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By Sheriff Saidykhan

Yahya Sonko, rights activist of Gambian migrants based in Baden wüttenberg, Germany has called African Union (AU) leaders to intervene into the growing  plight of African migrants in Tunisia. 

Speaking to Outpost in a telephone interview on Tuesday, Yahya Sonko said there is need for African leaders to address the growing worsening conditions of African migrants in Tunisia. 

“African leaders need to come together and fight this. It should not be Gambia or Nigeria, it should be African leaders coming together to find a solution to track down this human trafficking networks within Africa. To try and look for possible solutions,” he said. 

The push factors he said, has greatly contributed to the illegal migration crisis in Africa.

“I think what has contributed to the worsening conditions of African migrants is the push factors. In Africa we start complaining about migrants when something happen to them in Tunisia or Libya, or other countries. 

Usually as citizens we forget about the push factors. Classical example is Gambia and Nigeria when you follow the trend of irregular migration in Gambia and Nigeria, you will definitely know that the push factors are too high in these countries that causes the youths to come in their huge numbers through Tunisia and other countries to try to get into Italy.

When governments don\

The National Coordinating Organization for Farmers Associations in the Gambia NACOFAG in collaboration with the ROOTS Project recently supported the National Association of Food Processors (NAFP) for the conduct of Regional Consultations for the 6 Agricultural Regions and the Greater Banjul Area.

According to the National Coordinator of NACOFAG, Alieu Sowe, the objective of the consultation is to reorganize the membership of the Association, its Regional committees, Governance structure in terms of roles and responsibilities, access to information, markets and stakeholders partnership building at the Regional levels.

“The consultation will also pave the way for the preparation of the Association Regional and National Congresses through a decentralization approach. Before its Congresses, the event will also highlight the mapping and identification of the addresses, contacts, gender, and the three main products of each of the Processors. The establishment of Regional and National WhatsApp groups, emails, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts are central to the Consultation. The consultation will also feature Regional Radio talk shows regarding the roles and responsibilities of the Association towards household food, nutrition, income, and employment security as well as stressing contract negotiations with the producers, especially for those in rice, vegetables, poultry, and cereal production. Make visibility of the Association. Therefore, NACOFAG and the ROOTS Project under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and IFAD solicit the mobilization and consolidation of the Food Processors fraternity into  a National Association of Food Processors” he said.

Mr. Sowe added that the  project is expected to support the institutional strengthening of the Association by supporting the establishment of the Secretariat of the Association, Processing center, and capacity building along the value chain, especially on the packaging, labeling branding, quality, safety, standards, and certification

“The consultation is planned to end August 3rd, 2023. Once again thanks to IFAD, the ROOTS project team, and the Ministry of Agriculture for the collaboration and support with the Farmers and Farmers Organizations,” he concluded. 

By Sheriff Saidykhan

Seedy Cham, the Chairman of Coalition for Progressive Gambia (COPG) has cautioned lawmakers  to limit their exorbitant spending of the tax payers money, amid the cost of living conditions in the country.

He made these remarks in an online interview with The Outpost Media on Tuesday 18th July 2023.

“There are lot of discussions about the vehicles for National Assembly members.  Also the vehicles are very expensive. I am not saying they should not have vehicles, but they need to sacrifice their time on the current difficult times of the country,” he said.

He said many of the lawmakers are only focusing on travelling benefits, clothing allowances among others.

“There only focus is on salary increments, clothing allowances and travelling. Plus their travelling has no impact and benefits for the country,” he remarked. 

Taxation without representation he said, has visibly appeared in our mainstream politics.  

 “National Assembly members are elected by the people to serve.  Now what have they done to the people who elected them,”? he quizzed. 

He added: “Some of these lawmakers have put shame on us. Overlooking the agricultural sector, the agrarian communities are still struggling without farming tools and implements,” he concluded.

| Legal Luminary Almami Fanding Taal Weighs In His Views On The Gambia’s Education System |

By Sheriff Saidykhan

Pa Samba Jow, Gambian political analyst, and rights activist based in Washington DC, U.S.A. said the recent alledged visa fraud scandal involving three Gambian diplomats at the U.S embassy has undermined the integrity of the country’s governance system.

