By Sidi Sanneh

Sidi Sanneh telling the Kukoi Story

Imam Baba Leigh’s involuntary imprisonment served as a rallying cry for dissidents and political opponents of Yahya Jammeh, inside and outside the Gambia. The glue that held together the coalition of diaspora and the family and friends of the Imam, I am afraid to say, is threatening to become unstuck. Thanks to Yahya Jammeh and his band of Banjul Mullahs who morph into the Islamic Council and/or Banjul Muslim Elders when circumstances warrant it and mothballed when they are not needed. 

Before I address the threat posed by the GRTS performance of the Mullahs and their newly-minted nayib, I’d like to comment on Jammeh’s evolving strategy of defining the issue purely as a Banjul affair, or more precisely a Wollof matter that must be addressed through that prism.

The injection of a quintessential Banjulian who epitomizes everything wrong with Gambia, then and now, into the scene with his choreographed public intervention will be forever remembered for his public reference to Imam Baba Leigh as his “Ndo” or “Ndoke” ( I think he used the words “suma raka“) is to deprecate, to belittle the venerable Imam are designed by Jammeh to isolate the Imam from the national discuss. These public taunts will continue and so will veil threats.

The political utility and expediency in transforming the affair into a Banjul/Wollof affair was evident from the start by Jammeh, and so he is using the Islamic Council and Banjul Muslim Elders as a propaganda tool to drive a wedge between the Banjul and Muslim communities. It is the same strategy Jammeh had employed when the APRC was comprehensively trounced during the Banjul mayoral elections by Lie Bah, and when Jammeh tried to reduce it to a big APRC family misunderstanding. However belatedly, Gambians have finally come to realize that the APRC is not a family, but a cartel formed to serve the business interests of the majority shareholder – Yaya Jamus Junkung Jammeh.

Referring to the Imam as his ‘NdoKe’, it is a deliberate attempt by the former Managing Directors of NTC during the government of Sir Dawda Jawara, to trivialize false imprisonment and torture that the Imam endured during 5 months at Mile 2. He tried very hard to reduce the Imam to the level of a ‘small boy’. Imams Kah and Fatty are also twenty years younger than the former NTC MD but he dares not refer to them as his ‘small boys’. This public display of scorn and disrespect towards the Imam, in full view of the television audience, is the first step in a process that he is expected to go through, as long as he decides to remain in Banjul. This process main objectives are to demean, degrade and discard. The Imam is now in Phase I with Phases II and III yet to come should he elect to stay in Banjul and not take cue from Ba Kawsu.

Imam Baba Leigh has entered an extremely difficult period of his life. His faith will be tested to the limit. The security forces will be monitoring his movements. His family and friends will be intimidated. His relatives will be thrown out of work, if they are the lucky few who are gainfully employed in a badly-managed and contracting economy. In other countries, dissidents can and do survive organized State repression because there is a support system in place to help dissidents; be they church sanctuaries that provide protective cover or international or local human rights organizations that provide both protective and legal cover, or even individuals who provide home sanctuaries ( a la underground railroad system).

Unfortunately, none of these circumstances apply in The Gambia where the Mosque is one of the repressive support arms of the regime while the Church remain silent on the sidelines in a near-appeasement mode. It is, therefore, unimaginable, in the absence of a national support system, that anyone can withstand such brutal pressures and intimidation tactics employed by Jammeh’s State security apparatus, and still stay true to one’s political and theological leanings without compromise. Ask [Lamin] Waa.

However unpleasant, it must be said that Imam Baba Leigh will have to fight this fight alone in Banjul with a fragmented support group aboard. As we speak, cracks have already started to surface with the Imam’s immediate family’s public declaration of unconditional public support of Jammeh’s move while ‘the purists’ want none of it. In fact, there’s a ‘Taliban (some pun intended here) faction within the purists who will take no prisoners. They want nothing to do with Jammeh even if he ‘sets free’ Imam Baba Leigh. [see my earlier post on this and related matters]. Family members, on the other hand, are more pragmatic and accommodating; and understandably so. If a family member was freed from certain death, I’d be pragmatic and accommodating too. Welcome Home Imam.

A “PARDON” FOR IMAM BABA LEIGH

IS PREPOSTEROUS NONSENSE!

Lamin J Darbo

Lamin J. Darbo: A pardon generally comes after a conviction!

When news of Imam Baba Leigh’s (Imam Leigh) release exploded in Gambian communities at home and abroad, it was greeted with unanimous and justified relief. For watchers of Gambian public space, curiosity nevertheless centred on how the Imam Leigh imbroglio would be explained by his abductor, i.e. the state of The Gambia. The wait wasn’t long, and true to form, the state handling of the affair was astounding in its capriciousness. Or maybe not so astounding as ours is now a country where the absolutely ridiculous is the new normal!

As if nothing was ever amiss, Imam Leigh was paraded before the nation in a manner that exposed his handlers in extraordinary fashion, and our public space as sorry through and through. A citizen was abducted from the sanctuary of his home, and the state made no effort whatsoever to regularise that public criminality by either informing him of his offences, or charging him with a crime against a law, or laws, of The Gambia. After more than five months, he was released from unlawful state detention and told on national television that he was a loudmouth and must apologise to our benevolent father of the Republic, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Doctor Yahya A J J Jammeh (the Professor). And this by custodians of the Gambian moral conscience! By any yardstick, the Imam Leigh saga goes to the very heart of our ability to meaningfully survive as a polity.

In trademark fashion, we awoke to the Daily Observer’s publication of a press release purporting to grant Imam Leigh a presidential pardon. “The Imam of Kanifing Estate Baba Leigh has been released, after a pardon by President Jammeh. The Imam was accompanied to State House by the Imam Ratib of Banjul, Alhaji Cherno Alieu Mass Kah and members of the Supreme Islamic Council. He was received there by the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service, Dr. Njogu Bah”.

