MI BANORAMAS, GAMBIA MATTERS PARTY - THE SERVANT OF THE GAMBIAN PEOPLE - THE PARTY OF THE PEOPLE Our tireless campaign in the fight against 16 years of Jammeh’s dehumanisation – Gambia and definitive Road Map to political Freedom My fellow politicians in our pursue to end a continuum of dehumanisation, let respect, recognized and reconciliation our indifference. In order to be able to deliver what the Gambians expect from us, we should agree and disagree but we have a common enemy. Leading our people to political to salvation, with a bring changes requires open the mind to restructuring the political, economical as well as cultural landscape of our country. Political parties and their leaders should be subservient to the people and explain to our citizens what it means to vote in election to remove the criminal from power. A profound progress for the people of The Gambia is eternal freedom and without which we will a remain nation with our people living on the edge of development crisis. A fundamental question is why had political coalition works in Senegal and not in the Gambia? Are our party leaders ready to scarify for their people they claim to represent? It is about time to give chance to someone competence and inspiring to win the heart and mines of our misleading masses. My warning to our opposition party leaders is be weary of addiction in high profile status and titles. It is a gate way to entrenching one man dictatorship that engulfed our nation today. Let learn from Nelson Mandela and other great leaders marked footprints in the history of humanity. GAMBIA MATTERS PARTY STAND FOR FREE AND FAIR TRIAL FOR ALL. OUR WARNING TO MURDERER AND CRIMINAL, YAHYA JAMUS JUNKUNG JAMMEH IS THAT A DAY WILL COME YOU WILL BE HANCUFFED NAKED. THAT DAY IS FASTAPPROACHING. FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS OUR CARDNINAL PRINCIPLE AND SHAME ON YOU’RE THE DICTATOR. YOU HAVE A BLOOD IN YOUR HAND WHICH IS WELL DOCUMENTED. CRIMINAL JAMMEH WILL BE WANTED FOR CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY FOR THOSE E X-MILITARIES FROM THE GAMBIA NATIONAL ARMY, I MOST PLEA TO ALL TO SET UP A POTFOLIO OF AUTHENTIC EVIDENCE ABOUT THE CRIMINAL REGIME AS I AM VIVIDLY SURE THAT THEIR DAYS ARE NUMBERED MI BANORAMAS GAMBIA MATTERS PARTY THE SERVANT OF THE GAMBIAN PEOPLE THE PARTY OF THE PEOPLE     Weep not my friend By PK Jarju, Worcestershire, UK A couple of weeks ago, I read Femi Peters Junior’s letter in the Freedom Newspaper in reaction to the jailing of his dad in the Gambia, which was very touching indeed. And as a parent and a personal friend of the Peters, I would like to join the family in condemning the one imprisonment of Mr Peters Senior. The jailing of Mr Peters Senior is unacceptable. It is an insult to our democracy and another attempt by the Jammeh regime to keep Gambians in a passive state of subjugation. Mr Peters Senior was jailed not because he murdered someone, or threatened the peace and tranquillity, but for merely    exercising his constitutionally guaranteed rights as a son of the Gambia. Section 25  (d) of the 1997 Const itution of the Gambia, which is an entrenched clause gives  Gambians the right to assemble and demonstrate peaceably and without arms. It also gives Gambians in Section 25 (e) the right to associate freely, which shall include freedom to form and join associations and unions, including political parties and trade unions. In jailing Mr Peters Senior for exercising his constitutionally guaranteed rights, the Gambian judiciary has again failed to protect Gambians from the tyranny of Jammeh. In other words, the courts are saying that Jammeh’s interest comes supreme to whatever rights are given in our constitution. Read More   Freedom newspaper editor's dictatorial tendencies as criticizers are subject to personal libellous attacks What has started as a genuine concern about the standard of the English grammar on Gambian newspapers on line and critical on the splashing of personal educational achievement of Pa Nderry Mbye as front page breaking news, has quickly escalated to libellous name callings of those critics of the Freedom newspaper, as drug users and incapable of graduation on Freedom's Nyomborr. What concerns most readers is the swiftness and psycho-fanatical response received from Oceanic Lad accusing critics of jealousy, as talkers and not doers, etc. This tendency of Freedom newspaper, has has been witnessed on a number of times now and is sufficiently serious especially as we fight intolerance and dictatorship back home. The press has been dubbed the fourth estate of government as such should criticize and be critical of the other estates, such as the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. Because