Acts of desperation in Jammeh - Kunda

Donated  standing room only school bus

Gambia's jet setting First Lady, Zeinab Yaya Jammeh, has suddenly found a new passion for philanthropy in the fields of health and education which has led her to the creation of not-for-profit organizations to address them.

There is nothing in her past that would suggest that her latest passion is genuine or permanent. Her interest has always been a Hollywood-type lifestyle characterized by frequent shopping trips to New York, Washington and Paris with little appetite for showing compassion for the less fortunate in her adopted home - The Gambia.

Since she married the Gambian dictator more than 15 years ago, the Moroccan-born First Lady has never attempted - or even pretend to - blend in with the locals or attempt to learn any of the local languages of the country that made her who she is today - a far cry from her humble beginnings in Rabat.

Circumstances have changed and so have the political fortunes of her husband which have taken a nosedive together with Gambia's economy. Her extravagant lifestyle has also suffered a set back impacted by donors holding on to development funds because of the appalling human rights record of her husband and the high level corruption that has slowly brought the economy to a standstill.

Lack of financial resources has made it difficult to divert development funds to sustain a lifestyle that has proven to be too expensive for a poor country like The Gambia.  Their $ 3.5 million mansion just outside Washington DC is rumored to be on the verge of being put up on the market.

Meanwhile, the new found passion of raising funds for cancer and to save Gambia's children has begun in earnest by aggressively employing misrepresentation of facts to attract donors.  For example,  the First Lady's Save the Children Foundation invited the CEO of an obscure organization based in Washington DC to help in the promotion of the First Lady's "good works" by appointing her as Gambia's Goodwill Ambassador.

In the testimonial issued in conjunction with her appointment boasts of the Gambia being country " where the school buses are clean and fully air-conditioned luxury buses, children looking well nourished and healthy,  the handicapped in wheel chairs, lights on, water running, clean public utilities, didn't see any one asking for bribes to do their jobs.  These are just a few.  The Gambia - Hope for Africa."

Of course, there are no luxury air-conditioned school buses in The Gambia.  In fact, there are no government-provided, regularly operated school bus service beyond the donated standing room only buses for Gambian children in the urban area, similar to the one depicted here.  Most Gambian children still walk for miles to and from school.

In trying to paint a false and more favorable picture, the First Lady and the staff of the Gambian Embassy in Washington DC succeeded in defeating the very purpose of their charm offensive, that is to raise funds, not to help Gambian children who need it the most but to help finance the expensive lifestyle of  Mr and Mrs. Yaya Jammeh.    

Why is Jammeh siding with Burundi's Nkurunziza

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the AU Summit 

Self preservation is the only reasonable explanation why Yaya Jammeh,, the Gambian dictator, is siding with President Nkurunziza and against the AU and the United Nations in sending peacekeeping troops to stem the escalation of violence in Burundi where over 400 people have already been killed, senselessly.

Yaya Jammeh spent an entire year cooped up in his State House den, with intermittent visits to his home village after an attempt was made by dissidents to unseat him a little over a year ago.

The constant threat posed by opponents to his brutal, corrupt and incompetent regime. both from dissidents living abroad and from his own divided army, has rendered his regime ineffectual.
Gambia's economy is on a steady decline for over a decade with no sign of improving in the short- to medium-term because of fiscal and monetary indiscipline that has become the hallmark of his 21-year dictatorial rule.

The Gambia's economic troubles have been exacerbated by sanctions imposed by the country's traditional donors, including the World Bank and the African Development Bank, both of whom have not provided the regime with any budget support in 2014.

The European Union's Development Fund has held in escrow approximately US$ 36 million in development aid because of Jammeh's deplorable human rights record.

The Gambia is not suffering from economic isolation but it has been isolated diplomatically, both internationally and regionally as well.  It's relations with Senegal is at its lowest ebb since independence from Britain in 1965.  It is because of his lack of access to development aid from Gambia's traditional partners and increasing isolation from his regional partners in ECOWAS, that forced the idiosyncratic dictator to mount a diplomatic charm offensive, a couple of years ago, towards the Gulf States.

Abruptly change the country's name without notice or public debate to the Islamic Republic of The Gambia is seen as part of the hope of attracting new friends in the Arab and Islamic world.

Jammeh would rather have Gambians talk about anything but internal problems resulting from misrule under Jammeh.  Playing mischievous role he's been known for did not come as a surprise to many Gambians.  But in the words of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "Leaders who stand by while civilians are slaughtered in their name must be held responsible," insisting that the Burundi crisis require the "serious and urgent commitment."

Hopefully, Africa - minus Yaya Jammeh and Nkurunziza - and the rest of the world will prevail over belligerent act of defiance to avert another genocide in a continent that is yearning for democracy, the rule of law, economic growth and development for its people.  Africans have become increasingly impatient with tin pot dictators and despot who will do anything to stay in power. Enough is enough.

