President Jammeh unbans Standard Newspaper and Teranga FM

 

Proprietor, Taranga Fm

After one year when Gambian security services arbitrarily shut down the Gambian community radio station, Taranga FM and The Standard Newspaper, president jammeh has announced the lifting of ban with immediate effects.

 Aired on the state broadcaster, GRTS, on New Year’s Eve, president Jammeh lifted the ban ‘for his good will gesture for the new year’ 2014.

Both Taranga FM and the Standard have were shut at a time when the Gambia is seeing increasing violations of the right to freedom of expression.
The arbitrary closure according to journalist is an undue interference in freedom of expression by the state and will deprive the Gambian public of their right to access information, especially in local languages.

Taranga FM was shutdown on the night of 14-15 August and The Standard, together with The Daily News received orders on Friday to immediately cease operations in September 2012.

Dumpsites Clear up Underway

Dumpsites on the Sukuta-Latrikunda highway are being cleared following executive orders, according to the councilor for Sukuta Ward.
Ebrima J Cham during the clearing up of waste at the Sukuta main dumping site told this reporter that the process has been going since on Friday.
“I understand that there is a directive from the office of the President to combat all these unauthorized dumping yards left for long time that need to be cleared out” says Cham.
This, according to Cham, is taken up by the National Disaster Management (NDMA) in collaboration with the Brikama Area Council. He said the NDMA has provided two trucks and two excavators to take up this task.
“It’s my priority to make sure the dump sites are clear and anti-littering law is enforce so that people can live healthy, without any offensive smell”

Sukuta-Latrikunda dumpsites had been a long-term problem for residents, even though it’s the sole mandate of the area council to clear up waste.  Sukuta is directly under Brikama Area Council.