of this critical stance of the press, it should be the leader in accepting criticisms in good faith and discuss issues with critics as natural, rather than go away and try to libel good folks you have neither met or known in anyway. This is same dictatorial problem all the online newspapers were initiated to fight. It has left us wondering what actually Pa Nderry and Oceanic Lad would have done have they been granted Yaya Jammeh's presidency even for a week. They would probably be worst than Yaya Jammeh it seems to most of us. Given the fact that with mere online newspaper, these folks go to all lengths to frighten critics with lies and unfounded innuendos, so that no one will dare challenge or criticise them what so ever. Our cause to bring democracy, freedom, rule of law and tolerance to our country seems lost with people like Pa Nderry seemingly wielding such powers with impunity whilst good folks keep mute, maybe to avoid libelling of their character or otherwise agreeing with Pa or even out of spite. We at Gambia Daily will seek legal advice and subsequent action against anyone who slander or even attempt to libel our good name.  To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, right or wrong - is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Theodore Roosevelt 26th president of US (1858 - 1919)       Karamba Touray's review of Price of Sacrifice by Ebrima Chongan - Corrigendum. The proper book has been identified as pictured across. Please note that a substantial amount of any earnings from the book will go to support the family of Gambian soldiers murdered by the military junta in The Gambia.  submission. Thank you for your good work. Sincerely Karamba Touray I'd like to begin this review by stating that the author, Ebrima Ismaila Chongan formerly of the Gendarmerie and Gambia Police Force and now resident in the United Kingdom is my maternal uncle.  His book  The Price of Duty - Balangba to be released on the April 2010 is his account of the 1994 coup and it's immediate aftermath. The book opens with a detailed  description of the fateful day of the Coup on the 22nd of July, outlining a sequence of events as experienced by the author who at the time was Assistant Inspector General of The Gambia Police Force. The reader gets a pretty good understanding of how a small band of unremarkable soldiers got into a few army trucks and swept away a decades’ old democracy. While in theory there existed a national security architecture that was supposed to safeguard the nation and it's institutions, we learn from the book a combination of dereliction, incompetence and the knack for self preservation had so  thoroughly undermined the overall security of the country as to make the power grab a cakewalk. An honourable effort by the author and a few police officers to forestall the Coupist at Denton Bridge was doomed because of the  qualitative desparity of weapons possessed by the Army compared to the lightly armed police at the bridge.   Calls for indictments of Gambia's dictator for crimes against humanity in April 10 2000, student massacre As Gambians and friends of Gambia remember the 10th year since the  Gambia's security forces opened fire on innocent unarmed civilians calls  intensify for the International War Crimes Tribunal in Hague, Holland to charge the brutal dictator and his government for war crimes and crimes against humanity for apparently giving orders to open fire at unarmed demonstrators and subsequently attempting to indemnify unlawful killings by security forces by enacting laws to that effect. Commentators reaching this  paper have accused the UN War Crimes Tribunal of double standards for refusing to investigate crimes against humanity in the Gambia during the 15 years of murders, including disappearances and the cold blooded murders of over 100 people since the military dictator came to power by force and at the same time trying to prosecute Guinea's junta for the same offence. This accusation has been further buttressed by the fact that a substantial number of investigators and prosecutors are Gambian citizens working in the Hague, Holland as Hasan Jallow ( pictured above), chief prosecutor and at least two other prosecutors, Amie Bensouda (pictured left) and Essa Faal (pictured below). The incident happened on the 10 and 11 April 2000, when just like the UDP opposition party today, the student union were refused permits and security to conduct peaceful demonstrations to show anger at the rape of a school girl by security forces .  