*Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue*

*Issue No. 27/2006, 10-12 April, 2006*

*Editorial*

*WE CALL FOR THE PERSONAL INTERVENTION OF THE PRESIDENT*

The best policy is to prevent conflict. However if conflict occurs, the wise
thing to do is to contain, manage and solve it. It is the Government which
has announced that a coup d'etat was foiled on 21st March 2006. It is the
Government which decided to allow some of the accused to have their
testimonies broadcast. The President has had the opportunity to walk in the
street, address the national assembly and visit military barracks. There is
no travel advice issued by foreign Governments. These are indicators that a
state of emergency is not considered to be in existence in the Gambia. This
imposes on the Government to maintain a climate of normalcy. This goes along
with respect for the constitutional provisions regarding arrest and
detention. The law is clear. When a person is suspected of commiting a
crime, one can be arrested but one must be given access to a legal counsel
within 3 hours and should appear before a court within 72 hours. The
President should be aware that lawyers are usually relied on to make our
justice system work. This gives confidence to people that one cannot be
arbitrarily detained. If lawyers can be detained without appearing in court
within seventy two hours, then our justice system is being discredited. This
will not earn the country respect.

In the same vein, the constitution says that the press should hold the
Government accountable. If a journalist can be detained in violation of the
72 hours limit for detention without court appearance, how can others feel
safe? It is important for the President to note that any violation of the
fundamental rights and freedom provisions will not help it's image
nationally and internationally. The problem, whatever its nature, appears to
have been contained. What is important is to move on with peace building and
consolidation of democratic political dispensation, release those who do not
have cases and take those charged with speed, to count. This is the way
forward.





*WAVE OF ARRESTS COUNTINUES*

*By Yaya Dampha*

Since after the alleged March 21st abortive coup plot, many security
personnel and civilians have been arrested. Apart from the first batch who
were alleged to have taken part in the ploy to overthrow the Jammeh
government, no reasons office have been advanced concerning the arrest of
the new caprices.  The most recent captives are Mr. Sheriff Mustapha Dibba,
Speaker of the National Assembly, Mrs. Mariam Denton, a private lawyer, Mr.
Njie, "Girigara", a businessman, Mr. Ngorr Secka, the newly appointed Deputy
Director General of NIA and Hon. Abdoulie Kanaji Jawla, National Assembly
Member for Sandu.

Mr. Dibba was arrested at his home in Banjul on Wednesday night whilst Ngorr
Secka was called at 3:am to report to work only to be arrested. Mrs. Mariam
Denton and Pa Njie were arrested on Thursday morning and Hon. Jawla was
arrested at his home on Thursday night. The three newly reinstated
Intelligence Agents, Foday Barry, Musa Dibba and Baba Saho were also
arrested on Friday. Mr. Foday together with the two other arrestees were all
reappointed by the NIA after the march 21 alleged coup plot was unvailed.

Hon. Sheriff Mustapha is the leader of the National Convention Party (NCP)
which is in alliance with the ruling APRC. The Speaker is a signatory to the
Memorandum of Understanding between political parties which was signed under
the supervision of by President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria. His arrest
came barely a day after he led a National Assembly delegation to State
House.

When contacted for the reasons for the arrest of Hon. Dibba and other
arrestees, both the Army and Police PROs said they don't know. This reporter
was told that the NIA are the ones conducting the arrest. Attempts to speak
to the NIA was not possible.

* *

* *

*HALIFA AND CHURCHILL CLASH ON PRINCIPLE*

*As FJC Tables Motion on Coup*

*By Abdoulie G. Dibba*

On 3rd April 2006, the nominated member, Honourable Fatoumatta Jaumpa Ceesay
tabled a motion before the National Assembly on the events of 21st March
2006. According to Honourable Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay, *"This very act of
attempting a coup d'etat against the constitutionally-elected government of
the Republic is in itself a great crime of the highest degree.  It is an
affront to the dignity, prosperity, independence and socio-economic
prosperity and progress that we have for the last decade nurtured and
cherished.  Above all, it is an unforgivable attack on the Republic and the
sovereign people of the Gambia."*  Hon. Jahumpa-Ceesay pointed out that The
Gambia has witnessed rapid socio-economic developments since 1994 and that
anything to disrupt the peace and pace of development is totally
unacceptable.

She said that this capital crime by some elements in our army and the
society was motivated by greed and selfishness. She pointed out that this
act is uncalled for, especially when the country is due to host the July AU
summit.  She concluded by calling on her colleagues to strongly condemn the
act in the Gambia or elsewhere.

