It is important to emphasize that Gambians abroad  constitute an 
economic 
power base of the country. They also constitute an  intellectual power 
base. 
However, this power of wealth and knowledge can never  impact on change 
and 
development if it is not linked to organised politics. It  is important 
for Gambians 
abroad to realise that the finance department has  already informed the 
nation that they transferred a sum of 1,700 million or 1.7  billion 
dalasis to the 
country in 2005 and that this sum increased to D1,800  million or 1.8 
billion 
dalasis in 2006.
They should therefore be concerned  about how this country is governed. 
They 
should give support to those in whom  they have confidence in the 
political 
arena or come back home and provide the  force of example that the 
nation needs 
to develop. Foroyaa's editorial..........
  It is really factual but the selfish regime does count us in their economic statistic but have continue to ignored our call for extension for voting in the diaspora. Today some of us names are in the files of NIA. Show case example is Fatoujaw Manneh. Damn it Yahya Jammeh think he can extend the state of fear which he engulfed our people into we in the diaspora. It is not me and I know it is not Joe Sambou and many more. The only home for the devil will be mile two. All the crimes they have committed in the name of our freedom will all be accoutable. Gambia is the only home for us and we are ready under all cost to fight for the restoration of democracy and respect for human rights in that country. Come the next general election the jails will be full but we are determine to stop the madness. Opposition politic in our country a need a new blood and cult like following cannot continue if does not geared toward restoration of democracy.

[log in to unmask] wrote:
  Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No.71/2007, June 20 – 21 June 2007

Editorial
GAMBIANS ABROAD SHOULD BECOME FULLY ENGAGED WITH THE COUNTRY
After the Presidential elections, many Gambians called for the birth of a 
new political leadership in the country. One expected that, as we call for the 
retirement of some long serving political figures, new ones will emerge to 
take their places. The current constitution requires a person to be resident in 
the country for a period of five years to be able to stand as a Presidential 
candidate.
It is important to emphasize that Gambians abroad constitute an economic 
power base of the country. They also constitute an intellectual power base. 
However, this power of wealth and knowledge can never impact on change and 
development if it is not linked to organised politics. It is important for Gambians 
abroad to realise that the finance department has already informed the 
nation that they transferred a sum of 1,700 million or 1.7 billion dalasis to the 
country in 2005 and that this sum increased to D1,800 million or 1.8 billion 
dalasis in 2006.
They should therefore be concerned about how this country is governed. They 
should give support to those in whom they have confidence in the political 
arena or come back home and provide the force of example that the nation needs 
to develop. Apathy is not an option. 

PA SALLAH JENG TESTIFIES
By Bubacarr K. Sowe
Pa Sallah Jeng, whose suspension as Mayor of Banjul by the Executive was 
declared illegal by the courts, on Tuesday, June 19, entered his defence and 
gave evidence in the economic crimes charges levelled against him at the High 
Court before Justice Sanji Monageng.
Mr. Jeng, who has already been freed by the court on two counts, testified 
as a defence witness on the pending counts against him.
He told the court that he was elected Mayor of Banjul in 2002 after winning 
as an independent candidate in the local government elections.
Mr. Jeng said he was suspended in September 2005 following an attempt by the 
majority of the councillors from the ruling Alliance for Patriotic 
Re-Orientation and Construction (APRC) to impeach him out of office.
He added that he is aware of the six charges preferred against him, out of 
which four are pending in court.
Testifying on count three, he said that he is aware of the charge of single 
sourcing for the purchase of second hand towing ambulance to the tune of 
D340,000. Mr. Jeng said the buying of the towing ambulance was necessitated by a 
series of Council (BCC) meetings where councillors expressed concern over the 
obstruction of the streets of Banjul by vehicles on a daily basis which 
hampers accessibility to garbage and the free movement of ambulances. 
He said there was also a press release with regards to the clearance of 
vehicles in the streets of the city. He added that there was a point in time in 
the history of the BCC when police cleared vehicles from the streets but the 
police were unable to continue rendering assistance.
Mr. Jeng added that while traveling abroad in Belgium, he met with a Gambian 
and that through their conversation he indicated the need for such a special 
vehicle, because it is not available in the open market.
After few months, he said, the gentleman came to The Gambia and told him 
that one towing ambulance had been shipped from Germany to The Gambia, upon 
which he referred the man to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BCC, who is the 
purchasing officer of the Council.
Mr. Jeng also said an agreement was reached between the CEO and the man, Mr. 