To understand what must occur before a pardon could be legitimately granted, we must examine the fundamental and dispositive law as enunciated at section 82 of The 1997 Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia:

(1) The President may, after consulting the Committee established by subsection (2) -

—(a)  grant to any person convicted of any offence a pardon either free or subject to lawful conditions;

—(b)  grant to any person a respite, either indefinite or for a specified period, of the execution of any punishment imposed on that person for any offence;

—(c)  substitute a less severe form of punishment for any punishment imposed on any person for any offence;

—(d)  remit the whole or any part of any punishment imposed on any person for such an offence or any penalty otherwise due to the State on account of any offence

(2)  There shall be a Committee on the exercise of the prerogative of mercy consisting of the Attorney General and three other persons appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the National Assembly.

Clearly, the legal framework of a pardon was not triggered in the case of Imam Leigh. He was abducted, not arrested. In addition, he was neither informed of, nor charged with any offence against any law of The Gambia. Needless to say, and more crucially, Imam Leigh was never convicted and sentenced for a criminal offence by a competently constituted Court. What he encountered was state criminality of the highest order!

As far as the supreme law of the Gambia is concerned, a pardon generally comes after a conviction. On the evidence, Imam Leigh was abducted and disappeared for over five months. He was never charged with any offence, and no prosecutions were commenced against him, and there was no concluded judicial proceeding resulting in a conviction. In the circumstances, there could not be a presidential pardon.

I should also point out that serious criminal offences were committed by the State against the person of Imam Leigh.  As such, anyone who propounds the nonsense that we should be grateful to the Professor for releasing Imam Leigh betrays cluelessness of the highest order. Merely thinking such nonsense is offensive to legality and common sense! There was no reason for the man to be subjected to treatment so completely outside the permission of our laws, the very fact of his abduction and incarceration entitles him to millions in compensation from The Gambia Government and its agents.

BABA LEIGH IS RELEASED BUT THE REAL TRAITORS ARE THE IMAMS AND

ALIEU MBOGE WHO GAVE THE GO AHEAD TO JAMMEH FOR HIS INITIAL ARREST

By Papa Kumba Loum

The release of Imam Baba Leigh is a welcome relief to all and we must commend all those who were in solidarity with the Imam, especially the online newspapers for keeping up the pressure on the Kanilia monster. The UK, USA and the EU must also be commended for adding to the pressure. It was rubbish talk from Njogu Bah stating that Jammeh was not pressured by anyone into releasing the Imam. Njogu Bah is nothing but a 7 feet self-seeking, pathetic buffoon but let him take note that like all those evil and wretched sycophants before him, nemesis will catch up with him.

Observing the whole façade on Gambia TV, my respect for Imam Baba Leigh was even more heightened. His body language said it all. He had utter disgust and disdain for all those idiots.  The so-called Imams present are Imams for hire, and I am sure their families and congregation must be equally disgusted and sickened with the stupid and dim-witted utterances they made.

These Muslim leaders have publicly sold their souls to a thief, a drug trafficker, a liar and a murderer. All these so-called men of God know exactly what Yahya Jammeh is up to and they nevertheless support him because he gives them a lot of money.

It is also confirmed from reliable sources that before Jammeh arrested Imam Baba Leigh he consulted them and they gave him the blessing and go ahead. What will however shock you is the involvement of Alieu Mboge in this whole saga.

Alieu Mboge who hitherto  was a sworn enemy of Jammeh after Jammeh disgraced him following the 1994 coup d’état by arresting him and declaring him a thief, seizing his properties and forcing him into exile in London where he was in limbo until he was “pardoned” by Jammeh. He has now decided to reinvent himself as a Jammeh devotee. People who know Alieu Mboge in London can testify to the fact that he was at one time arranging and ready to sponsor a coup d’état against Jammeh and openly spoke about how idiotic and corrupt Jammeh is.  This same Alieu Mboge had the audacity of labeling Imam Baba Leigh by likening him to the notorious Imam Hamza who preached hatred in the UK. You tell me Uncle Alieu in your stupid wisdom, what hate speech did Imam Bam Leigh preached? As if to add insult to injury, Alieu Mboge insinuated that Baba Leigh was being used by others and that he should only talk about things he knows otherwise he will be whipped by Jammeh- what a disgrace you are Alieu.  As if trying to belittle Imam Baba Leigh some more, he called him my little brother. Shame on you Alieu Mboge! I am sure that your children Jorjoh, Malick and Neneh are dying from embarrassment. Most people have in the past considered you as a self-made man, a man of principle and a proud man for that matter but we all now know who you are and what you are made of.

Gambians the reason why Yahya Jammeh is in power for so long is because of the likes of Alieu Mboge dressed in the name of the Secretary of the Gambian Muslim Elders. I said before to the dislike of some that Yayaha Jammmeh is only 20 percent of the Gambia’s problem. The remaining 80 percent are the likes of Alieu Mboge, Njogu Bah, Imam Ratib Kah, Imam Fatty, Dr Tamsir Mbow, Lamin Jobarteh, Joseph Joof, Crispen Grey Johnson (the list is endless) and all those Judges and so called technocrats who have helped Jammeh perpetuate himself and causing untold suffering to Gambians.

The good thing however is that we now live in the digital age and we are recording and documenting all your deeds and utterances. The day of reckoning is coming and we will have to deal not only with Yahay Jammeh but with all you disgusting so-called opinion leaders.

I would urge the online papers to record and replay the utterances made during the stage manage release of Baba Leigh aired on Gambian TV especially statements made by Alieu Mboge . Please do so for the benefit of the listeners.  We are preparing a Diary of the Gambia’s who is who from 1994-2013. Gambians need to know themselves.

UDP leader enters the homosexuality debate!

The leader of the Gambia’s main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) said “homosexuality is a disease.” Unlike President Yahya Jammeh who threatened to behead homosexuals, Lawyer Ousainou Darboe’s party plans to address homosexuality differently. 

Mr. Darboe said homosexuality is something innate in homosexuals. “My personal moral does not support homosexuals,” Mr. Darboe told Gambia Affairs.

“I would certainly combat homosexuality not by imprisoning them but by preaching and convincing them not to engage in homosexual activities. Just I would convince those idol worshippers to become believers. We believe that they are members of the society and UDP will not accept marriage between two male nor accept marriage between two female. We will encourage them through our religion to accept the fact that marriage is between man and woman.”