As Deputy after Deputy rose to show the good work of the APRC government and
condemn the coup the Majority Leader rose to condemn the coup and then
lamented that he had not heard any comment from the opposition and that if
they fail to comment it should be an act of high treason. Halifa Sallah rose
to raise a point of order. The Speaker acknowledged the point of order and
conveyed to Honourable Baldeh that there is freedom of debate in the
National Assembly and that motives must not be imputed for exercising one's
right to be silent.

When it was Halifa Sallah's turn to speak he indicated that he had the
intention to speak at the appropriate time and was not motivated by the
irresponsible remarks of the Majority Leader. The Speaker called him to
order and intimated that the Majority Leader had already been called to
order.

Halifa Sallah then proceeded to observe that if he was not prepared he would
not be able to make the contribution he was about to make. He observed that
what was amazing about the president's address to the National Assembly is
that he did not mention anything about the events of 21st March 2006.

He therefore intimated as follows:

*It must be understood, Hon. Speaker, that when we are dealing with such
matters, we should deal with matters of principle and not substances of
facts.  Any democrat or those who intend to be democrats would know that
people who are accused of crimes are presumed innocent until they are proven
guilty.  It is not the duty of Assemblies to be judges but it is the duty of
Assembly Members to advocate for principle.*  *The principles are very
clear.  Article 4 paragraph (9) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union
calls for the rejection of all unconstitutional changes of government.  This
is due to the fact that Africa is an Africa of the people.  Africa has
passed through the stage of monarchs, tyrants and despots, ruling over the
people.  Africa has grown and perhaps that is why we have started to
advocate for the principle of democracy; that power must be derived from the
consent of the people and should be exercised in their interest. We must
bear in mind what that entails.  We in the opposition have departed from the
position of our colleagues where they are avoiding the principle and are
promoting partisan politics which has been reflected by the Majority Leader
(Hon. Churchill Baldeh).*

*It is important to bear in mind that if we start to condemn the coup on the
basis of somebody saying that he can come to Banjul and back to Nuimi and
that his children can come to school in Banjul and back to Nuimi, people
travelling to Jarra and Wuli in the South Bank can claim that it takes them
days to get home.  I don't think that is a reason for opposing or supporting
a coup d'etat.  It is not the nature of a government in a country, whether
succeeding economically or not, that determines whether there should be a
coup or not.  It is a constitutional rule that power must not be derived *from
the barrel of the gun.  That is the principle! The principle is that it
should be derived from the consent of the people.  And we hope that all
these experiences would be lessons that what we need to consolidate is
democracy.  Free the people to be totally in charge of their destiny.

This is not a matter of party but all of us in common own the Gambia; all of
us in common must abide by this constitution irrespective of party
affiliation and we must defend that constitution.  We in the opposition
therefore hope that this event that has taken place would be left to the
investigators so that they would do their work and take those people who
have allegedly committed crimes before the courts to prove their innocence
or guilt.  And we hope that in this process, our democratic evolution would
be enhanced. A member has indicated the MOU we have signed between political
parties and just few days ago, we did the inauguration.  We hope that spirit
would continue.  That is the spirit which can make Gambia to be stable today
and would make Gambia stable tomorrow.  The spirit of realising that all of
us must defend the fundamental rights and freedom of our citizens, the
spirit that we must defend the rule of law, ensure that political parties
and political opponents will abide by the principle of not engaging in
demagogy and character assassination but would live in the politics of
issues so that the people would decide who would govern them.

This is the life we wish for this country.  I must say that I would like to
advise the government that what has happened should not lead to any culture
of impunity.  What exists in the constitution as rights for people who are
detained must be respected.  The more we respect this, the more stable the
Gambia becomes.  And we hope that stability will continue because we intend
to contribute to that by respecting the laws of our country by continuing to
promote democratic principles by committing ourselves not to participate in
governments that are derived from coup d'etat just as we have shown in
principle.  The best principle is practice! We in the opposition have shown
our commitment to the democratic principle by vowing never to participate in
a government that is derived from a coup d'etat.