Ndure, which was witnessed by the chief mechanic of the Council and himself, 
as well. The CEO he said is not answerable to the Mayor.
He was shown the agreement between the CEO and he acknowledged recognising 
it. It was signed by Abdul Fatah Othman and Mr. Ndure. He was shown another 
exhibit which he said is a letter from the CEO to the Director General of The 
Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA) requesting permission for the 
purchase. He said that letter, was followed by a flow of letters as follow up to 
grant the permission for the purchase of the truck.
He added that the truck arrived at the ports in Banjul and was inspected by 
the Chief Mechanic of BCC who recommended that it is reliable.
Mr. Jeng went on to say that the truck is the back bone of the Council, 
transporting workers, arresting unlicensed wheel barrow users, assisting 
government offices during clean up exercises and most interestingly transporting 
chairs and stages during political rallies in Banjul.
He identified an approval letter from the GPPA for the purchase of the 
towing ambulance, saying that the CEO had effected payment after approval was 
granted.
He also identified another exhibit, a duty waiver from the Department of 
State for Finance and Economic Affairs declaring the towing ambulance duty free 
at the Banjul port.
When shown Mr. Jeng acknowledged recognition of a letter from CEO to the 
GPPA Director General as a request to purchase a used truck from a single 
supplier, which is signed by the CEO and Permanent Secretary Local Government and 
Lands.
He said the ambulance was needed by the council, permission was granted by 
the GPPA and the CEO as the purchasing officer with the Director of Finance, 
prepared the necessary paper work and executed payment based on the agreement 
entered by the CEO and the supplier.
He also identified a local purchase order from BCC to the supplier Momodou 
Ndure amounting to 340,000 dalasi in respect of the towing ambulance signed by 
the CEO and Director of Finance.
Count Four
Testifying on count four, he said that he is aware of the charge of 
intentionally directing the purchase of three compactors at the sum of 1.5 million 
dalasis.
Mr. Jeng told the court that the buying of the compactors which are 500,000 
dalasi each has a lot in common with the towing ambulance, noting that when 
he was elected mayor, the Council had a lot of scrap vehicles which were 
dysfunctional.
He added that garbage collection in Banjul then was done once every month or 
two and they were hiring trucks from people like Sheikh Omar Njie.
He also said the BCC unanimously agreed to buy compactors from one Mr. Secka 
who told them that he could sell the three at D1.5 million, far below the 
normal market price. They agreed to pay cash for one in full and the other two 
were to be paid within eighteen months. He told the court that councillors 
were satisfied when they were brought and inspected but out of desperation, the 
cleansing department of the BCC started using the vehicles.
Mr. Jeng said the supplier wrote to him three months later that the 
compactors were being used while he had not been paid. He said that he wrote to the 
CEO that they were not complying with the terms of the agreement, but the CEO 
replied that there were no funds and he could give only D300,000 dalasis at 
that moment.
Mr. Jeng testified that he knew the D300,000 dalasi was paid, but that he 
did not know anything about the outstanding D1.2 million dalasi.
He acknowledged recognition of a proposal from the BCC for the purchase, a 
letter of request to the GPPA and a payment voucher to Alf Trading Enterprise 
amounting to D300,000.
He further said the Council owed obligation to the city’s residence and with 
the purchase of the vehicles, garbage collection was done twice a week for 
every residence in Banjul unlike before when it was done once each month or 
two. The witness identified in court a proposal for the purchase of the three 
Volvo garbage trucks addressed to the GPPA.
Mr. Jeng told the court that he wished the transcript of the Paul Commission 
be brought to court, where Mr. Othman said he is the procuring and 
accounting officer of the BCC and he is not answerable to the Mayor, but the council.
He was shown four other exhibits again and he said the two are payment 
vouchers to Alf Trading amounting to D112,000 and D56,000 respectively, while the 
two other exhibits are receipts of those payments.
He said he never signed those four documents he was shown.
Count Five
On Count Five, Mr. Jeng said he borrowed a generator from a friend for his 
office, as a result of seven million dalasi electricity arrears pending ten 
years before he was a Mayor.
He said that the Council, NAWEC and the state agreed that the arrears be 
offset with an arrear of fifteen million dalasi from rates the state owed the 
BCC, but the state failed to honour the agreement and the Council was 
disconnected.
Mr. Jeng said the Council bought two generators after the disconnection, but 
the first one was a 4.5KVA which could not run a single phase air 
conditioner, and the other one was given to the payroll department.