Mr Darboe also spoke about last month’s local government election. “It is clear that the last local government election has shown the level of intolerance of the ruling APRC government to dissenting views. Before the elections and immediately after the nomination those who decided to contest under independent ticket were expelled from APRC. And after elections we have seen that supporters of some successful independent candidates were arrested and prosecuted in the Kanifing Municipality and in Central River Region. These are indications that the Jammeh regime is not interested in having people contest against their candidates.”

He said the post-election arrests and charges of opponents of APRC constitute to intimidation and harassment. Darboe added that the Gambia’s political environment is hostile and that the playing field is uneven.

UDP leader said “even though the Jammeh regime is violating the rights of people, it is not right for anybody to disobey the laws of the country because that will lead to state of anarchy. It is obvious that there is no democracy in the country because those who are in charge of operating institutions that should help promote democracy are instead governing according to their wishes. Why is Daily News, Standard newspaper and Teranga FM closed down? If they did anything wrong the due process of law must be followed.”

Ends

THE TYPICAL GAMBIAN MONAD 

By Musa Camara

Since society is the collection of individuals, the formal and non-formal institutions in it are their social creations informed by their values and attained through their collective endeavors. The values they espouse ultimately reflect in their social and political institutions. Therefore, an insight into the typical individual of that society provides basis for understanding the group for the collection is the sum of the units. The sum is not only greater than its individual parts; the whole is, for good or bad, greater than the sum of its collective parts together. But as it is with human beings who are conscious creatures, not abstract objects, the individual agents are cultivated in social milieus where they share common beliefs nurtured in their consciousness. Consequently, the prevailing dominant behaviors of the individuals coalesce to shape their group-think. Their personal preferences or degree of divergence from one another become immaterial ultimately caving in to their dominant traits. Therefore, the pronouncements and protestations, actions and inactions of the average Gambian displayed by his ultimate attitude to his professed principles are appropriate subject of inquiry to facilitate accurate depiction of the units that constitute the whole.

What is the character of a typical Gambian? The Gambian is more often cony, deceitful, and self-centered. He intermittently takes pride in lying as a badge of honor, celebrates any success in deception as a confirmation of his higher intelligence over the victim. The Gambian assumes that his security and advantages in the race of life are assured and guaranteed over others by his ability to willful deceive an associate, and will under the guise of providing genuine support knowingly volunteers misguided ‘help’ to frustrate the efforts of the already desperate. His lingos for his diabolic mischief are “smartness,” “speediness,” and “fastness” against the unsuspecting victim. Any one who grew up in The Gambia or spent a significant amount of time in that country has, in one way or the other, fallen prey to deception or knows such victims. In most instances, we abate our friends and families to dispense dishonorable acts on even our neighbors or other people we know.

As society is the incubator of human habits, through instrumental conditioning, it reinforces behaviors it rewards. As such, serial indulgence in deception cultivates The Gambian to a pathological false impressionist. Once on a visit [semester] in the country regardless of whether he lives in poverty in Germany, Europe or the United States he gives the impression that he lives in heavens on earth. In effect, he assumes the role of a self-appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary for his country of residence concocting fictional tales unimaginable even by Hollywood motion-picture screenwriters. The Gambian marvels at his abilities, shows off material possessions to “bluff,” and above all flatters himself a hero who takes no “nonsense” from any living being.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. philosophized that “a man who hasn’t found something he is willing to die for is not fit to live.” Even though I do not consider myself a disciple of Dr. King, his dictum became my standard to measuring people’s beliefs, convictions, principles they cherish and will die protecting. In Dr. King’s own country of the United States, any random survey of Americans on the test will show that their love to possess firearms will top the list. Americans believed that their guns are their instruments of defense against tyranny and they would pay the ultimate price in firefight against government forces if they believe it will transgress or go after their firearms. The 1993 Branch Davidian saga in Texas, among many others, is a symbolic demonstration of the American commitment to stand by a principle he cherished. The belief in principles rooted in ideals greater than oneself, conditions freedom-loving citizens to indulge in seemingly irrational actions at supreme costs to preserve the inherent rights of man.

Similarly, any random survey of Gambians on the Dr. King’s test will generate a consensus that their love for and sentimentalities about their mothers is the rock-solid principle they will never compromise. The Gambian would claim that his mother is the center of his universe and salvation to Heaven; and therefore an attempt by anyone to disrespect, threaten let alone harm her would provoke murder from him. After all the imams remind him at every Friday congregational prayer “Jannat lies under the feet of the mother.” He would impress on you at every little chance he has that his love for his mother is unrivaled because it dwarfs anybody else’s love for her mother. Presumably, his father is no longer in a competition with him — he must have run out of stamina. But does he really believes in his claim, loves his mother and would pay the ultimate price to defend her in the face of imminent death, or take a principle stand like the American would for his gun? Claims are just mere words as their evidence should be in actions. There has never been a Waco-like incidence in the country not because the Gambian most ‘cherished’ principle is not violated on daily basis but he doesn’t defend it. He doesn’t because he does not truly believe it. Many victims in the witch-hunting expeditions and detentions without trials are innocent mothers. The rest are sons, daughters, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, uncles, nephews, fathers, aunties, neighbors, you name them. They are humiliated, brutalized and handcuffed with hoods placed over their heads by government operatives without anyone — not even a son for the mother — took a stand to defend their loved ones against abuses.

Gambians act like the proverbial wolf parents that were on a journey with their children. On their trip, they stumbled upon a lion that chased after them. Terrified by the appearance of the lion, the wolf parents climbed on a tree leaving their defenseless children for the lion to prey on them. The mother wolf asked the male wolf so what about our children, what are you going to do to save them? The male wolf suggested that they leave the lion to carry on with its feast; and hope that after they completed their journey, they will restart a family with new babies. The wolf has the most impeachable character of animals in Gambian tales. It is the animal that will ever live in infamy. It’s said to be selfish and unprincipled, ask a Gambian he would help list the remainders. Perversely, however, the predatory lion is lionized in all Gambian tales. But what are a society’s parables? They are the theoretical abstractions of their material conditions. Every thing the Gambian dislikes about the proverbial wolf is a projection of his behavior and character. The poor wolf gets the blame. For example, when Jammeh butchered students in April 10th 2000, Gambian parents, like the proverbial wolf parents, didn’t come to their children’s rescue.

