Publishers: Pan Books

Paperback; 456 pages

Set just before the outbreak of the First World War, The Man From St Petersburg is a riveting account of how the lives of the characters interwove with the success and/or failure of secret naval talks between Britain and Russia. For Britain, to make any headway in its navy, it had to win the support of Russia. As a result, Czar Nicholas’s nephew Prince Alexei was sent to London for high-level bilateral talks.

Walden who is married to a Russian woman Lydia was one of the people to take part in the talks. When Prince Alexei arrived in London, his presence aroused the interest of not only the Establishment, but tragically that of Felixs, an anarchist.

Felixs, also a Russian, was hell-bent on eliminating the Prince Alexei so that the Anglo-Russian negotiations would collapse. Having failed once to assassinate the Russian prince, Felixs racked his brains for alternatives. Eventually, he learned that Lydia, his ex-lover, was by now married to Walden. He visited the Waldens’ home and was able to get details of the Prince’s whereabouts.

But his plot was foiled when Lydia, guided by her intuition, realised that Felixs was up to no good. Then she told her husband about Felixs’s visit, though leaving out the inconvenient facts.

As the drama unfolded, Walden’s daughter Charlotte ran into the effervescent Felixs. It was through her, he got to know once more about the hiding place of the Russian prince. It was about this time that Charlotte learned that her true father was not Walden, but Felixs. Lydia had by then been pregnant for two months before marrying Walden.

But this fact was unknown to Walden himself.

The story moved up to a crescendo of fascination with the Russian prince being hidden in the country home of the Waldens. Yet again, Felixs, the assassin, wheedled that piece information from Charlotte. With the active support of Charlotte, Felixs hid himself right in the home of the Walden, while the Special Branch was combing the entire village for him.

At this point, Felixs decided to take the bull by the horns by going after the Prince, since he had learnt from Charlotte where in the big house he was hidden. He then set the house on fire, which forced the prince to come out. When the prince came out, Felixs shot him dead. But he himself lost his life in his attempt to save Charlotte who was trapped in the house by the inferno. When Walden later learnt of the paternity of Charlotte, he took it in his stride. For Felixs, it was a case of poetic justice.

This is a well told story, using irony to heighten suspense and interest.

Ms Kanyi of Standard Chartered Bank went to Dakar, Senegal, this weekend to see Little Jainaba’s medical team and the news is not good.

The Daily Observer spoke to Ms Emily Ben of the medical team in Dakar yesterday. She confirmed that Little Jainaba is currently on drug treatment as a prelude to the operation. The bad news which came as a surprise is that Jainaba is “almost certain” to lose both eyes.  

The drug treatment, according to reports, is to reduce the swelling of the turmor to enable the team to operate.

However, senior nurse Emily could not tell  when the operation will take place.

The hospital will in due course fax to the Daily Observer a medical update once the professor in charge examines Little Jainaba.

Jainaba’s account

On page 4, the Daily Observer lay out the bank statement of Jainaba’s bank account. As you can see, the kindness of the readers of the Daily Observer resulted in D151,500 for Little Jainaba. The account is looked after by the deputy managing director of the Observer Company, Andrew DaCosta, and well wishers are most welcome to make further donations.

SEE EDITORIAL.

Benjamine Jallow, the interim chargÈ d’affaire at the Gambian Embassy in France, ended his testimony in the criminal trial involving William Joof, a former Gambian ambassador to France, at the Banjul Magistrates Court yesterday.

Responding to questions posed by defence counsel Lamin Camara, Jallow said the only document he saw with regards to the termination of the services of Michel Coencas and Gerrard Nuss is a communication among different embassies authored by the accused and addressed to the UNESCO Headquarters.

”I have not seen the termination letters of Gerrard Nuss and Michel Coencas. All that I saw was an instruction given by Mr Joof to UNESCO, indicating that the two no longer are part of UNESCO’s permanent delegates to the Gambian Embassy”, he said.

According to the Gambian diplomat, he was posted at the Gambian Embassy in France on 15th September, 1998, noting that he knew the accused at a time when he was a permanent Secretary at the Department of State for Foreign Affairs.

Mr Jallow added that as head of the chancellery at the Gambian Embassy in France, he would have seen any document of duty waiver with regards to the said vehicle (Peugeot 607). “But I saw nothing to that effect,” he said.

He maintained that Gerrard Nuss paid €50,000 to Mr Joof for the post of The Gambia’s honourary consul to France, which was transferred to the private account of the accused.

William Joof charged with eight counts of criminal offences, ranging from official corruption to theft, contrary to Section 88 and Section 252 of the Criminal Code, Cap 10 Volume III Laws of The Gambia.