When he borrowed the 25KVA generator for his office from a friend, it was 
connected to the whole complex without him knowing and the whole council was 
happy. After using it for three months, which was never meant for buying, the 
CEO and the Director of Finance, Oumie Sanneh Badjie approached him and he 
called the owner of the generator and asked him if he would want to sell it.
He went on to say that the man agreed with the CEO and the Director of 
Finance who paid an installment of D15,000 and a balance of D35,000 was left.
He identified a receipt for the generator from Gamcel Investment Enterprise 
to BCC at the cost of D50,000. He also acknowledged recognition of the 
invoice of D50,000 for the generator; advance payment of D15,000 and a balance of 
D35,000.
He told the court that a 25KVA generator similar to the one they bought 
would cost D100,000 to D150,000, and it was still with Council up till the time 
he was suspended as mayor of BCC.
Count Six
Testifying on Count Six, Mr. Jeng said the toilet structure at Primet 
Street, then, was an environmental hazard, dilapidated and in a deplorable 
condition.
The cost of maintenance and upkeep of the toilets in Banjul he said was high 
and that the toilets which they could not sustain were a liability to the 
Council. 
He added that ten toilets and four stores were designed by the then 
solicitor of the Council and most of the space in the city was sub-leased to the 
private sector which could have been the same as the Primet street toilets. He 
said the sub-leasing estimated at D700,000 dalasi and that kind of procedure 
had been common with the Council for the past fifteen years or so, but the 
construction at Primet Street was halted following the Department of Local 
Government and Lands writing to the contractor to stop the work.
He added that council has lost a number of lands in Banjul, particularly to 
the Local Government Department, simply because the BCC lacks the initiative 
to utilise the space they have. He also said that the QuantumNet site at 
Campama Estate Market was taken by Local Government from Council and given to 
QuantumNet. A site at Mile Two was given to the APRC women’s wing and another 
plot was allocated to the present Mayoress’s husband all without Council’s 
authority. 
He told the court that Council would have lost the Primet Street space, like 
in Gloucester Street and New Perseverance Streets, where toilets in bad 
conditions were demolished, that restructuring the Primet Street toilet to a 
modern structure was a wise choice.
Testifying further, Mr. Jeng said he challenged his suspension in the High 
Court and Justice Belgore declared that the suspension was illegal and ordered 
for his reinstatement but the state never complied with it.
He added that the state applied for a stay of execution which was thrown out 
of court.
He said he was eventually arrested and asked to be reporting to the drug 
squad for three months without being charged.
According to him, when he was charged he was not served.
The case was adjourned till Friday for cross examination.

NEW CHARGES AGAINST FATOU JAW MANNEH
By Fabakary B. Ceesay
Prosecutors at the state law office have preferred two new charges against 
journalist Fatou Jaw Manneh on Tuesday. The charges are, publication of false 
news with intent to cause fear and alarm in the public and uttering seditious 
words. She pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.
The state counsel Emmanuel O. Fagbenle, said he based his application on 
section 169 of the Criminal Procedure Code CPC. He said the amendments are meant 
to meet the circumstances of the case and that he has highlighted the 
amendment to enable the accused to prepare for her defence. “I want to withdraw the 
charges that were filed on the 11 April and 11 May 2007 and to adopt the 
charge file on the 19 June to substitute the others. The defence counsel, Lamin 
S. Jobarteh objected to the amendment of the charges. He said it should not 
be done in matters known to the prosecution only, but to the defence, as well. 
He indicated that the prosecution cannot depend on section 169 of the CPC, 
saying, “It is not a section that is licensed for the prosecution to use at 
their disposal at any time.� Mr. Jobarteh argued that charges can be amended, 
but cannot be substituted. He added that the charges can only be amended or 
added, but cannot be substituted as required by the prosecution. Counsel 
Jobarteh added that the accused has been appearing before the court under the same 
charges for months now. “It is against justice for such a substitution to be 
preferred against his client� he argued. Jobarteh indicated that the accused 
should be informed of the charges against her. “No cautionary and voluntary 
statement was obtained from her about the new charges. I ask the court to 
order the prosecution to provide us with the evidences and the list of witnesses 
that they have in respect to the new charges, the place and the person to 
whom the utterance has been made to and the address to be provided. “You are not 
amending, but adding to the charges,� said Jobarteh.
