Monday, December 31, 2012

Jammeh’s APRC supporters outraged by rumours of torture and murder: Halifa Sallah

National Assembly leader claims bloggers ‘insulted’ Gambia’s leadership


A majority leader of Gambia’s National Assembly has accused bloggers of putting stories online that “insulted” the country’s leadership.
 
“Some people are blogging and putting stories on the internet and other websites insulting the leadership of this country,” Hon. Fabakary Tombong Jatta claims while speaking during an adjournment debate of the Assembly on Dec. 19, 2012.


This angle of the news is given little prominence by local media and can only be found embedded in stories on the papers it appeared. Instead the local media focused on the issues of mainstream media that we’ve heard over and over, a local journalist and blogger told The North Bank Evening Standard.

Who secured the release of Senegalese prisoners from MFDC rebels?



Untying the hostages/prisoners (photo credit: Saikou Jammeh)

2012 is deadliest year for journalists: RSF



Friday, December 21, 2012

The Gambia: Forward With Taiwan Aid And Advocacy

Media watchdog suggest Taiwan can and should do more than just aid 

Button-like image of country described in filename
Button-like image of country described in file name (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Indications are that The Gambia is far from letting her bilateral relations with Taiwan strained. Looking forward to ties regarded as "cordial and beneficial" the tiny West African country of less than 2 million people on Tuesday gave assurances of "continued bilateral cooperation and partnership." 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

CBG must play role on exchange rate policy

Cropped version of :Image:Gambia President Yah...
In October 2012, President Yahya Jammeh forced exchange rate down in a directive against "hoarding" but the IMF did not recognise such mandate as the Central Bank of The Gambia is responsible of regulating the financial market (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For full confidence to return to the financial market of The Gambia, the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG), which is responsible for exchange rate policy, must continues to implement this policy framework, according to the IMF.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to the country led by Mr. David Dunn revealed that the recent directive by the Office of President Yahya Jammeh on the exchange rate and shipments of U.S. dollars led to some “disruptions” in the foreign exchange market and created “uncertainty” about The Gambia’s exchange rate policy.

Gambia: Economic activity improving


Gambian Women at Serrekunda Market (Photo Credit: Access Gambia)
After a year enmesh in drought, very poor harvest, and hunger, think-tanks have announced economic activity is improving in the West African nation of The Gambia.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Gambia spy agency arrests online editor

Gambia: Politician wants activist Imam released immediately

Gambia ‘drowning’ in global corruption poll



Gambia's president Yahya Jammeh is presiding over an increasingly corrupt country/here he speaks to journalists in Nov 2011/PHOTO/AFP

MIGRANT REMITTANCES!




Central Bank Governor, Mr. Amadou Colley
Migrant remittances are recognised to be a significant channel through which Gambians in the Diaspora contribute to local development and poverty alleviation. Prior to the global economic crisis in 2007 remittance surpassed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as the biggest source of financial inflow.
The increase in remittances is basically a continuation of the recent trends with significant improvements in 2011 as it forms up to 10 percent (%) of The Gambia’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP (the total value of goods and services that the country produces in a year).

Gambia: Energy Consumption ‘Increases Dramatically’



Njogu Bah
Gambia’s Minister for Presidential Affairs Dr. Njogu Bah has said that energy consumption in the Gambia has been increasing at a relatively fast rate due to population growth and economic development, even thought the base rate maybe to somewhat low.

His claim came amid increased electricity tariff and a power-supply social service experts said is unreliable, inefficient and unaffordable.

 He said the country’s energy use has increased dramatically, but was quick to admit that the country has also suffers from significant energy deficits, while speaking during a December 6, 2012 stakeholder’s validation forum on the “Development of Electricity Action Plan and Renewable Energy Law in The Gambia”, held at the Kairaba Beach hotel.

Friday, December 7, 2012

CPJ's new digital campaign demands justice in journalist killings

CPJ - New York, December 6, 2012--An average of 30 journalists are murdered each year in direct reprisal for their work, and the perpetrators are almost never brought to justice. To fight impunity in press killings, the Committee to Protect Journalists has launched Speak Justice: Voices Against Impunity, a new digital platform to help break the cycle of fear and censorship.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

MENACE OF RAPE: Can’t be buried under carpet



Rape is s very sensitive issue, but a global phenomenon. In some countries they are more open about this act considered a menace to society but in other countries they are not that much open about it. However, rape is a social vice that cannot be buried under the carpet, as Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu, a Gambian-German filmmaker told Modou S. Joof of The North Bank Evening Standard in an interview.   

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

For our children: Let’s start with prayers


GAMBIAN KIDS/PHOTO/STEVE WHEELER
Statistics puts cases of violence against mothers a 127; violence against mothers and children at 87; violence against children at 16; other violence against children like forced or early marriage, physical abuse, homelessness, school fees at 10; paternity dispute at 36; and custody dispute at 100. 

Poor Kuntaur and Janjanbureh highlight Gambia’s MDGs off target


L-R: Info minister Bala Garba Jahumpa, Finance minister Abdou Kolley, IFAD WCA Director Ides de Willebois, and Agriculture minister Solomon Owens/PHOTO/m.e.NJIE

Poverty is highest in rural-Gambia where 73.9 percent (%) people live in poverty compared to 32.7% in urban-Gambia. In 2011, Kuntaur and Janjanbureh local government areas in the central river regions (CRR north and south), like the 2003 Integrated Household Survey (IHS) have the highest poverty rates with 79 and 73.2 percent respectively.

GYIN Gambia Chapter in session for journalists and bloggers


Participants and Facilitators

As part of the "I am a GYINer national campaign" set in motion since July this year, Global Youth Innovation Network Gambia Chapter (GYIN Gambia Chapter) hosted a training session for Gambian journalists, bloggers and online reporters.

