Breaking News

Kibaaro News has been reliably informed that Bai Lowe’s 13 year old son, Yusupha Lowe and his 19 year old brother, Pa Alieu Lowe have been released by the Banjul Monster, President Jammeh.  The duo’s freedom from tyranny was secured as a precondition by the Ghanian President in accepting his invitation to grace Gambia’s 50th anniversary of nationhood.

We will keep you updated as more news filters in from the nostrils of Dictator Jammeh.

CHERNO NJIE-A TRUE SON OF THE GAMBIA

WHAT HAPPENED TO JUSTICE?

Mr. Cherno Njie, a Texas real estate developer and an alleged financier of the failed Banjul coup, has pleaded not guilty to charges brought against him by the United States Government in violation of the Neutrality ACT.  Mr. Njie is also expected to leave Minnesota tomorrow by himself and to report to a “half-house” (transition house) in Texas upon arrival. Most importantly, he has been given the green light to continue running his real estate business but must utilize a surrogate (third party) for internet related business operations.

Cherno’s Defense Attorney argued that Mr. Njie is a businessman without any criminal record. Furthermore, the Defense Attorney trashed the U.S Government attorney’s submissions as “mere allegations” and not factually established. The defense similarly posited all that the Government prosecutor submitted was a “document” and Mr. Njie is innocent till proven guilty in a competent court of law. The defense attorney also recognized the presence of Cherno’s wife and brother, Mrs. Fatou Njie and Ndongo Njie respectively, who flew from Texas to wittiness the court hearing.

During recess, the author of the piece approached the Government attorney for comments on the current happenings in the Gambia.  He humbly admitted he knows little about the Gambia as he is in a low position on assignment from the U.S Government in Washington DC. U.S Federal Magistrate Steven E. Rau found Gambia’s alleged December 30th 2014 Coup alleged financier, Cherno Njie, legible for bail. As a consequent, he wasted no time in releasing Cherno Njie to his hometown of Texas.

At that point, the Government attorney who ran out of luck advanced that Mr. Njie was the main financier of the foiled coup. He tendered a document allegedly written by the coup plotters in preparation for the takeover. That didn’t deter Magistrate Rau who took a longer recess to make that heavy call from the powers vested in him.  The Government attorney then asked to be given till tomorrow morning to see if they will appeal Judge Rau’s decision to grant Mr. Njie bail, which shows that the decision favored Cherno Njie. The Judge granted the U.S Government till tomorrow at noon to appeal or have Mr. Njie leave for Texas.

The Minnesota Civil Rights Local chapter showed full solidarity and celebrated today’s victory. Many callers from out of state and heads of other Civil Rights called to show solidarity and to celebrate the court victory.  U.S Federal Magistrate Steven E. Rau has been hailed by many attendees of his court as an upright man. Many described him as a reasonable Judge, who won’t settle for Government’s mere allegations. It is hoped and believed by what he demonstrated so far, he will deliver justice, despite the numerous odds against the accused.

Commentators after the court hearing observed that the U.S government will not have the victory it wanted on this case due to lack of factual evidence as argued by the defense attorney that such “document” was not evidence but just “mere allegations.”  Others opined that the U.S government is setting some wrong precedence by its persistence to prosecute these alleged coup plotters despite the existence of the U.S Neutrality ACT.  Suffice it to say that if you are fighting any war, you must ensure that you are on the right side of history. Needless to say in this case, the U.S Government is not despite knowing fully the vicious dictatorship in the Gambia. The U.S Government’s effort to prosecute these heroes viewed by many as yet a political hypocrisy.  Persecuting people trying to liberate their country from the clutches of tyranny is political thuggery and an insult to democracy.

Many believe the Jammeh administration will not update Gambians on actual developments of the trial particularly the granting of bail to the alleged plotters.  From their track records, they only inform the news starved Gambians with information that favors the government such as the guilty plea of Papa Faal. All said and done, all three defendants have been granted bail in U.S Federal Courts. Moreover, they can go back to work and carry on with their everyday normal life. This is at least commendable and deserves some recognition. The fundamental question which remains is Will the U.S Neutrality ACT law be waived or repelled? The answer is coming to you soon…

By Yero Jallow

Dictator Jammeh are you qualified to preach justice & rule of law?

In a speech delivered by the deputy speaker of the national assembly dictator Jammeh told 27 new lawyers that were called to the bar that the legal profession in the country has lately been under the radar due to the undesirable behavior of some of its members. President Jammeh who has been severely criticized by rights groups for gross violation of human rights in the small West African country mustered the guts to preach new lawyers on the rule of law and justice. He said peace and security of a country is created and nurtured through social imperatives like the rule of law and the equitable dispensation of justice. This is the 3rd time lawyers trained at the University of the Gambia are called to the bar.