 The alledged scandal has led to their immediate expulsion by the U.S. State Department to depart the U.S. with their families on the 17th July 2023. The diplomats are Abdu Cham, Alhagie Babou Joof  and Mustapha Sosseh.

Speaking to West Coast Radio popular Coffee Time show with Peters Gomez on Tuesday, Pa Samba Jow said he made series of enquiries to speak to the  Embassy staff, but added that his efforts remains unanswered at the borders of inquiry.

“I made few calls to the Information Secretary of the Embassy, neither pick up or return my calls. I also called the personal number of the Ambassador without success. 

I  then decide to call the official number of the Embassy it was put on hold and transferred my calls to the Information Secretary only to return back asked that I may leave my number, and my calls will be return. I enquired from the Secretary whether the Deputy Head of missions  was at the office, she could not verify his presents to me.

 When I asked about the others, the same answer was given. At 3pm ET, I tried my luck again by calling  the Embassy only to get a voice message that the voice mail was full” he said. 

For his part Ebrima G Sankareh, government\

By Sheriff Saidykhan

Dr. Mod Lamin Conteh, Medical Doctor at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) has said that the health sector still lack upto date medical diagnostic and therapeutic equipments in the country. 

 The diagnosis elimination to evidence base medicine he said, cannot be achieve in any country without latest technological equipments.

He made these remarks in an interview with The Outpost Media on Saturday 8 July, 2023 at his residence in Wellingara, West Coast Region (WCR). 

“Is the Gambia showing signs to get into those aspects of life? At this pace even  100 years to come we are not going to compete with countries that have cutting edge technologies in their therapeutic facilities,” he posited. 

He further highlighted the numerous  challenges facing the health sector ranging from modern medical equipments, among others. 

“We struggle to get the basic equipments (Boos pressure machines, sterile gloves, BM machines, wrecked CT scanners and MRI, the Sad reality is when one struggle to get these basic materials how do we think of the portable expensive but latest technology that doesn’t only guide the practitioners of diagnosis but also the progress of treatments,” he said

He added: “The practice of medicine in the country is no where near to the standard of practice because we had even impoverished specialists let alone equipments,” he concluded.

PRESS RELEASE

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice 5 July 2023, issued a landmark decision in the case of the enforced disappearance of Saul Ndow during the regime of former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. 

The ECOWAS Court found that the Republic of The Gambia violated the right to life and failed to investigate and prosecute those responsible in a timely manner. The ECOWAS Court also called on the Gambian Government to implement the recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) and ordered to submit, within six (6) months of notification of its decision, a report, among others, on the status of the TRRC recommendations.

With legal support from the Institute of Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), Nana-Jo Ndow, assisted by The African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED), had been pushing for the Republic of The Gambia to take up its responsibilities for the human rights violations suffered by her father Saul Ndow in relation to his enforced disappearance during the Jammeh regime, and the pain and Injustice inflicted on his family as a result.

“After ten years since my father’s disappearance, years of litigation and delays, I am happy that the court has finally recognized our long suffering. Today’s ruling does not correct the wrong that was done to us, but it is an important step towards accountability” - Nana-Jo Ndow, daughter of Saul Ndow.

Saul Ndow, a businessman and a critic of the Jammeh regime, was abducted in 2013 alongside Mahawa Cham, a former member of the Gambian National Assembly and an equally fierce critic of the regime, by the Junglers, a death squad allegedly reporting directly to Yahya Jammeh.

Since 2013, and despite the transition to the Adama Barrow Government in 2017, the multiple appeals and efforts from the families of Saul Ndow and Mahawa Cham, the strong and credible evidence that surfaced through investigative journalists and activists, testimonies before the Gambian police and the TRRC, the Gambian Government has failed to conduct any proper judicial investigations and to prosecute those responsible in a timely manner.

“This decision further emphasizes the duty of the State to investigate human rights violations, 

irrespective of which Government is in power. It speaks not only for Gambian victims, but also blazes a trail of hope for victims of human rights abuse across Africa”- Edmund Foley, Interim Head, IHRDA

Jammeh’s 22-year rule (1994 to 2016) was marked by systematIc oppression, widespread human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and sexual violence. This judgement is a milestone for the victims who still await Justice and sends a clear message to the Government of The Gambia that accountability is inevitable and is not negotiable.