The Gambian excessive fixation on his mother is his Oedipus conflict — espoused by Sigmund Freud in his Psychosexual Stages of Development — unresolved. He is obsessed with his mother because his father is fundamentally flawed, imperfections are too obvious, not that he has multiple wives but because his corruption is too arbitrary. Unfortunately for him, he knew from childhood that the love of the father’s life is not his mother but the junior wife whose children perhaps her youngest son is the father’s favorite child. Growing up, he often heard his mother complained that her husband provided for his younger wife while neglecting to care for him and his siblings. This corruptible person who beats his mother over trivial matters in a simple dispute with his junior wife, and even when she’s innocent can’t be his salvation to heaven. Therefore the father can’t be the representative of Allah on earth. Allah is just, but his father isn’t fair. The father is, in fact, his oppressor but the imam preached in his sermon that the father is only a divine oppressor chosen by Allah to test his patience. Therefore he has to accommodate, respect and obey him because he’s his father. By enduring more of his abuses, Allah will bless and reward him. In frantic desperation, he concludes, his savoir on earth must be somebody else — his mother.

Contrary to his claim, the truth is the mother is not his ultimate important person because she has a master who she’s created to love, please, serve and obey — her husband. Functionally, the mother becomes his instrument of oppression by the father — an indirect means of control. He won’t admit to it because he does not understand the theory of social control. He will pay for his crimes if he derails off his prescribed track under the sun, but mother too will pay for the sins of the child. As a child, he was conditioned to not tell an offender his true feelings. His original and consistent abusers are the father and everybody in the family older than him, but he can’t talk about the unpleasant treatments. A man he was told couldn’t complain, or be emotional, only women are allowed to whine. The testament to his manhood is resilience to relentless violence because men who cry are sissies. In the tradition of his society, thoughts must be suppressed, particularly evil ones, for if they are not watched closely and nipped in their buds, they will inevitably translate into words, words into expressions, expressions into actions, actions into deeds, and deeds into characters. Thoughts eventually shape character. It’s a slippery slope that would ultimately upend the social order signifying the end of days. What a scary thought! Therefore, when one offends him, he won’t express his displeasure because perpetrator might not appreciate it; but he would confide his complain in a third party. Even though he demands honesty from everyone, to tell him the truth at all times; he doesn’t really mean it just like he will not be honest with anyone. If one reprehends him in response to his indiscretions, he will be offended because people should understand that he’s just human with imperfections. He expects one to treat him like Allah would, thereby judge him by his purest intensions based on the assumptions that they are noble. For even Allah judges people by their actions!

The Gambian uses his mother as an ampoule against accountability for his dereliction of duty, abdication of responsibility — a mere excuse for his failures. In essence, it conveniences him to not think for himself, he’s always mama’s boy who will never grow up to ever take responsibility for serious cognitive interrogation of his darker corners. Yahya Jammeh knows and understands it as he continually pulls a Gambian on them not only to illustrate his points, but also to control them through their mothers. Right out of The Gambian playbook, but as every citizen has mastered the golden rule; no one argues it out loud because it’s our sacred weapon of salvation. When he pledged and swore that he wouldn’t campaign in the last election, after realizing that he could as well lose the election, he like any Gambian would do pulled the mother card. In a coward display of fashion, he disavowed his words by hiding behind his mother’s lapper. He dishonored the pledge he made out of his volition to Allah because his mother appealed to him to campaign. He argued that he “campaigns only because his mother asked him to and Allah said we should obey our mothers.” In his perverted logic, the mother supersedes and can override Allah. What a mistake Allah has made for decreeing that! Allah has by extension made Yahya Jammeh Allah because he’s his mother’s master whom he commandeers before the media and instructs her to say whatever he wants her to say to the nation. The Gambians can’t deconstruct him because he enmeshes himself too much into religion that if they try, they will commit a blasphemy. The line between him and Allah is not only blurry, but it’s also the most delible. Yahya Jammeh speaks to Gambians in elementary terms in a language they comprehend.

The Gambian’s ‘love’ for his mother is unrequited because he knows she does not ‘love’ him as he claims to ‘love’ her. He is not her favorite child, that specially honors goes to one of his youngest sisters or brothers, and that inheritance is extended to the sibling’s children too. She does not love the sibling to death; her love for the sibling is greater only relative to his. The mother loves his sibling’s children more than she loves his children. If he is less fortunate than his siblings, the mother has less regard for him and he loses out in every dispute or conflict to his siblings. He earns no respect, not even from his mother. But if he travels and leaves abroad, he’s idolized and perhaps worships. He comes to discover that his mother has no too noble a character either, because he’s now becomes the means to her ends. She would deceive him to get his money, and when his siblings mismanage his money or destroy his wealth, she will not tell him. She would practically cover up for the culprits claiming to maintain family harmony. If he uncovers the truth, he complains that she has no sympathy for him, disregards his hardships and struggles in the Western world. He fumes that if the Gambians back at home could — he means her — they would literally eat his raw flesh. He gave all the love he has and got nothing back, so now he effectively loves no one, cares for no one, has sympathy for no one; but he’s conditioned by social upbringing to stick to passion for his mother — what else does he know?

Even though The Gambian claims that he got his unparalleled reverence for his mother from his religious teachings, when one asks him why he’s so different from the Arab who will stand up for his principle, defend his family, resist oppression and even die for them; in a perverted Gambian logic, he will respond that the Arab’s ‘heart is made of steel’—the ‘Arab will never give up.’ He forgets the Arab also has a mother. He rationalizes his silence in the face of injustices, disinterest to acknowledge the truth, lack of empathy to uplift the downtrodden, and absence of courage to take a principle stand as passionate humanism. He is calcified to the suffering of others because he can’t empathize, can’t take a principle stand because he’s not conscientious, and indifferent to injustices in his country because he has no sense of belonging. He is an island onto himself, for as a child and a man, he’s told to be selfish so he can’t be affected by the misfortunes of other people. On the contrary, he stands to reap his ‘naafaa’ or ‘njering’ when calamities befall on other people and if he can, he would engineer them. When Yahya Jammeh butchered his fellow citizens on November 11th, 1994, April 10th, 2000, execute political prisoners etc. he will not protest. He won’t protest at McCarthy Square to ensure the guarantee of his inalienable rights, like the Arab did in Tahrir Square, because if he does and die from a gunshot fired by the tyrant, mother will blame him. Altruism would effectively make him a laughingstock, the epitome of a son whose mother never kneeled down before Allah to pray. That will offend mother even more. To him, the Arab conception of martyrdom is the enterprise of the foolish. Therefore, in his deranged mind, he projects his heartlessness onto the Arab whom he thinks is irrational when even faced with imminent death will not budge, relent, compromise, give up or succumb to his enemy.

