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Image: Domestic workers being illegally advertised for sale or rent

|Times Newspapers reports how “Maids are trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market”|

By Shayma Bakht, Riyadh

She will work day and night and does not need rest, boasts Noura, a housewife in Riyadh. Gesturing to the cowering Ugandan maid next to her, who is 23 according to Noura, she adds: “If she does something wrong, you just send her to her room and do not let her out.”

Noura, who clutches gold Gucci sunglasses as she bargains for a price of £3,500 for the maid, is eager for a quick deal when she talks to an undercover Times reporter. “I can take her to your home tonight,” she says. “If you are still unsure, no problem, you can rent her instead . . . But tell me now, because by tomorrow someone else will buy her.”

Image: Dave Manneh

By Dave Manneh and Abdoukarim Sanneh for The Brufut Land Restitution Secretariat   

Mr Njie,       

You gave a lecture on “conscience” - the other week. We learned about it late but hope you will accept our excuse for coming to the party a little late.  

You are keeping up the pretences - we see.  

Despite familiarity with the fairy-tale of the genesis of your wealth, we watched the “lecture” with an open mind. We had assumed with time your conscience and moral fibre would have been fortified - thus ennobling you to admit your errors and make amends.  

You were in scintillating form - and captivated your impressionable audience - no doubt. You looked resplendent in that colourful and flowing Nyetti Abdu. The crown-like perching of the Aboki hat on your head added a certain symbolic paradox to your sartorial choice. Crowned emperor of [fill-in-the-gaps]! Perhaps?  The missing element was a griot ensemble - headed by a hallam player and backup women vocalists - belting out “Njai Jatta Njai, Gaindeh Njai, Alburr Njai, Njai Kulli Jatta Njai.”           

As abstract concepts, both the substance and the delivery were faultless. But those in awe either are oblivious of your past or chose to disregard it. The theatrical interlacing of the teachings of prophet Muhammed (PBUH) with Wollof philosophical musings, stroked a chord with many in attendance, we sensed. To communities in Yundum and Brufut, understandably, the performance was a masterclass in deceit. 

Though not unique to you, the predominance of “Muslims” in The Gambia must have featured high in your calculations. Hence, though the performance was an exemplar in impression management, one wonders if the deeper symbolism was not its object lesson in hypocrisy and insincerity. As a test of the growth of a moral backbone or the awakening of a dormant conscience, however, the speech fell short.       

We suspect publicly expressing contrition was daunting - or mustering the courage to come clean on the specifics of the Yarambamba and Brufut projects overwhelming. But it was a missed opportunity, nonetheless. 

These lands are significant, as they are the singular source of your prominence and prosperity. You used them as collateral to secure loans from ShelterAfrique and other investors. The provision of those loans catapulted you from an aspiring developer into the big league. The result: the “Taf Global Africa” empire. 

There is a social context to why what happened has happened: a material wealth-poor Gambia and many a Gambian apathetic and complacent. Added to this triune of deficiencies is the devastating effect of the social malaise of callousness and depraved indifference. Permitting belief systems to hijack logic compounded by the creeping normalisation of a “transactional” culture does nothing against the shattering of communal social fabric. 

These factors are the underbelly of the ecosystem that enables the “rich and powerful” to use their wealth with efficient expediency. Affluent persons whose dubious wealth would ordinarily make them bywords for iniquity are instead celebrated and feted as saviors. To maintain the pretence, such persons fall back on cultivating certain mythical personas - embroidering and weaving their biographies through curated narratives and perpetuation of fallacies. 

For perspective: many would have never heard of Mustapha Njie, give you the time of day - without the proceeds from those lands. You would not have gained an army of “dubious influence peddlers” and “social influencers” who hero-worship you.  Some do so in craven calculations of benefitting from your “philanthropy,” whilst for others it is a case of shaky ethical and moral foundations. Whatever the motivations of each subgroup, their perception of you as their benefactor fit into the performative benevolence that is prevalent among us.  

The composition of the latter subgroup is quite interesting. It is the cognitively dissonant diasporic/transnational, “educated” class - who flaunt their anti-Jammeh “struggle” battle scars and credentials with great fanfare. Yet they express admiration for people who enabled Jammeh’s tyranny, and worse, whose current status are a result of abuse of rights.  

To us, this is the paradox of these “diaspora strugglers.”  

Mr Njie, you owe your exalted position and prestige thanks to abuse of fundamental rights, violence, and the threat of violence the dictatorship hung over the plundered communities. A servile security service, coupled with an emasculated judiciary, further enabled the autocracy to bend both important and fundamental legal strictures. We had judicial despotism in all but name. 

Mr Njie, you would agree that the confiscation of swathes of ten-plus [10+] and thirty-plus [30+] hectares in the most desirable and expensive areas of The Gambia is bad enough. It is unjustifiable to give these to a single individual. It contravenes all codes of propriety - including the substantive issue of lawfulness - in transgression of the inviolability of private property. 