Critics say dictator Jammeh’s speech is an indication that lawyers are being watch and that they could be in hot soup if they happen to trample on the interest of Gambia’s chief adjudicator. The climate of fear in the Gambia has made it very difficult for people in various works of life to execute their duties appropriately. Civil servants have fallen victim to the unjust system hovering over everyone’s head. A number of individuals in the legal profession were arrested and dragged to court over frivolous allegations and others ended up behind bars for some time. It is one thing to write very brilliant speeches exhorting peace, justice and rule of law but it is another thing to act accordingly. As the saying goes a speech that comes from the heart would enter another heart but a speech that comes from the lips of an insincere and deceitful leader would bounce off the ears of listeners. If there is anyone who needs to internalize such a speech on justice, peace and rule of law it is dictator Jammeh himself.

KARAMO SANNEH-NEEDS YOU.

Karamo Sanneh, a 37-year-old Gambian, resident of Tallinding in the Kanifing Municipality is in dire need of urgent financial help to go for an overseas medical treatment. According to a medical report from the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH), Karamo was referred from Medical Research Council (MRC) in May 2012 with diagnosis of membrane-proliferative-glomerulonephritis type I, with active microangiopathic and tubular atrophy. In other words, he is a known chronic renal disease patient who immediately needs medical attention to save his life. He is being followed up

He is being followed up at the Nephrology Unit since then.  Recently, he started experiencing abdominal distension, bilateral pedal oedema, general weakness and occasional dizziness. Sanneh is a family man who depends only on him for their sustenance and there is nobody to take care of his family. Please for the sake of goodness and kindness help Karamo get the medical attention he urgently needs. No penny or pound will be small. Donate generously to safe Karamo and his family.

In this regard, he appeals to the government, NGOs, philanthropists, private sector and individuals both home and abroad to come to his aid. Please…please…please help Karamo Sanneh. Anyone willing to help Karamo Sanneh can contact him on the following numbers: (+220) 9921225/9119983.

PAPA FAAL

ALH SAIDY BARROW

Alleged Coup Plotters in the Gambia on December 30^th 2014, Alhagie Saidy Barrow and Papa Faal were released conditionally today in St. Paul and Minneapolis Federal Courthouses respectively.  Barrow and Faal are charged for allegedly violating the U.S Neutrality ACT, after an attempted coup to dislodge the tyrannical regime of Yaya AJJ Jammeh. This reporter was in court and files this report for readers. Both defenders were represented by their lawyers. The court hearing was accompanied by tumulus solidarity from cross-section of Gambians in Minnesota and out of State.

The Release Procedure

The duo are released temporarily to a “half-house” (transition point), from where upon satisfying the conditions of the bail, they will be released permanently to their designated home choices. This is first for their safety and second to ensure they do not go back to participate in a similar operation in the Gambia.  As such, internet restriction is part of the bail conditions, added to getting permission for travels outside the State. Both Barrow and Faal can seek employment and work as they desire.

Alhagie Saidy Barrow.

Alhagie’s lawyer impressed Gambians, the Judge, and all Americans after he likened Jammeh to the Ugandan late renowned dictator, Edi Amin Dada. He argued thus, “Alhagie is an honorable man” and he gave specific examples of countries where the U.S neutrality ACT was waived on the conditions that those nations were upon review believed to be “unfriendly.” The Prosecution in a sympathetic tone clearly stated that he was only representing the United States and not any foreign Government (The Gambia). In the end the Judge acknowledged the Gambians in the court and at some point even receive a big applause from the attendees. Barrow’s lawyer also notified the courts that the defendant’s family has been killed by Jammeh’s administration.

Papa Faal

Papa Faal pleaded guilty in his last appearance in court. The judge noted submission of his Gambian passport, to which his Lawyer, a former FBI agent and Prosecutor in the same court that Papa is being tried argued that Faal’s belongings were taken from the place he resided in the Gambia after the residence was raided. Just to clarify again on the rumors that papa’s guilty plea means he will be used against his co-conspirators, it is nil, at least to my knowledge, having access to both Papa and others actively helping out on the case.

Analysis: The Heroic Resistance

Oh well, too many, this was an operation that touched Jammeh’s eggs nest. To many, it remains a heroic resistance. Gambia continues to be glued to a scary dictatorship. Term limits are not in place. Elections are rigged and the election commission is composed of Jammeh’s sycophants. The media is controlled by the administration and the few other private media operators are timely targeted and closely monitored on their activities. It is blurred and hope of freedom and democracy is getting very slim, at least not anytime soon. Jammeh cannot be rehabilitated on his criminality. Citizens continue to disappear into thin air without trace. Others are languishing in jail, under very unacceptable conditions. This is what led to the final conclusion that the only way out is to topple Jammeh’s regime by any means necessary. The truth be said, this is not an easy conclusion to arrive at, but for how long will Gambians continue to wait for “yallah-bahna” without action? The answer to what happened gives Jammeh a clue that the end is near. This is just a reality in life.

This development certainly won’t go well with Jammeh. Many are of the opinion that such is acceptable and justice has started to surface. To others, it is a victory for justice. Others asked if Jammeh and his state-controlled media will do justice to inform Gambians on this development, especially after they announced the arrest of Faal, Njie and others initially. If the state-controlled media fails to update citizens on this wonderful development, it goes on to expose the tyrannical administration even more on their wish to keep Gambians brain-washed, a serious misstep in their calculations. While they continue to do their evil deeds, it is so easy to expose their criminal nature.