Even when Jammeh’s era is not ending yet, Halifa Sallah envisages a third republic in 2016


PDOIS Secretary-General, Halifa Sallah

The Secretary General of opposition, the Peoples Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) foresees the end of Gambia’s second republic and president Yahya Jammeh’s era in 2016.

A third republic will be born in 2016, Mr. Halifa Sallah said. However, for this to be, it means the opposition must win the next presidential election scheduled for that year, even though international observers have said the president is sure to win every election in the country whatever the case.

“Gambia is in a state of flux,” Halifa said in a November 9 PDOIS statement he issued “On the political situation of the Gambia and the threat of an impending armed insurrection.”

President Yahya Jammeh/AFP
 “PDIOS is willing to give guidance at each turn of the country so that our ship of state will anchor on safe shores. Those who want human rights protection today and change by 2016 should mobilize the people to give the opposition the power of numbers over the incumbent. No leader on earth has ever been able to defy the power of numbers,” he stated. 

As combatants sit down to negotiate a peaceful settlement of disputes, Mr. Sallah said PDOIS supports the meeting of opposition parties to select a liaison to prepare the ground to draw Jesse Jackson to promote negotiation for electoral reform. 

Monday, November 19, 2012

GAMBIA: Young talents to star in €51K movie - ‘The Woman In A Black Jacket’

Prince Sankanu speaks to Modou S. Joof, publisher of The North Bank Evening Standard, on his film project
“The Woman In  A Black Jacket” is one of two movies to be shot in The Gambia in a film project initiated and set in motion by Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu, a Germany-based Gambian filmmaker, author and strategy consultant.

The movie is about the menace of rape, a sensitive and major topic around the world, and Sankanu said talking about it (rape) is about placing the mirror before society to look at this issue which cannot be buried under the carpet.

CPJ: Gambian journalist threatened after writing on executions


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NEWS ALERT

Lagos, Nigeria, November 16, 2012-The Committee to Protect Journalists today said it holds authorities in the Gambia responsible for the safety of a journalist who has received death threats following critical coverage of the government.

Abubacarr Saidykhan, a freelancer who contributes to several news websites, told CPJ that four unknown people on Tuesday threatened him at his Ebo Town residence in Kanifing Municipality, some seven miles (11 kilometers) from the capital Banjul. Saidykhan said he was near his compound gate with his brother when the men drove up in an unmarked vehicle with tinted windows and threatened to kill him next time they see him. One of the men called him "a very stubborn journalist" before they drove off.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Gambian journalist reports second set of death threats

Reporters Without Borders Update

Saidykhan/Photo/facebook
15 November 2012

GAMBIA

Thugs threaten to kill journalist, what are authorities doing?

RSF - Reporters Without Borders is very disturbed by an increase in threats and intimidation attempts against freelance journalist Abubacarr Saidykhan, who – along with Daily News reporter Baboucarr Ceesay, the Gambian Press Union’s  vice-president – already received death threats by email in October.

After talking to Saidykhan, Reporters Without Borders is amazed that the presence of police who are supposed to protect him has had no deterrent effect on those responsible for the threats, and calls on the authorities to accept that they have a duty to take effective action.

Water management remains significant constrain to agricultural development in Africa - Experts

A dws-waterfootprint-Irrigation
Think-tanks from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) on Monday said water management remains one of the most significant constrains to agricultural development in Africa. 

The experts believe future increases in food supplies and economic prosperity for the rural poor will come mainly from improved agricultural water management combined with other interventions contributing to production and productivity of agriculture.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

The Journey To Mansakonko

The Trans-Gambia Highway is the most important road in The Gambia, running across the center of the nation in a north-south direction. Part of this road is still begging to be constructed for nearly four years now/PHOTO/Radosław Botev.

Agribusiness fair to link stakeholders in food chain

PHOTO BY M.E. NJIE
An Agribusiness Fair dubbed “Lumo in the city” slated for November 11-17, 2012 at Dream Park, Senegambia, is intended to create linkages between farmers, fishermen, and gardeners consumers, buyers and suppliers in an effective manner.
 
The organisers said on Tuesday that bringing together stakeholders in the food chain will enhance effective communication between the business sector and the community at large. More than 65 participants are expected to attend the fair.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

US judge jails anti-Muslim filmmaker for a year

LOS ANGELES: The man behind the anti-Islam video which sparked widespread protests in the Muslim world was jailed for a year Wednesday for breaching the terms of his probation for a previous offense.

Mark Basseley Youssef will serve the sentence in federal prison after he admitted four allegations of using false identities, violating the terms of his probation for a bank fraud conviction in 2010.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

EU GOVERNANCE PROJECT: First step to foster democracy, human rights in Gambia

EUD Offices in The Gambia
“Today’s workshop is the first step in an important programme to foster democracy and human rights, Madam Agnes Guillaud, Chargée d’affaires, EU Delegation to The Gambia said on November 1 during a stakeholders meeting on “Journalists and the Media” held in Bakau.

“The Journalists and the Media Project” is a component of the European Union Delegation (EUD) and Gambian Government joint Governance Programme. 

Monday, November 5, 2012

GPU boycotts forum meant to discuss way forward for media

Emil Touray, GPU President
Members say nothing warrants such a decision 
     
(Gambia News Online) - The leadership of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) has decided to boycott stakeholders’ forum in which it’s invited as a “main stakeholder” to discuss the preliminary report that gives an overview of the findings on the situation of the journalists and media in The Gambia.  

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Ghana: Political mood keeps gaining momentum ahead of presidential elections

Ghana's new presidential palace: the Golden Jubilee House worth an estimated $50 million, incumbent Mahama and opposition leader Akufo-Addo races towards this edifice which has been disputed over its cost. PHOTO:Panoramio