The nature and scale of the expropriation remains an outlier in our nation’s history. At conservative estimates, it is akin to emptying communal coffers off tens of millions of US dollars and gifting it to you. In financial terms, this is what you might call an incredible windfall return on investment. This speaks to the staggering scale of the thievery. 

This is the consequential bit of your back story. The rest are mere embellishments, fabrications, and myths. 

To continue to hide behind Jammeh’s excesses is both unacceptable and unreasonable. To profess innocence in this abuse will not withstand the slightest scrutiny. And neither can it add legitimacy to your enrichment of self at the expense of these Kombo families.  

Our inheritance is the seedbed of your prosperity - and the engine of your intergenerational wealth-creating behemoth. We, therefore, will not relent in our pursuit of justice and accountability. The reason for this stubborn determination is obvious: the past most often informs the present and sometimes foretells the future.  </s

Modou Sowe

The Gambian environmentalist and Executive Director of the Gambia Association for Nature and Biodiversity Modou Sowe has been fired 10 days after he left for COP 15 Part 2 in Canada. The decision was made in a Board Meeting and announced in a Press Conference by the Chairperson of the Board of Directors. 

According to the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of GANB Mrs Fatou Jallow, the decision was made at a Board Meeting. Speaking to the press, Mrs Jallow said this is one of the most difficult decisions of the institution because Modou is irreplaceable, however, the decision is made to protect the institution’s reputation as its funds and partners are not happy with the present role of the Executive Director in protecting the Monkey Park at Bijilo. 

We have engaged him in dialogues to desist away from such activities but his commitment to the protection of nature is beyond our control, however, we as an institution need to protect our source of funding for sustainability. 

Therefore, we cannot lose our funding and partners to his actions. We are a charitable organization that depends solely on donations, goodwill and donor funds. We are here to complement the efforts of the government and its partners in the development. If we keep pushing harder we might lose them as well as our other supporting partners which might not be good for us. 

Fatou concluded that he is wishing Modou the best in life and she regrets seeing him part with GANB. When asked about their powers to fire the founder, she answered, the organization operates in a democratic system as stated by the by-laws. 

It gives no individual the ultimate power to run the affairs of the institutions and all members as well as administrative and board members are governed by the by-laws. We know he will surely be missed but our donors are threatening to seize funding if we continue to fight for the protection of reserve lands. In an online interview with Modou Sowe, for his part, Modou said that the decision was not a surprise because many of the people on the Board are seeing the financial gains not what the organization stands for.

 I will rather stay away from the activities of the organization than be controlled by funders. I always make this clear to all partners that our interest is to protect nature and biodiversity, however, if their funding is against our cause we will have to revisit their strategies because what makes us GANB is the protection of nature. 

Delivering on why his service was terminated, Modou said it is due to my role in the protection of Monkey Park. Previously, the government decided to bring down part of the Monkey park for the construction of the OIC Conference called the Sir Dawda Kiaraba Jawara Conference Hall. We protested against the government’s decision. However, with a series of dialogues and negotiations, we were assured by experts that the Monkeys and other organisms will relocate to the nearby WALIC areas.

 Now again, they are requesting to construct a New US embassy in the WALIC centre too with no options for the Monkeys and other living organisms. This is not the best option for our cause as environmentalists and GANB. I will love to see the best US Embassy constructed in the Gambia and we have good reserve lands for this purpose like the space opposite Right Choice Supermarket on the Senegambia Highway, Lamin behind St. Peters, Banjul in the Fences of the former President, Batokunku sea side fenced by the former president etc.

 These areas will have a limited impact on nature and biodiversity. I fully understand the board’s position; they prefer havingthe funds and diverting their cause. If someone is feeding you, you barely will go against his decisions; we are having a master-servant relationship in this case. 

It seems like the partners were given their funds to protect their interests than protect nature and biodiversity. If projects and programs of the government and partners are supporting us to support their not ours, I am not in that partnership, he said. Answering the question about his role in the March 2017 and October 2022 protest, he acknowledged participating in the protest against the government’s decision to allocate the Monkey Park for the construction of the OIC Conference Hall and New US Embassy. 

He said I lobbied for funding from concerned institutions with an interest in the protection of the areas and also organized some people to travel to the events. I also personally participated in the event which I am proud of because the park is the greatest tourist attraction in the Gambia and tourism is the highest contributor to the GDP of the Gambia, therefore, my cause is for both national development and the protection of nature. 

I was never in support of the idea of violence rather it was a peaceful protest to express our view on the government’s decision. Many people can attest to this, but I understand that the accusations were to silence us. 

Now, they forced my institution to fire me too. I am an environmentalist wherever I am and I will continue to love nature he concluded.. 

It is noted that globally, environmentalists are being targeted for their roles in protecting nature and the environment. In others countries, they are prosecuted or murdered. It seems like Modou is also becoming a victim of such circumstances. If he is in danger, he will not tell us anything.