“Each Ex-Circumciser Received D3,000"

Amie Bojang-Sissoho

amie BojangSissoho, women’s right activist standing trial on theft allegation has told the Banjul Magistrates’Court that her organisation gave 3000 dalasis to each woman during the‘dropping of the knife’ in 2009, held in Basse.

However, the prosecutor said the ex-circumcisers did not know what they were thumb printing, describing the women as ‘illiterates’.

“I agreed that they are illiterates, but we communicated to them through their various local languages,” Bojang advanced.

“What you saying is not true,” the prosecution further pressed.

“I disagreed with you,” MrsSissoho replied.

Alarming Irregularities at Gambia University as Prof Kah Flouts Rules

Professor Kah

Gumbo Touray

The vice chancellor of the University of The Gambia, Professor Muhammadou M O Kah may be a good professor but not a good administrator. Since his appointment as vice chancellor, he has gross disregard for the university governing council, appoints mainly his relatives and friends, defy public procument rules among others, thus making both staff and students disgusted and disgruntled with his arbitrary administrative approach.
These are the findings of the investigative panel comprising officials of National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA) that probed into allegations of Mr Gumbo Touray, former director of University Affairs.
Currently standing trial for giving false information to a public officer, Gumbo Touray’s law suit came in the wake of a petition he addressed to the Office of the President clamming administrative malpractices by Professor Kah.

Young Man Jailed for Posing As President Jammeh

President Jammeh

The magistrates’ court in Banjul on Wednesday March 18, slapped a young man with a 14-year 6-month jail term for posing as The Gambia’s president Yahya Jammeh.
Ma Ebou Cham had been charged with impersonation and making false documents when he registered on a social media network, LinkedIn using President Jammeh’s details.
When the charges were read to him, the young man believed to be in his 20s, pleaded guilty to the charges.
“But I did not do it with any criminal intent, I just want be like the president,” he told the court.

Rural Women Deserve Better

The Gambia has made notable improvements in promoting gender equity in recent times, nonetheless, the reality remains that a majority of Gambian women, rural in particular, continue to play a subservient role.
Their situation remains precarious – scratching poor quality soil with crude tools or bare hands in some instances for the survival of their families. Yet they are considered second-class family members.
They are often battered and received barking orders to served meals and provided other services as if they are slaves, not intimate partners.

The Gambia last October joins the international community in celebrating International Rural Women day. The government pledged to improve the lives of rural women but how effective is this?  Women’s Bantabaa finds out…..

Kwame Nkrumah’s Memorial Park: A Living Echo for Africans

Kwame Nkrumah’s Monument

 

Though his visionary call for African unity remains, as some would say, elusive, Kwame Nkurumah nonetheless remains a living mirror for Africans and pan-Africans on and off the continent.
Born in 1902, Kwame Nkrumah led Ghana into independence in 1957. He became the first president of Ghana, and was ousted through a military coup d`etat in 1966. He died in exile in 1972 in Guinea, where, under the leadership of a fellow pan-African head of state, Saikou Touray, he was accorded a state burial.
In Accra, the capital of Ghana, there is a museum and memorial park put up in his honour. Today people from around the world visit the monument, located in the main commercial area in Accra, on the High Street. This was where Nkrumah first declared Ghana’s freedom from the British colonial rule.

West African Journalists Urged to be Professionals

Mr. Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng

 

Mr. Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, former editor of the London based West Africa Magazine has urged journalists in the sub-region to be professionals and avoid monetary influence.
He further implored for productive journalism, admitting that though there are challenges in accessing information, journalists should be creative enough to effectively execute their functions.
Assembled in Accra, Ghana, 15 west African journalists, including The Daily News’ Lamin Njie and Binta A. Bah, on Friday 30 march wrapped up a two-week intensive media seminar in conflict transformation and peace building, organised by the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) of GIZ of Germany.
Mr. Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, a resource person was speaking at the Ghana Press Center on Friday 19, on the perspective of the region’s media’s needs.