The brave student leadership, headed by the charismatic and brave Omar Joof, now living in exile, went ahead just like the UDP did on 25th October  2009, and exercised their fundamental human rights to assemble and associate peacefully, with gruesome consequences. The orders were received from the brutal military  dictator to stop the procession and kill anyone who refuses to disperse as he had promised the nation and the world on national TV on a number of occasions, to killed 2/3rd of Gambians and go to sleep. Instead of protecting the demonstrators professionally as required, thousands of live ammunitions were fired at unarmed school children killing at least 12 on the spot and maiming another dozen for live. Those killed include Reginald Carrol, Karamo Barrow, Lamin Bojang, Ousman Sabally, Sainey Nyabally, Ousman Sembene, Bakary Njie, Clasco Pierre, Modou Lamin Njie, Wuyeh Foday Mansareh, Bamba Jobarteh, Modou Lamin Chune and journalist and red cross volunteer Omar Barrow. Read full story   US Embassy condemns sentence of Femi Peters as " harsh" and an affront on assembly and association and an impediment to opposition “The United States respects the right of governments to approve or disapprove the public’s requests to assemble. We also believe such a process must respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and should not be used as a tool to impede lawful political opposition,” the release said. The release also described Mr. Peters’ sentence to one year in prison as being “extremely harsh”. “As current chair of the African Union’s Human Rights Commission, the Government of The Gambia should act in accordance with its responsibility as a standard bearer on matters of political freedom and civil liberties, as well as its international obligations and reconsider this unfortunate decision," the release concludes.     Karamba Touray's review of Price of Sacrifice by Ebrima Chongan. Dear editor,                         I'd like to submit the following book reveiw for your kind consideration.I have added a subsiquent email containing the book cover and jacket . I hope you will find value in the submission. Thank you for your good work. Sincerely Karamba Touray I'd like to begin this review by stating that the author, Ebrima Ismaila Chongan formerly of the Gendarmerie and Gambia Police Force and now resident in the United Kingdom is my maternal uncle.  His book  The Price of Duty - Balangba to be released on the April 2010 is his account of the 1994 coup and it's immediate aftermath. The book opens with a detailed  description of the fateful day of the Coup on the 22nd of July, outlining a sequence of events as experienced by the author who at the time was Assistant Inspector General of The Gambia Police Force. The reader gets a pretty good understanding of how a small band of unremarkable soldiers got into a few army trucks and swept away a decades’ old democracy. While in theory there existed a national security architecture that was supposed to safeguard the nation and it's institutions, we learn from the book a combination of dereliction, incompetence and the knack for self preservation had so  thoroughly undermined the overall security of the country as to make the power grab a cakewalk. An honourable effort by the author and a few police officers to forestall the Coupist at Denton Bridge was doomed because of the  qualitative desparity of weapons possessed by the Army compared to the lightly armed police at the bridge.            Following the success of the coup, Ebrima Ismaila Chongan was arrested and subsequently detained at Mile Two Prison for thirty months. He takes the reader through those months, days and events at a time replete with gory details of torture, death, illness, cruelty, faith, how seemingly ordinary Gambians intoxicated with power can turn into overnight monsters thinking nothing of torturing and killing people they know to be entirely innocent. Men groaning in excruciating pain from broken bones or other acute medical conditions are left to rot in ply their trade as a matter of routine. The author reminds us that even in the hell hole that Mile Two was with it's corrupt and brutal Director of prisons Thomas Jarju, there existed the consummate good Gambian in the person of a guard. This guard according to the author took it upon himself to go to the Chongan household and assure them that the author was alive and became the defacto line of communication between the family and the detainee especially since security detainees were for the most part denied family visits.         