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By Sheriff Saidykhan 

| Political Analysis of The Gambia and Senegal Country Risk Report 2022 |

Fitch Solutions, a data analytical research centre  based in London has projected that Macky Sall, the President of Senegal’s coalition would likely lose power in the upcoming Presidential election in 2024.

The report, by projecting a stable policymaking trajectory for the next 10 years in The Gambia impliedly assumes that Adama Barrow, the President of The Gambia will remain in office for at least 2031. 

The report indicated that the loss of the ruling party in Senegalese Parliament will constrain policymaking ahead stating that:

\"We at Fitch Solutions expect that the policymaking process in Senegal will slow, given that President Macky Sall\

By Sheriff Saidykhan

Fatoumatta Hydara, the mother of the two children that were killed in a flat fire incident in Nottingham, has died in hospital.

 She was taken to the Queen\

| UK Company directors, Wayne Hawkeswood and Graham Woodhouse found guilty of Health & Safety breaches linked to deaths of five Gambian men in 2016. |

By Sheriff Saidykhan 

Two company directors have been found guilty of safety failings after five Gambian agency workers at a metal recycling site were crushed to death when a 45-tonne wall collapsed in Nechells, Birmingham.

A seven-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court was told the men died instantly while working in an area near the wall, which was holding back 263 tonnes of metal briquettes.

Jurors were told the weight of metal, stored at a scrapyard in the Nechells area of the city, was equivalent to about six fully laden articulated lorries.

Labourers Almamo Jammeh, 45, Ousmane Diaby, 39, Bangally Dukuray, 55, Saibo Sillah, 42, and Mahamadou Jagana, 49, were pronounced dead at the scene in July 2016.

The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted Birmingham-based firms Ensco 10101 and Hawkeswood Metal Recycling, as well as directors Wayne Hawkeswood and Graham Woodhouse for safety failings linked to the deaths.

Opening the case last month, prosecutor Pascal Bates told jurors: “Mr Wayne Anthony Hawkeswood was the owner of both companies and he was the managing director of each of them.

“On July 7 2016, a gang of men were at work in the scrapyard and were given the job of clearing out a storage area.” said Pascal Bates.

The court was told the men were working to clear swarf – waste from machining processes – ahead of an incoming load of scrapped aero engines.

Describing the collapse, Mr Bates told the court: “At just after 8.34 that morning, some 15 minutes after the agency workers first go to bay four, the wall between bays three and four topples over into bay four.

“It fell as a complete ‘slate’ – a 45-tonne wall has been pushed over by 263 tonnes of briquettes into the neighbouring bay.

“The wall was decidedly unsafe in its state and no-one should have been working anywhere near it.” he said.

All those killed were originally from west Africa and held either Spanish or Portuguese passports.

Ensco 10101 had denied failing to discharge a duty to a person other than an employee in July 2016, and failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees.

Hawkeswood Metal Recycling had pleaded not guilty to a charge alleging that it failed in its duty to those not in its employment, and a second count relating to the safety of employees.

Managing director Hawkeswood and site operations manager Woodhouse, both of Riverside Works, Trevor Street, Nechells, each denied four charges under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, including allegations that an “offence was committed with your consent or connivance or was attributable to your neglect”.

The court heard that Woodhouse, 55, was working on July 7 2016, while 52-year-old Hawkeswood was on the first day of a foreign holiday.

Speaking after the defendants were convicted on all charges by a jury on Friday 18, November 2022 Amy Kalay, a principal inspector for the Health and Safety Executive. said: “In July 2016 five workers lost their lives in a tragic incident when a wall collapsed on top of them, another worker was seriously injured.

“The investigation into this incident has been long and complex.

“These men lost their lives in the most appalling of circumstances. Their deaths should not have happened. They went to work that day to earn a living – that cost them their lives.

“We have heard over the course of the trial that their deaths could have  been prevented had the companies and individuals responsible for the site taken steps to manage health and safety risks.

“I hope the families and friends of the men who died find some comfort in today’s verdict and see that justice has now  been served.” he remarked.

Defence lawyers had argued that neither of the directors were aware of any problems to alert them to potential dangers posed by the “blast proof” walls.

No similar walls on sites in the UK had collapsed previously, the trial heard.

Both directors were bailed until sentencing on a date to be fixed.

 By Sheriff Saidykhan

A group dubbed JusticeFor66+ Campaign seeking justice for the Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) child victims have demanded an apology from Dr. Anna Jammeh, a senior health officer at the Ministry of health.

Readers could recalled that, the recent comments from Dr. Anna Jammeh in a Standard newspaper saying victims are not cooperating with AKI investigators from the Ministry of health. 

The headline reads: ‘AKI victims\

By Sheriff Saidykhan

Fanta F. Jabbi, an environmentalist at the ministry of agriculture has warned the general public against the indiscriminate waste dumping in the environment, a tendency which she said can lead to environmental degradation. 

“Indiscriminate disposal of wastes especially those from plastics and plastic products can lead to environmental pollution evident in several ways including environmental natural beauty deterioration, entanglement and death of aquatic organisms, sewage system blockage especially within the crowded urban settlements like the west coast and greater Banjul areas resulting in creating conducive environment for breeding mosquitoes and other disease causing vectors as well as the production of foul smells, reduction in water percolation and normal agricultural soils aeration thus causing reduced productivity in such areas,” she said.

Speaking to The Outpost in an interview, the environmentalist said waste dumping has become a commonplace in many parts of the urban areas. 

She said there is need for active environmental sound policies, for the safety and conservation of the environment.

“To combat and curb persistent disposal of waste products in the environment, there is need for realistic policies which must be properly followed and enforced as well as putting up of measures and action plans for proper waste management and recycling within the communities,” she posited. 

She added: “There is also a need to put up efforts to educate the general populace on the potential environmental and public health effect of pollution by inappropriate waste disposal. This will go a long way to reduce the pollution rate and preserve the quality of the environment. There is need for people to be aware of the chemical constituents of certain  waste products such as plastics and their health effects. Educational curriculums at different levels must include ways of waste reduction and waste management systems as information resources,” she concluded.