Opinion | Collective Punishment
The Outpost is an online publication of news, opinion and civic education content on pertinent issues which are of importance, significance and public interest to The Gambia and her Citizens.
By Alagie Saidy-Barrow
Let me begin by saying I am a huge advocate for holding people accountable for their work. If people are being paid to deliver services to the public, they should be held accountable for the services they deliver, good or bad. So I am all for realistic performance evaluations. If I had my way, every single government civil or public servant would be on a contract that is tethered to their performance!
I don’t think anyone should be in the service of the people as a public or civil servant when they somehow manage to serve themselves while the people they claim to be serving remain destitute. Serving in government should never be a vehicle for any public or civil servant to get rich when the majority of those they serve are poor!
Imagine if my Bandam established performance evaluations for himself and all his ministers and made it all public! We will all know what each minister is required to deliver and can easily hold them to account.
That thought brings me to the news about NAWEC staff being ducked 5% of their salaries because they didn’t meet Key Performance Indicators (KPI) targets set for 2021-2022. Reading the news about this deduction, I kept hoping that they would tell us that 5% only affects staff who occupy certain leadership positions. But from what I see in the news, it seems that is not the case. It is essentially collective punishment!! I don’t see how a lowly engineer bears the same responsibility as a director or manager such that they should be equally punished. There is no such reality as collective responsibility where there is a hierarchy and different functions. Therefore, I think the collective punishment is timidity at best.
Wouldn’t it have been better to get to the root cause of why NAWEC has been failing Gambians for decades? Is NAWEC properly equipped to deliver on its mandate? If not, who is responsible for that? You cannot hold an institution accountable when you haven’t provided it with the necessary resources to succeed.
Collective punishment dilutes individual responsibility. There is a reason some people at NAWEC are paid more than others. It is because they don’t all have the same or equal responsibilities. And if they don’t all have the same responsibilities and are paid based on who bears more responsibility, why must they be punished equally? It does not make sense to me and smells of a cop-out by the government.
About the Author
The author is a social and political commentator
Publisher’s Note
Views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Want to be a contributing author? Please email opmail220@gmail.com
Team Outpost
Hon. Seedy SK Njie, Deputy Speaker of The National Assembly addressed a workshop on \"Constitutionalising Rights in the 21st Century – A Comparative Workshop for Constitution Makers, Gender Perspectives in The Gambia.\" The workshop was held in Oxford from June 19th to 21st, 2024.
Deputy Speaker Njie emphasised The Gambia\
By Amadou Manjang
This time tomorrow I will leave the
newsroom for good. The testimony of the
moment is the stories of the society which
pressure is felt by all [I’m not speaking of
the wealthy]. As a reporter, I am always in
the service of nursing my agony when
telling people what is wrong when they
already knew what is wrong in a country
where everything seems wrong. Our job is
terrible one and I think we often need some
therapy sessions to muse our sanity since
we are daily bombarded by the bleeding
wounds of the society: pain, hunger, poverty, death, and crime of the ordinary
people. We have double dose of these
things. Firstly, we have our own dose of it
as individuals living with it. Secondly, we
have the dose as individual who daily
collected these stories from the people. This surplus pain will eke our mental
health out before we knew what is
happening. And there isn’t any support to
avert it as I write. We listen to people’s stories of
sickness and unpaid medical bills, hunger
and poverty, pains and suffering of being a
Gambian. And then some of the people
turn to us for help when we are living in
the same shit with them; pain, hunger, poverty, death, and crime. We have the
same stories which get intertwined and lost, in some way, as we tell their stories. But
we always find ways to nurse and dress our
emotions and pains in their stories. Any
story we tell is a make up of a thousand
pieces of broken lives of a thousand
Gambians. These stories are surplus pains;
pains of thousand stories plus ours. As we
interview people, sometimes in our mind
it’s only the replay of our own stories lost
somewhere in the amnesia of our ethic that
try to separated us from the stories but fail
because it is only gods and madmen who
live outside the society. So every story we
tell contain a pieces of own story. Here, I
think I can appoint myself as spokesperson
for many young journalist to say that the
miserable, the poverty and the suffering we
tell or write contain pieces of our own
stories.I have such discussions with my
fellow young journalists. We compliant
about poverty, and suffering in this country. We like any other human being feel
our own pains and the pains of others. We grief over death, crime and
sickness our beloved ones. We went to
the same markets and hospitals. We are
feeling the same shit in these places. But we don’t tell our stories quiet
often.We sometime act as if we not at
the receiving end of the distributed
pain. Knowing this truth and not
adopting to it changes my views. I
believe this is why I always take a
position on the stories. I am not an
objective reporter. There is no
neutrality in here, at least from my side. At this point, I think of Ngugi’s
remarks that that all writers have to
pick side knowing or unknowingly. We