By Sheriff Saidykhan

The Inspiring Young Stars Chapters, an integral arm of the Inspiring Young Stars organization has recently trained  students on diverse acquisition skills at various  schools in the country. 

The flagship project forms a network of after school chapters in the country to help support Upper Basic and Secondary school students to become aspiring leaders through peer to-peer mentoring and positive discussions in a chapter style format. 

The objective of the flagship program is aim at creating a new generation of inspired, healthy and empowered leaders with the vision to create a network of united agents of change across different  schools in the country 

This medium was given a rare glimpse of the activities of various school chapters that  have been actively involved in diverse educational activities, each chapter adopted their own school wide culture and reinforcing learners participation in a rewarding and unique manners, this as a result impacted greater membership in various schools resulting IYS becoming a household name in some of the top secondary schools in the country, including Nusrat Senior Secondary, St Peter’s and Charles Jaw and Masroor Senior Secondary School among others.

Earlier this Year Masoor Inspiring Young Stars staged a school wide ACADEMIC ENREACHMENT CHALLENG, this project created an excellent practical skills academic encroachment platform, it gave  students of all grade levels their creative capacities through STEM and purposeful learning. 

Alagie Ndow, the founder of Inspiring Young Stars expressed his gratitude to the flagship program. 

“This exiting practical skills service have availed the young learners to challenge themselves, tap their skills and develop their own projects.

The activities includes inter class academic enrichment challenge, which all the classes participated from grade ten {10} to twelve {12} with different levels. The challenge has gone through multiple stages over the last month and now set for a grand final event. This came after multiple activities now that the challenge is a stage that 4 grade ten qualified for the finals, 3 grade 11 and 3 grade 12,” he said

Sanitary pads for girls, was initiated by Mariama Jadama, a chapter member at the  (Masroor Senior Secondary School) the rationale behind the initiative was to help   girls across communities in our today’s society vulnerable to and at risk due to /their monthly mensural periods. 

on her presentation she said “I made this sanitary pads to demonstrate and show girls like me to be able to make their own reusable pads, since most of us cannot afford to buy sanitary pads from the markets as they are expensive,” she remarked. 

At Nusrat IYS under her leadership, she introduced the Interfiled Championship, this project gave student leaders an amazing to tap their academic subject areas, in various aspect, demonstrating their capacities, through presentations, public speaking, debating, cultural performance and stage performance, students were given opportunities and supported in developing their stories. 

At St Peter’s, the Chapter concluded leaders development training for the Chapter  members, a total of 30 students participated in our Facilitative youth leadership. At the climax of the flagship program, certificates were awarded to each participants.

|Gambian medic hammers his views on corruption, urges resistance against self-greed on power|

By Dr. Mod Lamin Conteh 

Corruption has long plagued societies around the world. It permeates every aspect of life, from politics to commerce, undermining the very foundations of trust, equality, and justice. Our modern world is not immune to this disease, as the relentless pursuit of power and personal gain often triumphs over collective well-being. It is crucial to understand that the corrupt systems we build today will eventually turn against us, consuming our values, morality, and potential for progress.

Corruption is a cancer that thrives when left unchecked. When individuals in positions of power abuse their authority, bend the rules or manipulate systems, they sow the seeds of their destruction. At any given moment, it may seem advantageous to exploit a flawed system for personal gain, but the consequences are grave. By engaging in corrupt practices, individuals erode the very institutions that form the bedrock of a functioning society. While the corrupt may appear to benefit momentarily, their actions ultimately perpetuate a vicious cycle that breeds discontent, inequality, and societal decay.

Moreover, a corrupt system creates a breeding ground for further corruption. When high-ranking officials or influential individuals engage in illicit activities with impunity, they set a precedent for others to follow suit. The once honourable and virtuous may be tempted to join the corrupt ranks, believing that integrity and ethical conduct have no place in a society dominated by self-interest. The erosion of ethical values encourages a culture where corruption becomes the norm, making it all the more difficult to dismantle the corrupt system that individuals have helped to establish. The corrupt system begins to consume not only those who built it but also the potential of future generations, stifling progress and hindering social development.

History is replete with examples of societies and authorities that fell victim to corruption. The healthcare system, for example, crumbled with its people who were victims of their misfortune; if not for Hippocrates\