WE LOVE OUR PRESIDENT! UK, EU AND THE USA SHUT UP

By Papa Kumba Loum

Imam Baba Leigh 

I just read in one of the online newspapers (Jollof News) that the UK is urging the Gambia Government to investigate the whereabouts of the outspoken Imam Baba Leigh (now feared dead) who has been taken from his home by NIA agents over 4 months after he expressed contrary opinions about the 9 death row inmates who were executed under the orders of our beloved President.

Look why are you guys bothered about our predicament. We do not care about human rights and we have confirmed this to you recently when we demonstrated in favour of our Dear President regarding the so called EU 17 points demand to His Excellency to improve his human rights track record.

Listen, our religious leaders (Imams and Priests) are not interested in all these hullabaloos of yours. They are more interested in the free rice, oil, sugar, flour and free tickets to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj and Rome for the pilgrimage this wonderful President is giving to us every year. Please note that the role of our religious leaders in the Gambia is to pray for his Excellency’s long life and prosperity and this they fervently do during Friday prayers and Sunday Masses and public gatherings. We are a very religious people. Just look at all the police stations and government offices, we have mosques built everywhere.

Never mind all those people who have been allegedly tortured, disappeared, died mysteriously or have been killed like the veteran Journalist Deyda Hydara etc.  Well as you know Gambia is a very small country and most people are related and or interconnected somehow. We therefore know how these people disappeared and died and who was involved. But guess what? We don’t care. Let the President kill all of us one by one if he wants. We will never criticise or condemn him. We are good Africans and we will only criticise you the west if you treat black people badly in your countries and we know that you do that occasionally. Well to be fair to you, at least you allow us to criticise you and demonstrate against you in your countries when you treat our black folks badly. You even compensate them monetarily if you are found wanting. But sincerely speaking, why do you bother about us in the Gambia? Let him whip our black asses.

Just to let you know, we have a wonderful and vibrant elite class of  doctors, lawyers, scientist, engineers, accountants, economists etc. who are very educated and some of them from the best universities in the world. They are here in the Gambia and guess what? They are born and bred Gambians. Now if they are mute and happy with the way our beloved Sheikh and Professor is running the affairs of the country who the hell are you to tell our Professor what to do and how to do it?

EU, UK and the USA, please mind your own business and leave us alone. Freedom as you all know is not handed on a platter. How can one really appreciate the fruits of freedom if you have not fought for it?????? So keep off.

Meanwhile our imams will continue to pray for our beloved leader and bellow abuses at the west and western powers. One of them in his Friday sermon recently referred to the west as kafir and satanic. Ironically he will be the first to seek western medical assistance if he suffers from a cardiac arrest (and judging by his size, he is a sure candidate) and most probably will be operated on by a Christian or agnostic medical doctor. But I tell you this is what makes us Gambians. We hate everything that is not Islam but we readily accept help and assistance from the infidel west and the Cubans, Japanese and Taiwanese who do not pray 5 times a day. Ironically we even want our children to attend the Universities of these infidel and satanic countries.

I am advising – in fact I am warning the EU, UK and the USA to leave us alone. Down with human rights and democracy. Let our President do as he wish, let him plunder our resources, let him imprisoned us, let him torture us, let him even kill us. He is our Sheikh, professor, father and our doctor who knows the best medicine for his people. We are very sophisticated and we know and love our leader.

Long Live our Dear President Yahya Jammeh

By Cherno Omar Barry

Cherno Omar Barry

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you.

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn’t have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by-still nothing in Ling’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.

Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn’t say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful-in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, “Hey nice try.”

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the emperor. “Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!” All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. “The emperor knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!”

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. “My name is Ling,” he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, “Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!” Ling couldn’t believe it. Ling couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!”

The Prophet taught, “Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. And a man keeps on telling the truth until he becomes a truthful person. Falsehood leads to Al-Fajur (i.e. wickedness, evil-doing), and Al-Fajur (wickedness) leads to the (Hell) Fire, and a man may keep on telling lies till he is written before Allah, a liar.” [Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 8:116]

Culled from Facebook

A jury decided that a Gambian accused of rape in United Kingdom is a “cheater and liar.”

Bubacarr Suwaneh described himself to police as a devout law-abiding Muslim who was faithful to his wife. He added that he prayed five times a day and had just fasted the month of Ramadan when charges of rape were brought against him.

“I believe that we Muslims, we stick to our wives, we do not believe in fornication. He claimed he had responsibilities, sending money home from his two jobs to relatives in his native Gambia,” Ply Mouth reported.

Mr. Suwaneh repeatedly said he was at home with his wife at the time of the rape. He however changed his story upon realizing that his wife had been working the night shift as a nurse.

Suwaneh told the jury he was having an affair, claiming to be at the Peverell home of his lover Celia Browning that night, a claim supported by Miss Browning. She said Suwaneh was in her bed and snoring about an hour after the time of the rape attack.

After combing through the two testimonies, the jury decided that Suwaneh was a liar and that Miss Browning was at best mistaken about the date or the time he left her home early that morning.

Suwaneh, who lives in Plymouth for three years, told the court he married his British wife Kathleen in 2010 but by March or April the following year he started an affair with Miss Browning.

Bubacarr is a machine operator at Tamar Foods in Callington. He also worked at clubs around Plymouth where he occasionally had to fend off the attentions of women.