are all writers in politics from novelists
to journalists. We all dig in the same
mine field of human poverty, misery, emotions and happiness which we
present to our audience either through
the lens of the have or the have not. Since I am part of the former, I have
stayed on the default side of my status. My editor gives me a reason to justify
my subjective journalism when told
me that they more interested in social
advocacy journalism which I interpret
as ‘always be on the side of the
ordinary people’ whose stories are
your stories too. This time tomorrow, I won’t be in
the newsroom which is hot like an
oven with broken tile floods, and
stinging backyard thinking about that
hungry child at the edge of town, the
sicks who couldn’t get drugs from the
hospitals, poor displaced vendors, or
the kush victims among all category of
people in pain, poverty and misery. Ah, this time tomorrow, I won’t be
gossiping their stories to hundreds of
ears that are facing more or less similar
stories in theirs lives. Ah, this time
tomorrow, I won’t be collecting others
poverty and narrating them rather I will
be living with them in the same
poverty, pains and suffering, telling
our stories as my poetic friend would
say ‘Go Tell Fate My Take’.
About the Author
The author is a young journalist, and a political science student at UTG
Publisher’s Note
Views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Want to be a contributing author? Please email opmail220@gmail.com
Team Outpost
Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa has been sworn in for second term in office, at a ceremony held in Pretoria on Wednesday.
His party, the Africa National Congress (ANC) fall short to secure 50% in the last month general election. The ANC agreed to struck an agreement deal with the Democratic Alliance to form a coalition government.
The event saw the attendance of African Head of States, and leaders of Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, a bloc of 11 countries.
Cyril Ramaphosa promised to dutifully uphold the constitution, without fear, favor or ill will.
“I, Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, swear that I will be faithful to the Republic of South Africa, and will obey, observe, uphold, and maintain the Constitution and all law of the Republic,” the 66-year-old said in his oath of office.
He further thanked African leaders across the continent who attended the ceremony.
“As South Africa, we are honored and deeply humbled by the presence here of leaders from across the African continent,” Ramaphosa said.
The inauguration ceremony also coincides with Africa Day Celebration.
“We are profoundly grateful to you for choosing to celebrate Africa Day among us, giving further poignancy to South Africa’s transformation from a pariah state to a full and valued member of the family of African nations,” he said.
African leaders attending the ceremony included Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Somalia’s Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, and Tanzania’s John Magafuli.
He pledged to create jobs and grow the economy for the prosperity of all South Africans.
“A new era has dawned in our country. A brighter day is rising upon South Africa and upon our beloved continent, Africa.” he concluded.
\n By Sheriff Saidykhan
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The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Member States to strengthen port health services, reinforce infection prevention and control measures, and ensure timely reporting of suspected cases amid Hantavirus outbreak.
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The cluster of hantavirus infections identified among individuals travelling on the international cruise ship MV Hondius, which departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on 20 March 2026 for the Canary Islands via Cabo Verde.
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Hantaviruses are primarily transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodent excreta, saliva or urine and are not typically associated with sustained human-to-human transmission.
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According to the Africa CDC a cluster of severe respiratory illness was reported among passengers aboard the vessel, which carried a total of 147 individuals, including crew. As of 4 May 2026, seven cases of hantavirus infection have been identified (two laboratory-confirmed and five suspected cases).
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“Among these, three fatalities have been recorded; one patient remains in critical condition under medical care in South Africa, and three individuals are experiencing mild symptoms.” said Africa CDC.
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Authorities from Cabo Verde, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa and the United Kingdom have initiated a coordinated international response, including case investigation, isolation and clinical management, medical evacuation and laboratory testing.
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“Laboratory confirmation has been conducted at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa. Further analyses, including serology, sequencing and metagenomics, are ongoing.” the release added.
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Africa CDC said it is closely monitoring the situation and remains in contact with affected countries to provide support as needed.
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\n A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents.
But nothing the copy said could convince her and so it didn’t take long until a few insidious Copy Writers ambushed her, made her drunk with Longe and Parole and dragged her into their agency, where they abused her for their projects again and again.
\nSeparated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.