Alhagie Abdoulie Ceesay is still gravely ill as case is adjourned for the umpteenth time

Alhagie Abdoulie Ceesay

The case of the Gambian radio journalist and Managing Director of Teranga FM has been adjourned for the umpteenth time as the regime's mercenary Justice Simeon Abi applied their favorite form of judicial torture - delaying justice.

The same mercenary Judge adjourned the case thrice previously and denied the 25 year old radio journalist bail for a bailable offense.  In fact, in his last October ruling, he denied him bail on national security grounds.

Justice Simeon ABI

Teranga FM radio is the only radio that translates local news and current events in the local vernacular for the ordinary Gambian to know what their rotten government is up to.  That in itself does not endanger national security.

Justice Abi has adjourned the case again until February 2nd after he saw that the accused was in pain and had to be helped in climbing the stairs. The judge asked the accused why can't he walk straight, according to a witness in the courtroom.  He responded that he was ill.  At this juncture the court was adjourned.

Judge Abi had adjourned cases, including Alhagie Ceesay's case, based on laughable and flimsy reasons.  This judge has adjourned cases because he had to attend meetings and workshops rather than dispense justice in the most expeditious manner.

Alhagie Abdoulie Ceesay is gravely ill with an enlarged liver sustained while being tortured.  Judge Abi knows the health condition of the accused and yet he has refused to refer the matter to the medical authorities so that the journalist can receive urgent medical treatment.  Should anything go wrong with his health, Judge Abi will be culpable as well as the regime of Yaya Jammeh.  Judge Abi has questioned the accused about his health and was told by the accused that he was ill.

Slow walking cases has become the hallmark of the dictatorial regime of Yaya Jammeh and his mercenary judges imported from Nigeria to do the dirty work of the most brutal, corrupt and incompetent dictatorship in Africa.

"Jammeh is going to be issuing ID cards to Islamic militants" say authorities in Senegal

Senegalese police checkpoint at entrance of a luxury hotel

When the Gambian dictator Yaya Jammeh, abruptly and without warning changed the name of The Gambia to the Islamic, Republic of The Gambia last month, many, including us here at the Sidi Sanneh Blog, attributed it as part of his grander scheme of appeasing the Saudi's and Gulf State into offering development aid to his cash-strapped country   after similar assistance from the European Union was held in escrow because the country's appalling human rights record.

The change occured shortly before the Israeli Ambassador to Senegal who is concurrently accredited to The Gambia presented his letters of credence in Banjul as his country's new Ambassador who's stationed in the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

In a Times of Israel interview shortly thereafter Ambassador Hirschson openly questioned   the wisdom as well as the timing of the change in the name of the country by hinting that it could yet prove to be a slippery slope with unforeseen consequences.  He was quoted as saying that "you are not really a master of your future.  These things sometimes take a life of their own", referring to the insertion of "Islamic state" in the midst of the havoc by ISIS.

Gambia has suddenly become a country of interest in the fight against Islamic terror because of the country's lax national identification (ID) laws and multiple types of identification documents that are in use.  At the inception, there was the stenciled and laminated ID and voters cards which were later replaced by biometrics national ID cards with a microchip embedded containing vital personal data of the individual.  This program that met all international standards was discontinued because it was tamper-proof and thus cannot be altered or manipulated in any form. It proved too transparent for the regime of Yaya Jammeh.

The Gambia decided that it will revert to the old stenciled/ laminated ID card that can easily be manipulated and altered in place of the national biometrics ID card program that had met all international standards, including the ECOWAS-sanctioned ID program that will foster and make possible freer movement of persons across borders.  This program came into effect January 1 2016.

In light of these developments, Senegal has decided to scrutinize all personal ID documents, especially of those issued by The Gambia.  According to a source in Dakar who is very close to the presidency, "Senegal thinks Jammeh is going to be issuing ID cards to Islamic militants, so they are now scrutinizing Gambian documents."  The same source proceeded to advise thus: "Readers should detest and avoid travelling with laminated documents."

Yaya Jammeh must tell Gambians the state of the groundnut sub-sector

It all started when Jammeh deliberately ordered that the producer price is not announced publicly - a deviation from past practice.

Last March, it was mooted that the Gambia Groundnut Corporation, (GGC) the agency that has monopoly over the sub-sector was going to be absorbed into a new entity to be called the National Food Security, Processing and Marketing Corporation which was later changed by dropping the word "marketing" from the name.

As at now, no Bill has been brought to the floor of the National Assembly for its creation and approval into law creating the new entity.  It appears that this did not prevent the regime of Jammeh from allowing the NFSPC from operating illegally because its creation has not been approved by the National Assembly and assented to by Jammeh.

Local reports now have it that farmers, in apparent desperation for lack of marketing outlets and information regarding marketing arrangements for this years crop, have resorted to bartering their groundnuts for rice with middlemen.  Who these middlemen are is any body's guess.