Pope Francis 1/Natacha Pisarenko / AP

As white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday and the bells of St. Peter’s tolled, the crowd of thousands that had gathered in the square began cheering the election of a new pope to succeed Benedict. It’s worth knowing 10 fascinating things about Jorge Mario Beroglio who has now become Pope Francis 1.

1. Francis is the first Jesuit to serve as pope. In the U.S., Jesuits are best known for founding colleges and universities, including Boston College, Georgetown and Marquette University.

2. He has only one lung. The other was removed after an infection when he was a teenager.

3. In the 2005 papal election, he was the runner-up, receiving 40 votes on the third ballot and losing to now-Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

4. As the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio gave up his chauffeured limousine, opting to ride the bus to work instead.

5. He unsuccessfully fought Argentina’s legalization of gay marriage in 2010, calling it “a scheme to destroy God’s plan.”

6. In 2005, shortly before the conclave, an Argentinian lawyer filed a complaint, accusing Bergoglio of working with Argentina’s military dictatorship to kidnap two liberal priests in 1976. Bergoglio denied the charge.

7. Last September, he delivered a harsh attack on priests in Argentina who refused to baptize children born out of wedlock, calling them “hypocritical.”

8. He has won praise for showing compassion toward victims of HIV and AIDS. In 2012, Bergoglio visited a hospice, where he kissed and washed the feet of 12 victims.

9. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, his parents were Italian immigrants.

10. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner rebuked him after he argued that adoption by gay and lesbian couples was a form of discrimination against children. Kirchner said Bergoglio’s tone was reminiscent of “medieval times and the Inquisition.

Reactions poured in swiftly from around the world following Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s first appearance as Pope Francis on St. Peter’s balcony.

Pictures of the new pontiff were splashed across the homepages of newspapers in Argentina as he was presented to the world for the first time.

Latin American Catholics thrilled by the election of the cardinal wept and cheered in churches across the region at Bergoglio’s election.

“It’s a huge gift for all of Latin America,” Jose Antonion Cruz, a Franciscan friar in Puerto Rico told the Associated Press. “We waited 20 centuries. It was worth the wait.”

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner hailed the new spiritual leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

“On my behalf and that of the Argentine government and representing the people of our country, I wish to salute you and express my congratulations on the occasion of having been elected as the new Roman Catholic  pontiff,” Kirchner said in a statement.

President Obama wished the world’s newest leader “warm wishes” as he ascends the Chair of St. Peter.

“As the first pope from the Americas, his selection also speaks to the strength and vitality of a region that is increasingly shaping our world, and alongside millions of Hispanic Americans, those of us in the United States share the joy of this historic day,” Obama said.

Pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio Dmitry Lovetsky / AP

Vice President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, will lead the U.S. delegation to the new pope’s installation ceremonies, an Obama administration official said on Wednesday.

“I’m happy that they were able to come to a choice as quickly as they did,” House Speaker John Boehner, also a Catholic, told NBC News. The selection of a pope from South America is “another big step in the right direction for our church,” Boehner said.

The pontifical Twitter handle came alive Wednesday after a silence that began with the resignation of Benedict XVI. “HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM,” the pope’s Twitter proclaimed.

British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted that it was a “momentous day for the 1.2 [billion] Catholics around the world,” as Pope Francis was appointed.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said he hoped the new pope would “build on the legacy of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, in the promotion of inter-faith dialogue.”

“I look forward to continuing cooperation between the United Nations and the Holy See, under the wise leadership of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Ban said.

Outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, home to papal contender Cardinal Timothy Dolan, there were no tears that the avuncular archbishop wasn’t elected.

“I think it’s great,” said Sister Lucy Grygorcewicz, who was visiting the cathedral with a group of Felician Sister. “He’s representing a large constituency and it’s new and different.”

“I think this is a moment that I will remember my whole life,” Ana Paula Valacco, a tourist visiting New York City from Buenos Aires, told NBC News. “It was completely unexpected and it’s crazy. Very, very crazy.”

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who was also considered a papabile, or contender for the Church’s top position, prayed for “grace and strength” for Francis in a statement.

And while the American contenders did not carry the day, a member of arguably the country’s most prominent Catholic family weighed in.

“Love his calm demeanor,” Maria Shriver tweeted of the serene Holy Father. “It’s a new world … let it begin.”

Edward Egan, the Archbishop Emeritus of New York, told NBC News’ Brian Williams that this was “the moment of Latin America.”

“I can assure you he’s not feeble in any way at 76,” he said.

“Let us pray for Pope Francis!” former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, a Catholic, tweeted on Wednesday.

Excitement was equally high at Boston College, which hosts one of the largest communities of Jesuit priests outside the Vatican.

“As a Jesuit University we’re delighted with the selection of Cardinal Bergoglio as pope,” university spokesman Jack Dunn told NBC News. “He’s a man of great humility and empathy with the poor and those are characteristics that have long been cherished among Jesuit circles.”

Cardinal Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, greeted the election of Pope Francis I as a “great milestone in our church” in a statement released on Wednesday.

“The bishops of the United States thank God for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the inspired choice of the College of Cardinals,” Dolan said in the statement.

“HABEMUS PAPAM!” (WE’VE A POPE)

YES HE IS FROM AFRICA!

By Bamba Mass Human Rights Activist (UK)

Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana

Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze

Is it possible this time? Definitely it is! A College of Cardinals who elected the Pope was and still looks dominated by Italians. Majority of the past chosen Cardinals to lead the Catholic community of Christians since the time of the Roman Empire were Italians.

Though St. Peter, the first Pope, was Jewish and a Galilean by birth but most Popes after him, for over 400 years, until Pope John Paul II, were only Italians or Popes of Italian by birth.

However, the College of Cardinals which selected the Pope has become a much more diverse even though Europeans continue to have a virtual lock in overall numbers: Exactly half of the current 116 Cardinal electors (those under age 80) are from Europe, with Italy alone still counting 20 Cardinal electors, Latin America as a whole with 20 Cardinal electors, while the United States and Canada together has a total of 16 Cardinal electors. Asia has 11 and Africa only 9 electors. This shows how dim the chances of an African becoming a Pope have been the case since St. Gelasius from 492 A.D to 496 A.D.