Team Outpost
The MP for Serrekunda West Constituency have dismissed the redeployment of governor\
| Writer Shares His Views On Human Need For Survival Over Freedom |
By Alagie Saidy-Barrow
I came across a quote by Paulos Tesfagiorgis, an Eritrean human rights campaigner, who was speaking of their President in Eritrea. He said:
“Isaias will be in power for a long time. He lets people fight for their survival so that they do not fight for their freedom.”
I found this quote profound on so many levels. Though Tesfagiorgis was speaking specifically about how Isaias Afwerki controls his people to maintain a firm grip on power, he could have been talking about any other dictator, specifically, Yaya Jammeh and those who addressed themselves as his “humble servants.” He could have been talking about the many spineless Gambians who simply prostitute themselves to any paying politician.
How many times have you heard Gambians maintain that they have a family to feed and so they acquiesced to evil or closed their eyes to abuse? And these are usually people who will bombard you with their religiosity and promptly tell you they fear no one but their God! You’d think they’d also believe that their God will never abandon them if they follow God’s dictates but no, they are actually quick to chalk their spinelessness to the “will of God.” They believe in God but do not Trust God to take care of them through adversity!
So many of us were busy fighting for our survival and so we forgot about our freedom. We don’t realize that no one can be free when you’re living in fear. Don’t mind all they tell you about how they were the only ones Yaya listened to, or how they spoke truth to Yaya. I’m sure some people had the galls to tell Yaya the truth, but I can guarantee you that all those lionizing themselves today never had the intestinal fortitude to tell Yaya anything he didn’t want to hear. Check their body language when they conferred with Yaya and you’ll see the magnificence of their subservience in the way they lower themselves (literally) to receive messages! The level of fear within Yaya’s evil government was so pervasive that almost anyone you talk to in senior government positions was walking on pins and needles wondering when men in black would come knocking in the middle of the night! You can’t be living with that type of fear and claim to be free! But greed for fame, wealth, and government positions served as the counterbalancing force to their fear so they held on tight!
But some of what happened under Yaya is not some social aberration. You only have to look around today to see how so many of us consign ourselves to survival by all means and ignore our freedom. Some of us remain unhealthily attached to political benefactors and hold on for dear life. The political benefactor does no wrong and the minions work overtime to try and convince the people that the benefactor is some type of saint sent by Allah to be a leader.
This exchange of freedom for survival is not limited to individual Gambians. You can also see it in how African countries remain subservient to the countries they beg and borrow from. Because many African countries tether their survival to the magnanimity of the Chinese and Western Countries, they essentially curtail their freedom to stand up for themselves in the international arena. That’s why many African states do not condemn what China is doing to our Muslim brothers and sisters. That is why many African nations close their eyes to the terrible abuse in Palestine. That is why we remain impotent in addressing the crisis in Sudan and DRC. That is why many countries in Africa have become fertile grounds for proxy wars between ideologies and economic interests of the West. China and the West keep us busy begging for our survival so we forget about our freedom and that of others we claim as brothers and sisters.
For the Gambian, an addiction to or obsession with anything can severely limit one’s freedom, and our addiction to “Palass” and its attendant benefits is what keeps many of us foaming at the mouth in the presence of any opportunity. The extreme case is when many enter Ministerdom, where many consciences go to die! For many Gambian ministers, being a minister becomes the time for them to close their eyes to evil and pretend that Gambians are living in heaven. They see no wrong and hear no evil. They become so occupied with surviving in Ministerdom that they do not realize their bondage. May Daarmanso guide me so I never become a slave of fear or material wealth. May Daarmanso never allow me to be at peace when my country’s people are being killed and raped and their freedom stolen by those in power. May we never be so preoccupied with our survival that we forget about our freedom.
About the Author
The author is a social and political commentator, and a regular contributor to this medium
Publisher’s Note
Views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Want to be a contributing author? Please email opmail220@gmail.com
The Essau District Hospital in collaboration with the Ghanaian Ecomig soldiers and media support from Niumi FM, would on Friday 14 June, 2024 join hands together to commemorate World Blood Donor Day 2024.
Officials of the Essau District Hospital (EDH), is calling on the staff and presenters of Niumi FM, together with the general public particularly the suburbs of Barra, Mayamba, Kanuma, Sami, etc to show up in their large numbers to participate in the blood donation to save life.
