignoring the necessary conditions for the attainment of rice self-sufficiency.

The Daily Observer led the charge and they are are being supported by Edrissa Mass Jobe, a successful Gambian entrepreneur who took to the Standard newspaper to accuse opponents of the Vision 2016 of cynicism with an equally cynical advise from him for us to "decolonize our minds" to allow, I guess, our imagination to run wild.  

We didn't know that Edrissa, like Jammeh, is also a Bob Marley fan.  If to decolonize our minds is for the sole purpose of dreaming as big as John F. Kennedy, we can do so without decolonizing anything.  We can simply dream dreams as big as JFK by declaring that Gambia will send a man to the moon a goal 'is attainable'.  What's the point when the goal is attainable only in the 22nd century.

Our good friend has missed the point.  Opponents of Vision 2016 are doing so not because the rice-sufficiency goal is not attainable but that it is possible within the time frame.  Yaya Jammeh has been at the whelm for twenty years when he unveiled his Vision 20/20 which also called for food self-sufficiency with the grandiose promise of turning Gambia into a Singapore of Africa.  He has discarded that Vision.  Now we are being told by this buffoon named Babilli Mansa to concentrate on Vision 2016. 

We wish to assure Mr. Jobe that when we question the goals of Vision 2016, we are not focusing on the "hurdles" as he's accused us of doing, and in fact, we do "dare to dream" by suggesting to Yaya Jammeh that he should allow Gambians to be free to exercise their fundamental freedoms of speech and association - fundamental freedoms necessary for any meaningful development to take place. 

Our last word on the Vision 2016 is in the form of a warning about the proposed Food Security Corporation (FSC).  We have said that it is very bad idea.  The traditional tenure system should not be tampered with, especially by this regime.  

"Excess arable land" should never be deeded to a public corporation, effectively creating a Land Bank, managed by public officials at the beacon call of a dictator. This is what Jammeh is proposing under Vision 2016 with the formation of a Food security Commission and a Ministerial Committee to oversee the FSC. 

Gambia's land resources, like its other natural resources, a meager and in this case fixed. We cannot afford to peel off the glue that holds the social and cultural cohesiveness of The Gambia together.  Every effort will be made from our side of the divide to oppose Vision 2016, including the formation of the the proposed Food Security Corporation. We were hoping that the private sector operators will join us in this endeavor because it is to its best interest. 

  

BREAKING: Imam Fatty fired, replaced by Muhammad Lamin Touray of the SIC

Former State House Imam Abdoulie Fatty

Office of the President has issued a release announcing the dismissal of the controversial Imam of State House, Abdoulie Fatty, who, last week, called for the expulsion of members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect, all of whom are Gambian citizens.  Imam Abdoulaye Fatty is a naturalized Gambia of Guinea-Bissau origin.  c

The press release from the Office reads thus :  The Office of the President wishes to inform the general public that Imam Fatty has been relieved of his services as Imam of State House mosque with effect from Tuesday, 4th November 2014.

The release further states that Muhammad Lamin Touray, President of the Supreme Islamic Council (SIC), has been appoint in the place of Imam Fatty.

The replacement of one politically immersed Imam with another chances nothing. In fact, the attempts by the dictatorship to continue the blurring of the boundaries of the State and religion will continue under the new Imam who has served with distinction as head of the highly politicized SIC.

The reaction of a source who closely monitor the activities of Imam Fatty and those of the Supreme Islamic Council when reached for reaction was simply " too bad he's a naturalized citizen.  Otherwise, I would liked to see him deported because he's a very divisive figure."  Our same said source believes that the Imam's call for the expulsion of members of the Ahmadiyya Muslin sect may have been the straw that broke the camels back because "he's become far too involved in sensitive matters to the liking of the Gambian dictator."

This is a developing story.....

The case of Ebou Jobe and Alhagie Mamut Ceesay

Alhagie Mamut Ceesay                  Ebou Jobe                    

We have, up to this point, deliberately refrained from blogging about the disappearances of Ebou Jobe and Alhagie Mamut Ceesay, two Gambian-Americans, who left the United States for The Gambia on Sunday May 12th 2013 and have not been accounted for since.

Our lack of comment was because, from the unset, the circumstances of their disappearances have been murky at best, fueled by speculations and deliberate fabrications, including the planting of false stories, rendering any reporting quite hazardous.

In short there are too many intrigues in the case with nefarious characters posing as members of anti-Jammeh opposition (The Struggle) and those genuine APRC supporters.

Intrigues aside, the story of these two young Gambians is a sorrowful one, not only because they left behind very young wives and children, but also because the whole truth behind their disappearance is yet to emerge from within these United States where their fateful journey began.

For instance, it was in the last day or two that a critical fact in the case emerged that these two Gambian-Americans had in their possession CDs containing material that could only be considered seditious' by a regime that is so paranoid and intolerant of self expression that it considers statements that annoy the dictator as unlawful.  So you can imagine being caught in ones possession CDs that contain Bai Lowe's highly gory account of Jammeh's killing machine (known locally as "Junglers").  It is recipe for disaster.