Though it is true that any baptized male Catholic in theory can emerge from a conclave as Pope, the chance of an African Pope always looks dim, despite media and public expectations. Even after the death of Pope John Paul II it was likely that an African would emerge as Pope. Many people expected Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria to become the first black Pope of the 21 Century, but he was out voted by Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger of Germany who became Pope Benedict XVI. It was said that Cardinal Francis Arinze came second in that elections. Christopher M. Bellitto, a papal historian from New Jersey’s Kean University, thought the choice of Pope Benedict was the result of the indecision among Cardinals who were unwilling to make a bold move toward modernization.

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has made him the first Pope to abdicate the position in nearly 600 years, forcing the Conclave of Cardinals to elect a new Pope on March 15, when Cardinals will lock themselves up in the Sistine Chapel to elect the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. The situation calls for some rule bending, and having the current Pope involved is proving advantageous for the elections to be held even earlier.

While Benedict won’t be directly involved in his successor’s selection, his influence will undoubtedly be felt. He had appointed 67 of the 115 cardinals set to elect his successor. The composition is disproportionately Western, with 62 Europeans and 17 from North America. That could prove to be a problem for the emergence of a Pope from within the developing world, where the church is ascendant. All eyes are on Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana, 63-year-old Odilo Schererof Brazil or Luis Antonio Tagle, 55, of the Philippines. Expectations are high this time as bookmakers are betting on Africa again with Ghana’s Turkson becoming the Irish bookmakers’ favourite for new Pope. But it remains to be seen whether Christopher M. Bellitto would be proven right.

Among the up-and-coming Cardinals from Africa, Vatican watchers cite Peter Turkson a rising star within the Catholic Faith and Cardinal Wilfred Fox Napier, 67 of South Africa just close behind, as potential papal material. Archbishop John Onayiekan of Nigeria, who may soon be up for a Cardinal slot, is considered “strong here and back there,” says one Rome insider, referring to Onayiekan’s knowledge of the Third World and his skills navigating the ins and outs of the Holy See. That makes it seemingly unlikely for Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze who is now 80 years old to become Pope but he is not ruled out yet. Bookies had it that if he was elected then he would become the second eldest elected Pope with the first being Pope Adrian I from 772 – 795 aged 80. Adrian II who became Pope from 867 to 872 was the last married pope – his wife Setphania and his daughter lived in the Vatican palace with him. Adrian IV who was Pope from 1154 to 1159 was the first and thus far the only Pope from England. So who knows what those Cardinals have in their minds when they retire to elect a new Pope?

Still, the Vatican parlor game of trying to envision future papal candidates is slippery business. Perhaps the ever strongest African candidate of the 20th century who many had hoped would have been Pope had he lived was the widely respected Cardinal Bernardin Gantin of Benin, who died in May at the age of 86. Having once headed the powerful Congregation of Bishops, some thought Gantin could be an ideal candidate to replace John Paul, whose health was long suffering. But the durable Polish pontiff lived much longer than many predicted, and Gantin eventually retired and went back to Africa. But in reality Catholic history had it that there was in fact three African Popes before. According to the Liber Pontificalis (Book of Popes) and the Catholic Encyclopedia there have been three popes who were natives of Africa.

1. St. Victor I was the first African Pope and a native of North Africa, which was a province of Rome at the time. St Victor I was appointed in 186 A.D. and ended his reign in 198 A.D. It is believed he later died in 199 A.D. He was regarded as the first Christian author to write about theology in Latin.

2. The next African pope, St. Miltiades became Pontiff in 311 A.D. and died in 314 A.D. He was elected after the banishment of Pope Eusebius. It is believed he was born to African parents but lived in Rome.

3. St. Gelasius reigned from 492 A.D. – 496 A.D, and was the third and last known African pope. In the Liber Pontificalis he is described as “natione Afer” and “Romanus natus” meaning “of African origin” and “Roman born” respectively.

Although these previous Pontiffs were of African origin, they were more or less seen in modern times as ever been African or Black Popes and history had never mentioned them inside Africa’s Catholic history as African Popes either. Today African cardinal widely tipped to be the first black Pope in modern history is very likely going to be Cardinal Peter Turkson. He is no doubt the favourate African to replace Benedict XVI. As the head of a major Vatican department, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Cardinal Turkson is ranked as the 5/2 second favourite to take the papal crown when a Conclave of Cardinals meets next month to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who announced his abdication last week on the grounds of ill health.

Catholics throughout the African continent and the developing world are praying that Cardinal Turkson is chosen ahead of the Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Archbishop of Milan, who Paddy Power has made its 9/4 favourite. But Turkson’s public comments blaming homosexual priests for the sexual abuse of many hundreds of children in Europe, the United States and Australia mean his election would be severely criticised in the West. That may favour yet again Cardinal Francis Arinze who is 80 years old.

The first papal resignation since 1415 has emerged with uncertainties that could throw the College of Cardinals’ attention on Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze who would not be able to vote himself but still could be Pope. Since no one expected Benedict’s resignation, it could well be favourable point for Arinze as the Cardinals may not be readily prepared to come with a long-term solution to the papacy. Older Popes are, historically, a form of compromise just like after the death of Pope John Paul II. Cardinal Arinze, an Igbo Nigerian who spent 25 years in the Vatican was, once the world’s youngest bishop. He is quite conservative as the last two Popes were, and was seen as a runner last time. The liberal Cardinals will like the idea of a Pope from the developing world. The new rules mean a new Pope needs the votes of two-thirds of the Cardinals, so one faction cannot impose its will over another. There are only ten African electors left to vote which also shows the dim chances of an African Pope more evident but for a fact Arinze came out second that last time could give him an edge.