And certainly bartering groundnuts for rice was not our idea of what Vision 2016 was about i.e. rice self-sufficiency by 2016.  We are less rice self-sufficient today than at the inception of this ill-fated, poorly-conceived and politically-driven Vision 2016 which should be scrapped as distraction.

Farmers are faced with the most difficult challenges they've ever faced in the 21-year history of this incompetence regime.  According to reports, cash from Banjul to replenish the few buying points or "seccos" - presumably operated by the new NFSPC whose legal status is unclear - is not forthcoming because the old GGC had been bankrupted for years and no viable alternative has been proposed. Farmers are having to travel long distances to buying points because there are fewer of them this year, all because of lack of financial resources. See here and here for options available to the regime.

We said last year that contracting $ 30 million from the Islamic Development Bank to inject into an already bankrupt GGC was adding to Gambia's debt burden woes. We hope Jammeh heeded our advise thus saving the Gambian taxpayer $ 30 million plus service charge.
   

Another slap in the face of the Christian community

Bishop James Yaw Odico.

Yaya Jammeh, the Gambian dictator, has delivered yet another slap in the face of the minority Christian community in the Gambia by delegating the Mayor of Banjul instead of his Vice President or, at least, a member of his Cabinet to represent the Government at the consecration of Bishop James Yaw Odico who is the second Gambian to hold such position.

The Mayor of Banjul who was elected to the job not as a member of the ruling party but as an Independent candidate and, therefore, does not even share the same political party with Jammeh.  The Mayor is not part of the hierarchy of the government establishment and neither does he occupy an official post within the government of Yaya Jammeh.

This blatant snub is coming at the heels of Jammeh's abrupt decision to proclaim The Gambia, the smallest country on the African continent an Islamic Republic, making it only the second such Republic in Africa after Mauritania.

By contrast, when the late Bishop Johnson was enthroned as Archbishop, Jammeh was gracious enough to have, at least, delegated his Vice President.  Opposition Leaders and the Imam Ratib of Banjul were also in attendance.

To have delegated the Mayor of Banjul as government's representative is not only a slap in the face of Anglicans but the Christian community at large.  As a leader in the Christian community put it to us "Benjamin Roberts could have represented the Government because he is a Christian."  Mr. Roberts, the only Christian in Jammeh's cabinet, is the current Minister of Tourism.

Editorial: Should eligible Gambians register to vote?

Sidi Sanneh 

The simple answer to the question is, of course, YES.  Every eligible Gambian must register to secure a voting card without which access to the voting booth will be denied.

From afar, it would appear preposterous to even entertain the question, especially when the country in question is The Gambia and the leader currently occupying State House is none other than the notoriously brutal, incompetent and corrupt dictator who prefers to be addressed as His Excellency Alhagie Doctor, Professor Yaya Abdul-Aziz Jamus Junkung Jammeh, Nasurudeen, Balilimansa.

Voter participation is something every free society should and does encourage.  In authoritarian regimes, it is discouraged unless it benefits those in power, and the Gambia is no different.  Every effort will be made by the dictatorship to discourage those voters who would potentially vote for the opposition parties.  It is therefore in the interest of the opposition parties to encourage increase participation of voters, new and first time voters, in the electoral process.

However, the message has been muddled up, inadvertently, I might add, by those opposed to the regime of Yaya Jammeh by citing the recently passed amendments to the country's electoral laws that clear favor the incumbent.  In addition to these odious laws, the D 100 replacement fee required of all previously registered voters who've lost or mutilated their original voter's card - a replacement fee that some see as some form of a poll tax and thus an infringement on the voting rights of citizens.

While sympathetic to this view, I think the refusal to cast one's ballot in the 2016 elections should be predicated on broader and more consequential issues as the recently passed laws egregiously titled "The Electoral Reform Act of 2015."  We still do not understand why the opposition never campaigned against the 50+1 rule that is almost a universally accepted norm and an easily understood concept.

In debating the issue of whether to register or not to register, we must keep two things separate (i)  the inherent right of every Gambian of voting age to have access to the voting booth which can only be obtained by registering to vote and (ii) the right of the individual to exercise OR not to exercise that right.  The two are not inextricably linked.  Therefore, they are mutually exclusive.

If we agree on these premises, then every Gambian regardless of party affiliation, should register and be issued a voter's card.  It is up to the individual voter to decide whether the prevailing conditions are sufficient to warrant his or her participation in the upcoming elections.

We've always said that it would be ill-advised for the opposition to proceed to elections in 2016 without a radical overhaul of the electoral laws.  We see, everyday, signs that the Jammeh regime is determined to win the 2016 vote even before a single vote is cast by manipulating the electoral roll and passing electoral laws that only add to an already rough and hostile terrain for opposition parties.

Nothing extraordinary has taken place to warrant reconsider of our position.  And we don't think those with similar views at home and abroad should either.  That said, we encourage every eligible Gambian to register and be issued with a voter's card so that in the event that the regime of Yaya Jammeh meets the demand of those who want to see a change in the current electoral laws.