\n Outpost, is an online newspaper publication of news, content and opinions. Division of Multimedia Company based in UK and located in Pipeline. For further details contact the Editor on Tell: 3763295 email: info@outpost220.net
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By Demba A. Jawo
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the Minister of Lands and Regional Governments, Hamat Bah accused me of going against a cabinet recommendation to issue broadcast licenses to a GSM company. I guess he was referring to the licenses issued to the QGroup for QTV and QRadio while I was minister of Information and Communication Infrastructure.
While I do not have all the details with me right now, but the fact is that all the applications for licenses to operate both Tv and radio were extensively discussed in cabinet and approval given for the process to go ahead. It is therefore not true to say that I went against a cabinet recommendation not to issue a license to the QGroup.
While I agree that it may not be quite ideal to issue broadcast licenses to GSM companies, but there were some mitigating factors that warranted the issuing of those licenses. In the first place, it was not QCell which applied for the licenses but the QGroup created a separate company (Core Broadcasting and Multimedia Company Limited) which applied for the licenses and which was legally different from the GSM company. Therefore, there was no legal basis to deny that company a license because, according to due diligence carried out by PURA, it met all the criteria to be issued one. Who am I to go against the recommendations of the technical experts?
Another mitigating factor was that a precedence had already been created when another GSM company was issued with a license to operate a radio station a few years earlier.
As a cabinet minister, I expected Mr. Bah to have known that as information minister, I was the very last cog in the wheel of issuing an operating license to a media house. I depended entirely on the advice of the technicians, especially PURA, whose mandate it is to carry out due diligence in order to determine who has met the criteria to be issued a broadcast license.
Therefore, Mr. Bah was quite unfair to accuse me of going against the recommendations of the cabinet because it was not the case. As far as I am concerned, the process was done in accordance with the dictates of the law, otherwise, PURA would not have recommended for the issuing of the licenses for both QTV and QRadio, as well as all the other media licenses that I signed as a minister. Ironically, his statement was being covered live by QTV, which, according to him, should never have been given a license to operate.
Mr. Bah also seems to have insinuated that I had a personal interest in issuing those licenses, but I would challenge anyone to come up with any shred of evidence that I benefitted from any of the broadcast licenses that I had approved.
About the Author
The author is a veteran journalist and chair of the victim center
Publisher’s Note
Views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Want to be a contributing author? Please email opmail220@gmail.com
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Team Outpost
Acting under Section 123 (1) of the Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2006, His Excellency, President Adama Barrow has effective immediately, appointed the following Government officials as Governors:
Mrs. Fanta Bojang Njie Samateh Manneh, current Deputy Permanent Secretary (DPS), Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources as Governor of West Coast Region (WCR);
Ms. Fatou Jammeh Touray, DPS, Ministry of Agriculture is new Governor, North Bank Region (NBR);
Ms. Ramou Sarr, DPS, Ministry of Transport, Works & Infrastructure as Governor, Lower River Region (LRR);
Mr. Musa Mbye, DPS, Ministry of Youths & Sports as Governor, Central River Region (CRR);
and Mr. Abdoulie Kah, DPS, Ministry of Defence as Governor, Upper River Region (URR).
Meanwhile, President Barrow has redeployed the following Governors:
Mr. Lamin Saidykhan, Governor, NBR, as DPS Ministry of Agriculture;
Mr. Samba Bah, Governor, URR, as DPS Ministry of Fisheries;
Mr. Ousman J. Bojang, Governor, WCR, as DPS Ministry of Works;
Mr. Seedy Lamin Bah, Governor, LRR as DPS Ministry of Youths & Sports; and
Mr. Ousman Bah, Governor, CRR, as DPS Ministry of Defence.
Similarly, all current Deputy Governors are redeployed to the Ministry of Lands, Regional Government & Religious Affairs. All appointments and redeployments are effective immediately.
Sign: Ebrima G. Sankareh
The Gambia Government Spokesperson & Presidential Diaspora Adviser
Team Outpost
The National Nutrition Agency (NANA) in partnership with the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) have today concluded a three day capacity building training for stakeholders on the Fortification Monitoring and Surveillance (FORTIMAS) Data Collection on Large-Scale Food Fortification (LSFF) at Foni, Bwaim.
Participants were also equipped with the technical know how to test fortify food through the use of lab equipments.
Malang Fofona, acting ED of NaNA acknowledged that the Gambia is doing well in terms of reducing micronutrient deficiencies.
“Besides Nigeria and Senegal I must say the Gambia is third in terms of ranking.” he said.
He challenged participants to take the training seriously and share the knowledge acquired from the training.
Cherno Omar Bobb, a participant said the training has enhanced his knowledge on Gambia\