Vatican officials were already trying Monday to swat down unsavory claims by Italian publications of a brewing episode involving gay priests, male prostitutes and blackmail when news broke that Benedict had moved up the resignation of a Scottish archbishop linked over the weekend by a British newspaper to inappropriate relationships with priests. With the Catholic priests marred by scores of clerical sex abuses it may be agreed with the cardinal that homosexual abuse of adolescent males rather than paedophile attacks on children characterised the problem. Where the research has been done for example in the United States and Australia in the region of 80 per cent of the victims of sex abuse by priests are adolescent males rather than children. Pope Benedict XVI has been careful to avoid publicly demonising gay priests, focusing instead on meeting and apologising to victims.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State and the 5/1 third favourite to succeed Benedict XVI said that some psychiatrists had found a relationship between homosexuality and paedophilia. ‘That is the problem,’ he said amid the backlash, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales issued a statement contradicting the cardinal by arguing that ‘there is no empirical data which concludes that sexual orientation is connected to child sexual abuse.’ But the scandals have made Pope Benedict XVI to force Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the archbishop of Scotland to resign. The Vatican confirmed Monday that Benedict had accelerated the resignation himself. Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles is facing fresh attention for his role in the cover-up of sexual abuse by priests. Mahoney and a Mexican cardinal are accused of conspiracy by allowing a priest accused of abuse to flee to Mexico, putting an untold number of children at risk. Mahoney has denied the allegations.

Father Albert Cutie, an Episcopal priest who studies the Vatican, said it would be impossible to exclude every Cardinal with a hand in the church’s vast sex-abuse problem. “Unfortunately, if you were going to tell me no one can go to the conclave to elect a Pope who has part in any type of cover up, you would probably exclude every cardinal in the church, because unfortunately that’s the way the church is operated,” he said.

“So now in the wake of everything that’s happened in the last 72 hours or so, quite clearly a new item has to be on that list for the Cardinals to choose a new Pope, which is also to make sure they pick somebody who’s got clean hands.”

Likely to be Pope Cardinal Turkson is no stranger to controversy. He offended Muslims last year after he accused them of turning Europe into an Islamic continent. Turkson has said that “if God would wish to see a black man also as Pope, thanks be to God.” The Catholic Church chronicler Rocco Palmo called Turkson the lone Scripture scholar in the Pope’s “Senate” and believes that his status as a potential “palpable” has been elevated due to his appointment as spokesman for Second Synod for Africa in 2009.

Born in Wassaw Nsuta in Western Ghana, Pope Turkson studied at St. Teresa’s Seminary in the village of Amisano and Pedu before attending St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, New York, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in theology. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John Amissah on 20 July 1975. On October 1992, Turkson was appointed Archbishop of Cape Coast by Pope John Paul II and treated him Cardinal-Priest of S. Liborio in his last consistory of October 2003. Turkson is the first Ghanaian Cardinal, and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave, which selected Pope Benedict XVI.

But much focus should also be on Latin America because the region “represents 42 percent of the world’s 1.2 billion-strong Catholic population, the largest single block in the Church.” A day after the Pope’s resignation was announced, Reuters reported that “two senior Vatican officials recently dropped surprisingly clear hints about possible successors. The upshot of their remarks is that the next Pope could well be from Latin America.”

Similarly, Africa has 16 percent of the world’s Catholics — and growing — and just nine percent of the cardinals. Even U.S. and Canadian Catholics are overrepresented: eight percent of all Catholics reside in North America but they account for 12 percent of the cardinals. “Is it not reasonable that the Cardinals be selected from every nation whose office it is to judge all nations?” St. Bernard of Clairvaux asked in the 12th century.

But the obstacles to electing a non-European are more than just numerical. Of course, the cardinals working at the Vatican tend to know everyone, and everyone knows them. So in retrospect, it was no surprise that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected since he was a familiar and trusted presence who had worked in the Curia for decades. “They tried to find an alternative to Ratzinger, but they couldn’t,” a senior Vatican official said after the conclave. This time, however, there are some factors that could scramble the usual calculus.

These names below are definitely the likely candidates for the next Pope and unless something happened, one of them would be the next Catholic Pope. Here I list them according to their age:

1. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of United States, Archbishop of New York. Age 62

2. Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, Age 64. He was appointed by Benedict four years ago to become president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

3. Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith of Sri lanka, Archbishop of Colombo, formerly Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. age 64

4. Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera of Italy, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, previously Archbishop of Toledo. Age 66

5. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, of Austria, Archbishop of Vienna, age 67

6. Cardinal Mauro Piacenza of Italy, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, age 67

7. Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, formerly Archbishop of Quebec, age 68

8. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Italy, Archbishop of Genoa and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, age 69

9. Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Italy, Archbishop of Naples, age 69

10. Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico, Archbishop of Mexico City, age 70

11. Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras who was President of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, age 70

12. Cardinal George Pell of Australia, Archbishop of Sydney age 70

13. Archbishop Angelo Scola, of Italy,a philosopher, age 71.

14. Cardinal Angelo Amato, of Italy, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, formerly Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, age 73

15. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, age 75

16. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Italy, a prelate, age 78

17. Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria, age 80.

Out of the 17 likely candidates, seven of them are Italians and there are only two Black Africans while four are from the American continent, three from Asia and only one from Europe. Though it could be none of the above names would be announced on or before the 15th March which is unlikely but in any case a Pope would emerge and hopes are high that this time around the minds of the Cardinals may turn to Africa to revive the ailing prestige of the Catholic religion which is recently marred by sex allegations and cover-ups.

Benedict will be called in retirement. Probably as “pontifex maximus,” as suggested by Celata. The term can be translated as “supreme bishop.” But he might not participate in the voting of his successor.

The Voting Process

The voting process begins with a special morning mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. In the evening, the Cardinals walk in a procession to the Sistine Chapel – known for its famous ceiling painting by Renaissance artist Michelangelo – to begin the actual voting process. Ballots are passed out, and cardinals write in a candidate’s name and fold it up, then one by one, in order of seniority, they approach an altar and ceremoniously place their ballots into a chalice. After each vote, the ballots land in the fireplace. If no one has won, a chemical is added to make the smoke black. This lets people waiting in St. Peter’s Square below know that there is no new Pope yet.

If there is a winner, no chemical is added, and the smoke remains white, telling the world that the conclave has agreed on a new pontiff.

The winner must accept the decision for it to be valid. Once he does, the dean asks him to choose a papal name. Then oldest the Cardinal announces ‘Habemus Papam!’ (‘We have a Pope’) and presents the new pope to the crowd in the square from a balcony. Then new Pope joins him to bless the crowd and the rest of the world. Let’s see once again who that new Pope would be.

Ends