*NO COMPENSATION FOR DEMOLITION VICTIMS*

*By Abdoulie G. Dibba*

In responding to a question raised by the Minority Leader and Member for
Serrekunda Central, Halifa Sallah, regarding the basis for the seizure of
properties and demolition of buildings in the vicinity of Kembujeh Madina
and measures being taken for adequate compensation to the victims, the
Secretary of State for Local Government and Lands, Ismaila Sambou, indicated
that "there has not been any seizure of land at Kembujeh Madina." He went on
to say that "recently, there has been a demolition exercise of developments
that encroached into a site allocated to NAWEC for the construction of a
power station.  These are illegal developments within a site that is already
leased to NAWEC.  Therefore, the issue of compensation does not arise." In a
supplementary question, the Minority Leader asked the Secretary of State for
Local Government and Lands to explain to the National Assembly when this
particular site was leased to NAWEC.  In response, SOS Sambou promised to
provide the information later as the file containing the particulars are in
the office and does not want to guess.  *Foroyaa* would inform the public
once the information reaches the National Assembly.





*CHIEF JUSTICE CALLS FOR INDEPENDENCE*

*By Bubacarr K. Sowe***

The Chief Justice of The Gambia, Justice A.K Savage, has called on Gambians
to take their destiny into their own hands in every field of human
endeavour, in order to be independent.

The Chief Justice made these remarks on Thursday at the Ocean Bay Hotel in
Cape Point, Bakau, at the beginning of a three-day seminar for Judges,
Magistrates and top Judicial officers.

"Gambians should take their destiny into their own hands in every field of
human endeavour, if we want to be really independent. The judiciary is no
exception. Gambians must sacrifice if we have to usher in the new
millennium," Chief Justice Savage advised.

He added that the help and support we receive from our development partners
should complement and/or supplement our own initiatives.

"No doubt the invaluable assistance we have hitherto received from our
colleagues from other commonwealth jurisdictions has in no small way helped
in laying the foundation for an effective, efficient and modern justice
delivery system. We shall still need their services in the foreseeable
future. This situation, however, cannot continue *ad infinitum*. Following
my appointment as Chief Justice of The Gambia the sky is the limit for other
Gambians in the Judiciary. I call upon all Gambians to come on board as this
is the most opportuned moment for us to render our services to our beloved
country," he said.

The Chief Justice promised that they will be committed to the true and
proper interpretation of the laws and the constitution to ensure the
stability of democracy, improve their output and service delivery,
accessibility, user friendliness and cost effectiveness, and very
importantly, maintain high standards of efficiency at all levels through
capacity building and man power development and training.

He continued that it is only through such training that they may be able to
accomplish the reforms they intended, "to promote the rule of law,
transparency accountability and anti-corruption; promote and uphold human
rights of the vulnerable in society, ensure efficiency and speedy delivery
of justice, strengthen the capacity of our human resources, Change the
public perception of the judiciary and build public confidence in the
service, improve our infrastructure capacity, and to enhance our service
delivery."

The Chief Justice added that during his tenure as a judge, he had discerned
that some of the problems facing the judiciary included problems with the
management of court records, overburdened judges who are responsible during
trials for recording trial testimony, inadequate equipment which impedes the
ability of the court system to provide timely information to private
practitioners and to manage the docket, deteriorating physical
infrastructure which, inter alia, can lead to the postponement of trials,
inefficiencies in the operation of the registrar's offices, the bailiffs and
other lay court personnel's.

Delivering a welcome address, the Judicial Secretary, Mrs. Nguie Mboob
Janneh, said the time has come when the knowledge, skills and abilities of
the judges, magistrates and judicial officers have to be put together and
utilized to address the bottlenecks and constraints of justice delivery in
this country.

"The expertise and experience of judges, from the commonwealth and our
sister neighbouring countries and locally, must be employed during this
historic moment of the judiciary," Mr. Mboob Janneh said.





*TEN-YEAR OLD CHILD CRUSHED TO DEATH*

*By Musa Barrow*

It is a common saying that death is a bad reaper as it does not always reap
the ripe fruit. This statement was sadly again proved true beyond all
reasonable doubts on Saturday 1st April 2006, as a ten-year child Buba
Ceesay of Bundung Borehole died in a rather dramatic circumstance.

According to an eye witness, the whole tragedy unfolded when a vehicle,
fully loaded with firewood, on its way to Sukuta, got stuck in a sandy road.
Little Buba was among the group of youngsters who had come to push it out of
the sand. As they pushed the vehicle, Buba felt down and one of the wheels
rolled over him.

According to the witness, Buba did not die at that very instance. It was
when they were on the way to the Hospital that he succumbed to the
excruciating agony of the accident.