Continuation of piece British High Commission concerned about the state of freedom of expression and assembly on the persecution of Femi Peters “The British government has been closely following the trial of the Campaign Manager of the United Democratic Party, Femi Peters, accused of holding a rally without permission and being in possession of loudspeakers in a public place without permission, and has noted the verdict and sentence  passed down on Mr. Peters. “The British government is concerned by the heavy sentence of one year in prison without the option of a fine handed down on Mr. Peters and the negative impact of this prosecution on Freedom of Assembly and Freedom of Expression in The Gambia. “The British government reiterates the views expressed in the EU Presidency statements which were presented to the Gambian authorities on 29 June and 10 August during the trial and sentencing of six journalists on charges of sedition. “The right to freedom of expression and to freedom of assembly are fundamental to democracy and fundamental freedoms laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in the African Charter on Human Rights and People’s Rights, to which The Gambia is a state party. “The British Government urges the Government of The Gambia to take these concerns into consideration and to act in conformity with its international human rights and treaty obligations in considering any appeal," the release concludes.     Gen. Tamba and others vs. AG - treason trial ensues as witness accused ex-CDS of recruiting mercenaries to topple Jammeh The treason trial of eight accused security and business owners continues as Alasan Kujabi alias Rui gave his final and remarkable testimony before the high court in Banjul, Tuesday 30 October 2010. Rui continue on his first story accusing the general and 7 other Gambians of conspiring to fund mercenary expedition into Gambia and admitting to the court that in fact he was part of the conspirators, but   because he was  a military intelligence officer in Guinea Bissau, he sabotaged and subsequently reported them to their old friend, Yaya Jammeh, after personally training 300 strong battalion all by himself. In a testimony out of Hollywood , Nollywood or Bollywood series, the witness who testified to have trained over 300 foreign mercenaries whose meal was delivered by Ngorr Secka daily  whilst  working in Bissau Gambia embassy with a driver, who does not know what Ngorr was up to, . The marathon testimony , raised eye brows and laughter  even in the packed and somber looking Banjul courtat the unbelievable story of betrayal and lies emanating from a self proclaimed  trained military intelligence officer who does not know how a basic military unit function, much more 300 strong battalion level man power's feeding requirements, etc, logistics, etc.  Read full story Femi Peters UDP Campaign manager's one year sentence outcry continues The Gambia's arguably largest  opposition political party's campaign chairman's sentence handed over on Thursday received criticisms from Gambians and friends of The Gambia at home and abroad . The heavy handed sentence was given by the Nigerian born and educated principle magistrate, Kayode Olajubutu, the third magistrate to handle the constitutional crisis court case since it was filed in the IGP on 26 October 2009. UDP as expected and urged had gone ahead and exercised their fundamental human right to associate and organise on 25 October last year and the distinguished gentleman was subsequently arrested the next day and charged for organising the opposition political party rally. The UDP has not been able to secure a permit to hold rally or gather whatsoever from the police for over two years even though the ruling A(F)PRC  party held rallies without requesting a single permit as per the senior police witnesses undercross examination's testimony  during this infamous trial.  Gambians in UK and around the world are uniting or urged to unite and demonstrate not only before the Gambian embassy but before their local and or regional, national state assemblies to show the world the situation in The Gambia before it is too late.  Today Gambians unite in prayers and solidarity to rid the evil that engulfed our nation since the incumbent's 1994 military take over and question the true nature of law and practice of multiparty democracy in The Gambia. The UDP Party leader doubling as the lawyer for Mr. Peters vowed to take the matter to the high court in Banjul. Many believe that the courts will eventually overturn the prima facie illegal sentence and issue an order to the police to issue UDP permits to hold rally, a constitutional requirement in any multiparty democracy. Albeit it might be too late to salvage the rule of law and the old man's health condition has been expressed as not so good anymore. With the government that has been known in the past to ignore court orders with impunity and months before general elections are due, it seems we are descending deeper into a one man rule by force and everyone at his mercy Read on