The state counsel said amendment can be done at anytime of the trial which 
is the same procedure in England, Australia, Ghana, Nigeria and The Gambia. He 
said section 24 of the constitution provides the accused time to prepare 
which is echoed with 169 of CPC. The trial Magistrate Buba Jawo granted the 
application by the prosecution to amend and substitute the charges before the 
court. He therefore ruled that the accused person should take her plea. The 
defence counsel, Lamin Jobarteh, urged the court to grant him adjournment before 
his client can take her plea on the new charges. He said he intends to file an 
application to the high court. Jobarteh’s application was overruled by the 
court.
Fatou Jaw Manneh later pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in the sum of 
D100,000 and that she must provide one Gambian surety. The state is expected 
to call its second witness in the next sitting. 

INTERVIEW WITH HALIFA SALLAH
Foroyaa: What in your view is the cause of the fuel shortage?
Halifa: It is the Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs and 
the Secretary of State for Trade, Industry and Employment who should do the 
explanation. Our concern is the lack of a coherent policy on the trade being 
conducted by small scale enterprises. According to the Secretary of State for 
Finance, the Government continued to pursue objectives of implementing and 
supporting policy measures that facilitate the creation of an efficient and 
effective economic environment for private sector led development and consolidate 
a liberal trade policy. What is however evident is that supermarkets are 
closing down, established traders have reduced the number of containers they have 
been bringing and redundancy in employment in the private sector is 
increasing. The Nation is owed an explanation regarding the unpredictable business 
climate.
Foroyaa: What is the proof that there is an unpredictable business climate?
Halifa: When there is demand and there is restriction of supply for no 
obvious reason, one could say the business climate is unpredictable. Take the 
recent fuel shortage, for example. How can one explain the shortage? In the last 
issue, we have shown that while there was a seeming shortage, small scale 
importers of fuel claim that just two of them had 140,000 litres kept from the 
market because of bureaucratic uncertainties which no official that was 
approached could settle. Can you imagine how many millions had been lost because of 
the shortage. As you conduct this interview, reporters are sending 
information that many filling stations which were closed on Monday were open on 
Tuesday. We have also spoken to some small scale importers of cement who indicate 
that they are restricted from importing by high import duty since they will 
prefer to sell cement at or about D200 per bag. Development is a chain 
reaction. Those who buy compounds pay capital gains tax. They also pay rates and so 
on. The demand for building materials also means that revenue from duty can 
also be derived from the sale of a variety of commodities if demand is 
sustained. Hence progressive taxation that is conducive to business activity would 
not make the buying of cement prohibitive by raising duties to unreasonable 
levels.
Foroyaa: So, you feel the market is being manipulated to the detriment of 
the small scale enterprises?
Halifa: An analyst should not speculate. What I would want to know from the 
SoS of Finance and SoS for Trade is whether it is efficient to have a 
regulatory frame-work for small scale enterprises without creating the institutions 
with the appropriate promotional modules to guide the efficient operation of 
such enterprises. How can a person who has paid 7.8 million worth of duty, in 
less than 2 years, be stopped from operating a business instead of being 
guided to run it according to the standards required. I am convinced that if 
these small scale enterprises are suppressed in favour of monopolies economic 
malaise will eventually grip the country. This can have a negative effect on 
all other services such as insurance and banking.
Foroyaa: Can you explain further?
Halifa: It is rise in economic activity which leads to demands in insurance 
and other services. Let me give an example of the implications of slump in 
economic activity. The SoS for finance and trade had indicated that remittances 
sent by Gambians had increased from 1.7 billion dalasis in 2005 to 1.8 
billion in 2006. This means that a lot of foreign exchange is flowing into the 
country. 
If banks buy this foreign exchange but do not have businesses that buy them 
back there will be foreign exchange glut in the banks. If this foreign 
exchange remains stagnant a bank can lose millions if the exchange rate drops below 
their original buying rate. In the same vein, insurance companies must 
either reinsure or reinvest. Slump in economic activity will reduce volume of 
their customers. Fluctuation in exchange rates could also be devastating to their 
reinsurance or reinsuring schemes. To limit all these uncertainties we must 
have policy makers who must rely on studies, institution building and 
enlightenment of those who are economically active in that they are not enshackled 
by any bureaucratic bottlenecks and monopolistic designs.
Foroyaa: How is NADD?
Halifa: We have been holding meetings to define the way forward. We expect 
to continue to receive feedback from people to help shape these defining 
moments.
Foroyaa: What are the concerns?
Halifa: Well, the same options we had when we met in 2004 are before us 
today. When we met in 2004 we had two options. It was made clear that since each 
party utilizes the period after an election to grow we could agree to 
disperse and operate separately until election draws near and then sit to decide 
which party and candidate to rally around for the election. This was the first 

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