OP

By Amadou Manjang  I love arranging and rearranging things in our house but my roommate doesn’t. We have two different views, ideas and taste on how the house should look like. My roommate, literary fancy fix and static arrangement because he doesn’t want to waste time thinking where the spoon, book or pen is. Our house is a tiny square box ahboring two individuals, different in everything except their love for books and they took pleasure in placing books on the edge of the bed. The only thing they have in common.  I sporadically like moving the bed from the right to left today, and tomorrow from right to left. I did the same with book shelves, cupboards, tables and chairs. Moving the books creates hurly-burly, even for myself. I fancy my roommate's philosophy of no need to think to find everyday needed things like a spoon or book. Many times I can’t even remember where I place a teaspoon or the lighter and I would spend valuable time trying to locate it. Anytime my roomm...

  By Alagie Saidy-Barrow  Let me begin by saying I am a huge advocate for holding people accountable for their work. If people are being paid to deliver services to the public, they should be held accountable for the services they deliver, good or bad. So I am all for realistic performance evaluations. If I had my way, every single government civil or public servant would be on a contract that is tethered to their performance!  I don’t think anyone should be in the service of the people as a public or civil servant when they somehow manage to serve themselves while the people they claim to be serving remain destitute. Serving in government should never be a vehicle for any public or civil servant to get rich when the majority of those they serve are poor!  Imagine if my Bandam established performance evaluations for himself and all his ministers and made it all public! We will all know what each minister is required to deliver and can easily hold them to account....

By Alagie Saidy-Barrow  At the height of his powers, there were very few people in The Gambia with more influence and power than Ousman Sonko. Ousman Sonko and his interior ministry, along with the NIA now called SIS, were at the forefront of the APRC government’s abuse of Gambians. They killed and raped Gambians, and no one ever held them to account.  Ousman Sonko, like many with residual power from Yaya Jammeh, was untouchable. He was Yaya Jammeh’s eyes and ears. Ousman could do whatever he wanted in The Gambia and didn’t have to worry about anyone coming after him. Ousman Sonko never learned that power is transient. That power belongs to man but only temporarily. And many other Gambians, like Ousman Sonko, are yet to learn this bitter lesson. Once in power or close to those in power, we easily forget the transience of power. That is why you still hear worrisome phrases like “it is orders from the top.”  Ousman Sonko, like everyone who has ever been close to Yaya Jammeh...

By Alagie Saidy-Barrow  A long time ago, some Gambians in Atlanta came up with the idea of celebrating America’s independence on July 4th. Gambians from all over the United States converged in Atlanta for a few days of merriment. It used to be one of the biggest Gambian events in America, if not the biggest. For most attendees, the highlight of the July 4th celebrations was the evening football matches that had Gambians from various states competing for bragging rights. The evening at the park was also when some Gambians came to showcase themselves. It was their moment to impress other Gambians. To show how well they were doing. Some Gambians start planning for July 4th celebrations months before the event.  I know of a fellow who was said to have rented a very expensive car and drove it down from another state to Atlanta. He had the car parked close to the main entrance of the park with dancehall music blasting! He was hanging out with a few of his friends seemingly disintere...

                                            Political Commentator  Diagnoses The UDP Controversy!              By Alagie Saidy-Barrow  If you are familiar with Game Theory in any of the social sciences, then you may have heard about the “prisoner’s dilemma”. The prisoner’s dilemma is a “concept” in game theory that provides a “foundation” on why two or more rational individuals or organisations, etc., would choose to cooperate or compete against one another. In its simplified form, the prisoner’s dilemma refers to two individuals, let’s say in this case, Kenbugul and Terrenna, who are both in remand at Mile Two, charged with kidnapping a Badibunka.  If Kenbugul and Terrenna both refuse to cooperate with Police Prosecutor Ceesay Chopsa, then Kenbugul and Terrenna will only serve ONE YEAR EACH in Mile Two for the lesser charge...

By Almamy Fanding Taal The change we celebrate today in Senegal is 25 years in the making: the SOPE /ALTERNACE Project of President Wade is the source code for the constitutional reforms aka TERM LIMITS which started with dismantling the post colonial administrative State that was led by the Ecole Superiere elite.  A Renaissance continued by President Macky Sall and the PASTEF Project should not outrightly disown this patrimony of Senegal.  Now that the dust has settled the urgent question to ask within a pan African context is what  should African progressives propose with a view to addressing the crisis of legitimacy in the Sahel? On the currency question the world is fast digitalizing with crypto currencies and blockchain technology but most importantly currencies are legal tender which is really a legal construct and the real values of which are directly correlated to the real economy. Therefore the real question is how do we create employment opportunities for the pe...

         | Things that we ought to consider as a people seven years post dictatorship | By Almamy Fanding Taal We have chosen to engage in meaningless endeavors like repealing FGM and making elaborate procedural maneuvers to put JAMMEH and crimes of his era on trial in the Gambia while  the acolytes and enablers of dictatorship are elevated to the highest echelons of political power?  At the same time based on the recommendations of the Truth Commission successful prosecution have been made of the Jammeh era crimes outside the Gambia at no cost to public resources. This is a compelling precedent for Jammeh to stand trial in any other state with Unversal Jurisdiction. Charles Taylor of Liberia is serving a life sentence in a UK prison following his conviction for war crimes and crimes against humanity.  With the myriad challenges facing the judiciary of the country a cost benefit analysis of establishing a hybrid court system for Jammeh era crimes ...

  By Pa Louis Sambou   F or most people, the Israel - Palestine question is probably the one conflict whose ugly scenes of horror has regularly appeared before their screens for a period of time spanning their entire lifetime. Although not the only unresolved historic territorial question, it is certainly the only none-frozen one, which fact probably explains why it evokes strenuous opinion from even folks afar, with Gambians not an exception.  Whether pro Israel or pro Palestine, far too many well-meaning people the world over, find themselves holding very strong views on this subject matter, but which position is in most cases predominantly driven and sustained by subjective factors and considerations. A particular news article which I recently came across on a Gambian newspaper, exhibited a spectacular example and presentation of this phenomenon.    Without offering a line by line review of the news article in question, which is definitely not the objective o...

By  Pa Louis Sambou    The premise of thought of most fair-minded people is no doubt that, dialogue is always preferable to anything else to the contrary. So, in principle, the concept of a National Dialogue is commendable. However, ‘a “ National Dialogue Meeting ” to what end?’, is also an equally rational question for any citizen to ask. Well, it is the question for me anyway.    With the exception of one or two whose opening statements touched on public policy subject matters, one would notice that the issues raised by all other opposition party leaders or representatives who spoke during the opening of this National Dialogue Meeting (NDM) are matters which are already within the remit and competence of the Inter Party Committee to address. As the sponsor, President Barrow’s opening remarks and speech was so unhelpfully vague as to the objective, it offered no comforting opening to the enigma at hand. So, with an unclear and undefined objective, one wonders u...