This critical piece of information revealed a year and a half after these two gentlemen went missing changes our understanding, as well as the complexion, of the case. What else is being withheld from appropriate authorities in the United States, including the families of the two gentlemen and the general public, should be of concern to all.

It is in this spirit that we will conduct our own inquiries into the fates of Ebou Jobe and Alhagie Mamut Ceesay to contribute towards bringing closure to their families, friends and colleagues.  We'd like to state that it is immaterial whether the motives of the two travelling to The Gambia were political.  The fact that they have disappeared and their lives obviously threatened is enough justification to press on for more answers from those sitting on the truth, both in The Gambia and America.

This is the first of what, we hope, will be multiple installments on the case of Ebou Jobe and Alhagie Mamut Ceesay.  Our preliminary finding dictates that we must start asking the tough questions in our renewed efforts to establish the facts both in The Gambia as well as in America where their fateful journey began.      

Why the Burkinabe military is not trusted

The Burkinabe military is not trusted, and rightfully so.  They like to dabbling in politics by staging coup d'etats rather than focus on their primary function of protecting the territorial integrity of Burkina Faso.  The same could be said of African military in general.  In the case of Burkina Faso, the army has been running the country for over 30 years.

I said yesterday that Phase 1 of the Burkina Faso popular uprising appears complete, implicitly giving the Burkinabe military the benefit of the doubt.  But I also said that the real work has just begun, and suggested that the military should invite all parties to the table, especially those responsible for driving Blaise Compaore out of power and into exile after 27 years at the helm.

The events that started to unfold caused the PEOPLE who made it happen started feeling that their hard-won revolution is starting to slip through their fingers, and was beginning to look like any of your run-of-the-mill garden variety African coup d'etat with the suspension of the Constitution and dissolving of Parliament.

Opposition parties and members of civil society have reacted forcefully by insisting that the Interim Government must be civilian-led, and they have now being joined by the African Union and some outside interests in calling in their demands.

The type of popular uprising we are witnessing in Burkina Faso is new in Africa where a change in government is almost always through a coup d'etat.  Gambians have come to learn the hard way that whether a coup is bloody or bloodless, the outcome is usually ends up the same - repression of the people.  We were reminded then and we are still reminded now that not a chicken was killed in Jammeh's 1994 illegal seizure of power which is true, but look at how many Gambian lives Jammeh has killed since then to maintain power.

New circumstances always present new learning experiences. One lesson that can be drawn from the Burkina experience of the past several days is perhaps the entire Constitution should not have been suspended creating - intentionally or unintentionally - a huge power vacuum that the army had to fill.  Was it by design?  The people of Burkina seem to think so, and strong enough a suspicion to send them back unto the streets of Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulaso.

The week's protests were led by ordinary civilians made up of students, unemployed youths, opposition leaders and their supports and members of civic society. responsible for toppling Blaise Compaore saw the Constitution suspended and Parliament dissolve which is what African armies do when they seize power illegally.

To the protesters, it is a coup d'etat, and by every definition, it was a coup.  The people are back in the streets to try to reverse the coup.  We expect them to register one more victory in their fight to keep the military out of politics and into the business of protecting the territorial integrity of Burkina Faso.

Ambassador Elizabeth Ya Eli Harding to testify in the £5 million duty-free caper?

Amb. Elizabeth Ya Eli Harding

Ambassador Elizabeth Ya Eli Harding is scheduled to testify next Thursday before the Southwark Crown Court on the case involving Deputy Ambassador, Yusupha Bojang, his First Secretary, Gaston Sambou, and six other Embassy staff.

Yusupha Bojang                   Gaston Sambou                         

The eight are accused of swindling the British taxpayers of £5 million in the illicit use of the duty-free privilege by ordering 32 tonnes of tobacco during a span of three years.

Ambassador Ya Eli Harding is the principal prosecution witness in a case that has engulfed her entire Embassy staff, ranging from a Deputy Ambassador, a Tourism Promotion Officer, a receptionist and a driver.

The question that must preoccupy the Crown prosecution is whether Ambassador Harding will testify because it is unclear whether she has received 'clearance' from Banjul to testify.  As at this writing, there's no indication that Yaya Jammeh, the Gambian dictator, has given the green light.

Under the delegation of authority, Ambassador Harding will have to respond to some questions.  The extent, however, of her cooperation with the prosecution is open to question.  She is some what between a rock and a hard place.  She must tread carefully because she is serving a dictatorship that has been accused of involving in drug and arms trafficking among other illicit activities, and , therefore, will not hesitate to throw her under the bus too.

We are of the view that it is in her best interest, even if Yaya Jammeh refuses to authorize her to testify unreservedly, to fully cooperate with the British authorities, even if it means that the evidence points to Yaya Jammeh.  To act otherwise, the Ambassador risks being declared persona non grata, and what awaits her in Banjul is unpredictable, according to legal experts familiar with the case.

The silence, from the Banjul end, is deafening since the case broke, suggesting the involvement of the regime of Yaya Jammeh for a criminal operation of this magnitude will go unnoticed for three years, 32 tonnes and  £5 million later.  The official mouthpiece of the regime, The Daily Observer, has also refused to report the case, although other news outlets have carried the U.K. Daily Mail story about the case.