The eye witness further stated that when the driver of the vehicle was
informed that he had killed a child, he stopped immediately but as he saw a
group of what he termed aggressive youths advancing towards him, he jumped
out of his vehicle to run for his life. However, he later reported himself
to the police station.

Reacting to the sudden death of his son, one Mamadi Ceesay, expressed shock
but remained optimistic that the God who had given him the child and taken
little Buba away can still give him another child. He also thanked the
neighbourhood of Bundung Borehole for showing a great deal of solidarity to
him during unfortunate event.





*AFLATOXIN CONTENT IN PEANUT BUTTER HIGH*

*By Bubacarr K. Sowe*

Lamin M.S. Jobe, the acting director of Research and the head of the Pest
Management Laboratory at the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI)
has revealed that there is a high presence of aflatoxin in peanut butter
being sold daily in our markets.

In an interview with this reporter on Wednesday, he said that they did a
survey at all the markets to look at the presence of aflatoxin in the peanut
butter and discovered that the content was higher than they thought.

"In every research method you have a detection limit and in some of these
samples it was so high that it exceeded the detection level. This is
extreme. We conducted this country-wide; in different markets: Serrekunda,
Banjul, Farafenni, and up to Basse, and we analysed it for micro toxin
contents, but very high levels of aflatoxin could be found in this product
from the markets," he posited.

He, however, blamed the women vendors who he said just rush to pick the nuts
without doing proper selection. He added that for the past three years, NARI
had been doing the survey but the presence of the toxin is obvious.

Dilating on its consequences for our groundnut exports, Mr. Jobe said that
the European market has put in place stringent regulations against
groundnuts contaminated with aflatoxin. He said that the European standards
for aflatoxin are two nanograms per kilogram of groundnut. He finally stated
that NARI has suggested some recommendations which, if followed, will
eliminate the presence of aflatoxin in groundnut butter.

Aflatoxin is a micro toxin that is produced by a fungus, which if eaten can
cause liver cancer.





*HON. ELIMAN SECKA DENIES ALLEGATIONS*

*By Lamin Fatty*

The National Assembly Member for Niamina East, Hon. Eliman Secka, has
categorically denied both the reports and the allegations made by the
District Chief of Niamina, Alagie Kebba Touray, which he initiated and
engineered the petition against him. Hon. Secka made these denial in an
Interview with a "Foroyaa" reporter, during the weekend, in his Kairaba
Avenue office, regarding the allegations that he Engineered the petition of
the said chief. According to Mr. Secka he has never been contacted by any
Alkalo about any petition as previously published in Foroyaa news paper.
Infact according him, his knowledge about it, came when he received
information that the SOS is going to Niamina to interview the Alkalos in
other to investigate what was going on. He said after the SOS went there, he
was later told that the interview was conducted; that the SOS took one of
the red flags that they were using to protest, when they were welcoming the
delegations; that since he was not there at that time and was busy preparing
for the commencement of the National Assembly, he was not able to know what
was going on. He said the allegation is baseless and that it does not hold
water. But according him, during the SOS's provincial tour, a rally was held
at Mamut Fana; that he went there in advance, to prepare for the delegation.
He said during the cause of the rally, there were lots of speakers, but that
no body spoke about the Chief; that when it was the time for the Chief to
speak, he said that there were people who signed a protest letter against
him making false allegations against him; that these were people who want to
dictate to him what to do. According to Mr. Secka when the Chief mentioned
that at the rally, the people also protested against him for mentioning such
a things, since no body spoke against him. He pointed out that it was one
elderly man from Niamina Maka by the name of Alagie Bafu, who stood up and
said to SOS Touray that there was a serious problem for the APRC in Nimina;
that Alagie Bafu told the SOS that the problems will be highlighted to him
for onward transmission to the President. According to Mr. Secka, speaker
after speaker narrated the same thing. Mr. Secka indicated to our reported
that he told the gathering that he received lots of reports against the said
Chief. He pointed out that anytime there were reports against the Chief, he
always tried to meet the Chief and talk to him about the reports. He said
his role is not to instigate the Alkalos to sign a petition against the
Chief, but to encourage them to work hand in glove with the people of his
constituency which is the principle and policy of the APRC Government, in
bringing about Development. He said he never initiated the petition of the
Chief neither did he engineer it.





