Penny-pinching miser that I am, I have finally updated my Real-player and
was able in ages to listen to the audio of GRTS news on Quantumnet. It is
clear now that like everything that Jammeh centralises and leaves his
fingerprints on, GRTS is now the epitome of that State ineptitude, bloated
bureaucracy and political patronage that has become a hallmark of the Jammeh
legacy. Every facet of efficiency, better or average that he touches,
invariably leaves the soot of his dirty hands on it.
GRTS staff reporters and presenters can barely pronounce words let alone
properly present, report or document news items and features. Their
pronunciations of commonplace words are laboured and crossovers between an
infantile snivel and a third rate ventriloquist trying his luck on Broadway
success. Their mannerism in front of cameras are coarse, ruggedly uncouth and
bordering on pantomime display of whims comparative to only Teenage daytime
TV presenting we keep being fed by satellite these days. It's gaffes since
becoming operational are legendary. From Jessica Sowe sleeping in front of
the cameras and the innately rude wife of the MD Fatou Dibba Saidy yelling at
the camera crew to turn the glaring illuminations of the camera away from
her, they have had it all. Oh and of course Caliph General Jammeh's bumbling
idiocy each time he appears on TV to speak as an expert on Islam, the
collapsing economy, the moneys he has stolen or laundered or racketeering and
to renew his death threats to those who dare oppose him, the Heaven ordained
Caliph of the Caliphate of The Gambia.
You would have thought that what with all the modern technology and
techno-savvy staff it employs, their should be a marked difference, but with
half-charlatans like Jahumpa Ceesay and Tombong leading the charge in
operations, what do you expect? These Jammeh appointed cultural commissars
are as enlightened as the buffoon himself on subtle and sophisticated issues
like culture in a pluralist society. GRTS has just become the bleak, churlish
and obnoxiously irritating symbol of Jammeh in our daily lives. Each day it
serves the same cold and un-nutritious pap that is prepared by the State
House chefs to a nation hungry to be inspired by creativity, objectivity and
the plurality they live each day of their lives. It's programmes [if one can
call them that], are uninspirational, devoid of imagination and generally
defective in every Jammeh sense. A tool for political spins, patronage and
the cronyism that Jammeh said 6yrs. ago propelled him to stand up to the
Jawara regime.
If at any rate, GRTS has any cluster of talents that can handle
professional broadcasting, they are being turned into professional eunuchs
and clodhoppers by an MD who knows next to nothing on broadcasting but is
depleting the outfit the little human resources it has. If you want a graphic
illustration of how Gambia is sinking in efficiency during Jammeh, look no
further than GRTS. That monolith of unprofessionalism, ineptitude and
uninspirational broadcasting in the Gambia. Sadly you and I have to pay for
it. What a tragedy!
Hamjatta Kanteh
We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to
tolerate the intolerant.
Karl Popper 1902-1994
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