Honourable Fatoumata Jahumpa-Ceesay, Speaker of the National Assembly, Saturday officially inaugurated the Reliance Financial kiosk at the Albert market in Banjul at a ceremony held at the market.

The Albert market kiosk is the seventh outlet that Reliance Financial Services has established in its eight month of operation in the Gambia.

Speaking at the ceremony, Speaker Fatoumatta Jahumpa-Ceesay said that the inauguration of the kiosk is a manifestation of a fulfilled promise of taking banking to the door steps of every Gambian. She added that, the initiative is central to government’s development agenda under President Jammeh, who is resolved to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty by 50% by the year 2015.

The National Assembly Speaker pointed out that the inaugurated kiosk is of great significance to not only the Banjulians, but to the entire nation since the market serve as a central commercial centre. “The inaugurated kiosk is not only a savings outlet but, also a micro-credit outlet which a small and medium entrepreneur can benefit enormously from. I therefore would strongly encourage each and every one, especially women, to open and operate an account with the kiosk without further delay in a bid to realise your long dreams of accumulating wealth, accessing credit facilities that you require and deserve,” she urged.

While commending Reliance Financial Services for being pro-active and responsive to the needs of market vendors, Speaker Jahumpa-Ceesay challenged the stakeholders of the market to patronise the kiosk and make it more successful within the shortest possible time in a bid to enable them convert it into a full fledge branch.

Baboucarr Khan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Reliance Financial Services said, the Albert market kiosk which is approved by the Central Bank of The Gambia, is part of his company’s national expansion strategy and objective of taking banking services to the doorstep of every Gambian community.

According to him, the initiative is to enable the market stakeholders to save their daily earnings internally in the market. He revealed that, with a hundred dalasis, a passport photo size, an identity or voters card, a vendor can start operating an account.

He then assured the vendors of his company’s commitment to provide security personnel.

For her part, Mam Sai Njie Sanneh, Acting Mayoress of Banjul City Council (BCC), advised market vendors to operate an account and save their daily earnings with the kiosk.

Alhagie Musa Baba Leigh, Chairman of the market committee, who spoke on behalf of the vendors, expressed similar sentiments.

The ceremony was attended by National Assembly members, elders of Banjul, and a cross section of market vendors.

Honourable Fatoumata Jahumpa-Ceesay, Speaker of the National Assembly, Saturday officially inaugurated the Reliance Financial kiosk at the Albert market in Banjul at a ceremony held at the market.

The Albert market kiosk is the seventh outlet that Reliance Financial Services has established in its eight month of operation in the Gambia.

Speaking at the ceremony, Speaker Fatoumatta Jahumpa-Ceesay said that the inauguration of the kiosk is a manifestation of a fulfilled promise of taking banking to the door steps of every Gambian. She added that, the initiative is central to government’s development agenda under President Jammeh, who is resolved to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty by 50% by the year 2015.

The National Assembly Speaker pointed out that the inaugurated kiosk is of great significance to not only the Banjulians, but to the entire nation since the market serve as a central commercial centre. “The inaugurated kiosk is not only a savings outlet but, also a micro-credit outlet which a small and medium entrepreneur can benefit enormously from. I therefore would strongly encourage each and every one, especially women, to open and operate an account with the kiosk without further delay in a bid to realise your long dreams of accumulating wealth, accessing credit facilities that you require and deserve,” she urged.

While commending Reliance Financial Services for being pro-active and responsive to the needs of market vendors, Speaker Jahumpa-Ceesay challenged the stakeholders of the market to patronise the kiosk and make it more successful within the shortest possible time in a bid to enable them convert it into a full fledge branch.

Baboucarr Khan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Reliance Financial Services said, the Albert market kiosk which is approved by the Central Bank of The Gambia, is part of his company’s national expansion strategy and objective of taking banking services to the doorstep of every Gambian community.

According to him, the initiative is to enable the market stakeholders to save their daily earnings internally in the market. He revealed that, with a hundred dalasis, a passport photo size, an identity or voters card, a vendor can start operating an account.

He then assured the vendors of his company’s commitment to provide security personnel.

For her part, Mam Sai Njie Sanneh, Acting Mayoress of Banjul City Council (BCC), advised market vendors to operate an account and save their daily earnings with the kiosk.

Alhagie Musa Baba Leigh, Chairman of the market committee, who spoke on behalf of the vendors, expressed similar sentiments.

The ceremony was attended by National Assembly members, elders of Banjul, and a cross section of market vendors.