Magistrate Fails Promise

Emmanuel Nkea of the Banjul Magistrate’s court Wednesday failed to honour his pledge to grant bail to Karamo Saidy Fatajo as he promised during the previous sitting. 

Karamo Saidy Fatajo, a trader at Albert Market in Banjul is being tried for what the state called, ‘breaching the peace’ by saying that Senegal will attack The Gambia after Gambia government branded Senegalese president, Abdoulie Wade enemy, accusing Wade of engaging in a smear campaign against The Gambia.



The saga came hard on the heels of mounting allegations in Senegal and beyond linking The Gambia to the controversial arms shipment seized in Nigeria from UN-sanctioned Iran.



Fatajo was arrested last month and his lawyer Lamin LK Mboge who has been pushing to secure him bail gestured in a manner observed to be a surprised at the magistrate’s decision to disallow his client to re-join his family until next hearing.



Meanwhile, Mr Fatajo’s fellow trader at Banjul Albert Market who admitted reporting him to the police told the court that he is aware there is freedom of speech, but subjected to the law.



Mboge however put it to the witness that the accused was just analyzing the Secretary General’s speech and exchanging ideas but Mr Musa Ceesay, the witness insisted that Mr Fatajo was expressing ‘bad opinion.’



The witness denied abusing the accused when Mboge asked but only confronted him as saying ‘nonsense’. He said he has no personal relationship with the accused person and cannot remember when he last talked to him.

"I always greet him whenever I find him sitting and that does not leave anyone out," he said.



mans falls victims as a result of the
 alleged Gambia-bound controversial arms
shipment seized in Nigeria

Mr Mboge however accused the witness of roaming the market and not concentrating on his business but the witness responded that he was the chairman of the Albert market and could go anywhere he wanted within the market.



The witness told the court that he wouldn’t know what the accused was discussing with one Yaya Trawally about the SG’s speech before he arrived at the scene because he was not a ‘saint’. Mboge put it to him that they were just exchanging ideas but the witness said that was not true.

"You told the court that you are not a saint. How can you know that" Mboge stressed.



"I don’t know" said the witness.

The case resumes January 12