One thing is certain; dictatorship doesn’t like the kind of exposure. Jammeh and his administration are a mockery in these court proceedings. It remains to be seen, at least for the rest of his reign, which predictably is on the verge of collapse, to whether Jammeh will at once realize the danger he poses to citizens and his collateral damage on the impoverished country.

Please don’t miss out on the series currently being compiled by this reporter.

BY YERO JALLOW

MRS FATOU JAGNE

PRESIDENT OBAMA

The international community cannot sit, wait and leave Gambians to their own fate. They have to make sure that they push for investigations to be done in Gambia; Article 19’s Fatou Jagne has told journalists in Dakar yesterday. The rights and free expression advocate said the rights group that gathered in the Senegalese capital yesterday are “quite concerned by the conditions of detentions, by the lack of information coming out from the government and from the Gambia as a country, but also by the silence of the international community on the human rights abuses” being perpetuated in The Gambia.

“Obviously, everyone condemned the coup: we do as human rights organisations… but we want the international community to be interested in what is happening in the Gambia more than just a statement of an unconstitutional means of taking power,” she told Gambia Beat on the sidelines of the press conference yesterday.

“Obviously, that is a setback,” and she went on “nobody wants coup d’état, that is a setback for democracy but also open space must be allowed to avoid those kind of situations. And we want to call attention to the danger of leaving a situation to perish like this.”

Mrs Jagne-Senghore said the people need to have open space to speak out, and participate in the development. “We have been hearing rumours in the past of coup d’ etats… how comes that in a small country, every now and then there is a coup?”

She said that they have thirty days have gone past, and people have been arbitrarily detained incommunicado without anybody knowing their whereabouts, and so far there has not been any legal representation for them.

“Most of the people have no clue where their loved ones are, so we believe that this is quite wrong and it is against the constitution itself, and against all norms. In addition, the most important thing is, there is information blackout from the government. They have not indicated what those people have done, why they have been arrested and what is going to happen to them; are they going organise fair trials…?” she indicated.

Mrs Jagne further said they are “quite shocked” that authorities can arrest women and teenagers for acts that have been supposedly committed by the son or the father respectively. “I don’t think there is any criminal law which says that you can be held responsible for acts that have been committed by a family member, unless you have committed it yourself. I don’t think a 16-year-old boy has any penal responsibility for what could have been committed by the father,” she argued.

Since the coup attempt of last month, many Gambians have fled the country who, according to Mrs. Jagne, could serve national development: “why are you frustrating the whole country to leave and then you start again?” She explained: “The elite has gone, and people are becoming vulnerable where they are within the country, and there are many of people who have left the country – these are ordinary Gambians who are not asking for anything but just to live in peace in their own country and you are denying them that possibility because somebody in their family is a target and you have to target the whole family.

“Also there has been information coming out of the Gambia that they have exhibited bodies of those who have been killed. That is inhuman and against international humanitarian law. You cannot exhibit bodies like that. It is another way of instilling fear, and we hope that those acts will not be committed in the coming weeks….”

F.T. JATTA-APRC POLITICAL PIMP

OJ-PPP POLITICAL HEAVYWEIGHT

Opposition PPP leader has dismissed as ‘premature’ ruling-APRC party bigwig, Fabakary Tombong Jatta’s attribution of the dysfunction of the inter-party committee to opposition ‘dishonesty’.

“Tombong Jatta’s argument shows the premature view they [APRC] have of the opposition and the inter-party dialogue. If we are just meeting to raise our various concerns on how to forge a better way forward, how can the opposition want to destroy the APRC, as was claimed by Tombong Jatta? How can we not protest when we, as opposition with equal rights to those of the ruling party, are being treated unfairly?” OJ demanded sternly.

“We have never refused to recognise the achievements of the APRC as was claimed by Tombong. In fact, how can he even relate the inter-party dialogue to attending state functions? They have never invited me, for instance, to any of the state functions. Does he want me to just drive my car and attend state functions like that when it is all politicised? We are not here to beg for respect or our rights. Our rights must be respected, our presence recognised and appreciated”, the PPP heavy weight added.

The PPP leader continued: “It was the APRC that flouted the agreement in the first place because they still refuse to rectify the anomalies that exist in the electoral laws and the conduct of the entire electoral process. These are all the things we have highlighted in the protest letter that we gave to the Independent Electoral Commission and were a serious point of discourse during the inter-party dialogue”.

“We’ve highlighted the uneven political playing field and called for reform. Some of the points we raised were to make the GRTS available to all, regardless of one’s political standings, relaxation of the issue of requesting permit from the police, the unlawful involvement of government officials in party politics. We also stated that the army and the police should not be partisan because these are important state institutions that must not have political affiliations”, further explained OJ.

“When we were raising all these points, even the administrative secretary representing the APRC was there and didn’t say anything because they are legitimate points. The IEC promised to do something about these concerns that we have raised, but they have failed and then we told them that because of these anomalies, we also cannot go into elections because the process has severe flaws. We have never even boycotted the elections, we were pushed out. In fact, these concerns that we have raised are consistent with the advices from commonwealth”, the seasoned political giant concluded.

Source: Standard.gm