*PHASING OUT LEADED GASOLINE IN THE GAMBIA***

*By Lamin Fatty *

Mr. Adama Cham, the Registrar of the Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides at
the NEA, has said that the Republic of The Gambia is in the process of
joining the rest of the world, in phasing out leaded gasoline that is said
to be linked to diseases and environmental damage.  That changes according
to Mr. Cham, stem from a pledge that was made at the World Summit on
Sustainable Environment (WSSE) in 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, at a
time when almost all the African Countries were using leaded fuel.  Mr.
Klans Toepher, head of the Nairobi based United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) described the continent of Africa's wide change over to
unleaded fuel 'as a real environmental and health achievement' since lead is
associated with a wide range of health problems, including damage to the
brain of babies and young children.  Mr. Cham further reiterated that the
biggest achievement was

registered when the government of The Gambia, in July 1992, adopted The
Gambia Environmental Action Plan, (GEAP) as a frame work of pivotal
importance by commuting it self to a sound and sustainable management of our
environment.

According to Mr. Cham, the main aim of the custodians of the GEAP in the
National Environment Agency is to assist the Government and the citizens of
The Gambia in improving the economic performance of the Country and ensuring
the quality of life for all human beings in The Gambia in a sustainable
manner.  The GEAP according to Mr. Cham is also aimed at restoring,
maintaining and enhancing ecological processes of both natural resources and
the cultural and natural heritage through the environmental quality
programme at the National Environmental Agency (NEA).  However, according to
Mr. Cham, a major achievement of the GEAP implementation process, has been
the development of environmental quality strategy and guidelines aimed at
safeguarding the health of the population through the protection of  the
environment.  He said that within this programme, the Government of The
Gambia, through the NEA, has carried out a study on the impact of certain
elements on the physical environment, especially air pollution from leaded
petrol. Air pollution, in many cities of the developing world, is reaching
alarming proportions, while lead, a toxic air pollutant, is extremely
harmful to humans, especially children.

A study has found that almost about 80% of the level of lead pollution in
the developing countries is said to be attributed to leaded gasoline
(Petrol).

* *

* *

*WOMEN LEADERS DISCUSS WOMEN'S PROTOCOL*

*As they urge more women to join the National Assembly*

Women Leaders across the country have urged women from various jurisdictions
to be elected into the National Assembly to articulate and provide solutions
to their own problems.

Women leaders were voicing out their views during a discussion at the Three
Day National Conference organised by the National Women's Council and
Bureau, in collaboration with the National Commission for UNESCO (NATCOM),
National Aids Secretariat (NAS), and the Department of State for Education,
held at the Paradise Suites in Kololi.

The conference was part of activities to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the
National Women's Council and Bureau with over hundred women in attendance.  It
was said at the conference that only women know their own problems and can
only be addressed and solved when they are elected as National Assembly
Members.

Citing the women's protocol which is still lingering as an example, they
said there are issues in it which is of great concern and needs to be
ratified but because there are not too many women in parliament to support
it, it is still gathering dust there with reservations on Female Genital
Mutilation, Early Marriage, among others.  They also harped on the need to
have Gender Policy since there is a women's policy.  The Gender Policy, they
said will help to mainstream gender in order to have equal participation of
boys and girls, noting that most girls do not complete their schooling due
to the cost involved.

Another problem observed by women was the issue of inheritance which is
described as a major problem women face, thus affecting their welfare.

It was said that when a woman's husband dies leaving behind his property to
his wife and children, instead of the wife and children inheriting the
property, the husband's family will rather deny them the property and even
send the wife and children away.

This is a cause for concern to women which they want to condemn in society.
In a case where they are given the inheritance, women are urged to be
mindful of the type of man they want to remarry later, pointing out the fact
that some men are gold diggers and will like to enjoy with the woman until
they finish the money then when she is exhausted, they will abandon the
woman to suffer with her children.

Women also observed the lack of parental care for children, and they urged
the parents to always dialogue with their children, noting that most parents
do not know the intention of their children or their future plans.

On the aspect of education, it was discussed that in the Lower Basic Schools
children normally do well but the moment they reach the Upper Basic Level,
they start dropping in grades.  The Department of State for Education was
urged to intervene in this aspect to investigate the cause of the
problem.  Mothers
were also urged in partnership with fathers to take care of their children
as the future leaders.

Women were also urged to engage themselves in productive ventures, however
small it may be, for them to be able to stand for themselves.  Also they
should always be in a position to control what they do and not to leave it
in the hands of their husbands.

It was said that if the woman leaves her business with the man, the man will
at the end, handle everything, misuse it or marry a second wife.

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