The US Embassy in Banjul, on Thursday, organised a solemn reception at the Ambassador’s residence, in celebration off the 232nd  Independence Day of the United States of America. Barry Wells, the American ambassador to The Gambia, welcomed the many distinguished guests who came to celebrate with America .

Among the officials who attended the reception were Dr Omar Touray, secretary of state for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of The Gambia , ex-president Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, security chiefs, members of the diplomatic corps, as well as representatives of the media fraternity, and religious leaders, among other dig nitaries. Also enjoying the pleasant atmosphere at the event were representatives of the American community in The Gambia.

Ambassador Wells stated that celebrating the 232nd anniversary is a special occasion, but that every Independence Day for America represents a "special day", noting that each year Americans celebrate July 4 as the National Independence Day.

According to him, it was on this day in 1776 that the Founding Fathers - including Thomas Jefferson, Bejamin Franklin and John Adam s- signed the Declaration of Independence. "Although it was in 1783 that the United Unites actually gained its independence, the date of adoption of the Declaration of Independence seven years earlier was established as our National Day," he recalled.

He emphasised the special meaning of celebrating independence in America, which was achieved after many centuries of suffering and struggle. According to the ambassador, Independence Day is significant because its marks not only the independence of the United States, but also because it is a time to reflect upon the fundamental ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence - that all men are created equal, that they have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that these rights are to be upheld by a democratic form of government.

Getting back to history, the American plenipotentiary reminded the gathering of the painful past of slavery, which was, according to him, unfortunately the first link between The Gambia and the United States. "But … we have faced the negative aspects of our history head on, and rather than forgetting them, we have confronted them," he indicated.

Considering that America is still struggling to maintain this unique achievement and is hoping to achieve a better future for its citizens, its neighbours and the rest of the world, he then noted: "Today we have our second African-American Secretary of State, and our first African-American presidential nominee.While both our nations have progressed so far, The Gambia, like the United States still has work to do. Equal opportunity for women, protection of children, press freedom and support for human rights for all, remain goals that we must continue to pursue."

For his part, Dr Omar Touray, the secretary of state for Foreign Affairs, congratulated the US government and Americans, through Ambassador Wells, on their independence anniversary. Dr Touray used the opportunity to highlight a series of joint-programmes undertaken by the two governments, under the framework of bilateral relations. He also assured the US government of The Gambia’s commitment in the war against terrorism, which has devastated so many innocent lives around the world, amid a sophisticated terror network.

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921–February 10, 1992) was an American writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family, and of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the latter of which he wrote in collaboration with Malcolm X.

Early life

Born in Ithaca, New York, in 1921, Haley spent his first five years in Henning, Tennessee in an African American family mixed with Irish and Cherokee ancestry with his 2 younger brothers. Haley was born to Simon Haley and Bertha Palmer.

Many of his books reference his childhood friend Charlie Taylor. Haley's father, Simon Alexander Haley, was a professor of agriculture who had served in World War I after graduating from college. The younger Haley always spoke proudly of his father and the incredible obstacles of racism he had overcome. Alex Haley was first sent off to college at the age of 15. At the age of seventeen he returned home to inform his father of his withdrawal from Alcorn State University. Simon Haley felt that Alex needed discipline and growth and convinced his son to enlist in the military. On May 24, 1939, Alex Haley began his 20-year service with the Coast Guard.

He enlisted as a mess-boy and then became a Petty Officer Third Class in the rate of Mess Attendant, one of the few enlisted designators open to African Americans at that time. It was during his service in the Pacific theater of operations that Haley taught himself the craft of writing stories. It is said that during his enlistment he was often paid by other sailors to write love letters to their girlfriends. He talked of how the greatest enemy he and his crew faced during their long sea voyages wasn't the Japanese but boredom. He collected many rejection slips over an eight-year period before his first story was bought.

After World War II, Haley was able to petition the Coast Guard to allow him to transfer into the field of journalism, and by 1949 he had become a Petty Officer First Class in the rate of Journalist. He later advanced to the rank of Chief Petty Officer and held this grade until his retirement from the Coast Guard in 1959.

Alex Haley's awards and decorations from the Coast Guard include the American Defense Service Medal (with "Sea" clasp), American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal (with 1 silver and 1 bronze service star), Korean Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, and the Coast Guard Expert Marksmanship Medal.

Writing career

After his retirement from the Coast Guard, Haley began his writing career and eventually became a senior editor for Reader's Digest.

Playboy magazine

Haley conducted the first interview for Playboy magazine. The interview, with jazz legend Miles Davis, appeared in the September 1962 issue. In the interview, Davis candidly spoke about his thoughts and feelings on racism and it was that interview that set the tone for what would become a significant part of the magazine. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Playboy Interview with Haley was the longest he ever granted to any publication.

Throughout the 1960s, Haley was responsible for some of the magazine's most notable interviews, including an interview with American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell, who agreed to meet with Haley only after Haley, in a phone conversation, assured him that he was not Jewish. Haley exhibited remarkable calm and professionalism despite the handgun Rockwell kept on the table throughout the interview.

Haley also interviewed Cassius Clay, who spoke about changing his name to Muhammad Ali. Other interviews include Jack Ruby's defense attorney Melvin Belli, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jim Brown, Johnny Carson, and Quincy Jones. He completed a memoir of Malcolm X for Playboy six months before Malcolm X died in February 1965. The memoir was published in the July 1965 issue of the magazine.

Malcolm X

One of Haley's most famous interviews was a 1963 interview with Malcolm X for Playboy, which led to their collaboration on the activist's autobiography The Autobiography of Malcolm X, based on interviews conducted shortly before Malcolm's death (and with an epilogue). Published in 1965, the book became a huge success and was later named by Time magazine as one of the ten most important nonfiction books of the 20th century.

Roots

In 1976, Haley published Roots: The Saga of an American Family, a novel based loosely on his family's history, starting with the story of Kunta Kinte, kidnapped in Gambia in 1767 and transported to the Province of Maryland to be sold as a slave.

Haley claimed to be a seventh-generation descendant of Kunta Kinte, and Haley's work on the novel involved ten years of research, intercontinental travel and writing. He went to the village of Juffure, where Kunta Kinteh grew up and which is still in existence, and listened to a tribal historian tell the story of Kinteh's capture.

Haley also traced the records of the ship, The Lord Ligonier, which he said carried his ancestor to America. Genealogists have since disputed Haley's research and conclusions and Haley had to reach an out-of-court settlement with Harold Courlander to end a plagiarism lawsuit.

Haley was briefly a "writer in residence" at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He began to write "Roots" there. Many local people remember Haley fondly. He enjoyed spending time at a local bistro "The Savoy" in Rome New York where he listened to the piano player. Today, there is a special table in honor of Haley with a painting of Alex writing "Roots" on a yellow legal tablet.

Haley said the most emotional moment of his life was on September 29, 1967, when he stood at the site in Annapolis, Maryland where his ancestor had arrived 200 years before. Roots was eventually published in 37 languages and Haley won a Special Award for it in 1977 from the Pulitzer Board.

Roots also went on to become a popular television miniseries in 1977. The book and film were both successful, reaching a record-breaking 130 million viewers when it was serialized on television. Roots emphasized that African Americans have a long history and that not all of that history is lost, as many believed. Its popularity sparked an increased public interest in genealogy, as well.

In 1979, ABC aired a sequel miniseries entitled Roots: The Next Generations. The series continued the story of Kunta Kinteh's descendants, concluding with Haley's arrival in Jufureh. Haley was portrayed (at various ages) by future soap opera actor Kristoff St. John, The Jeffersons actor Damon Evans, and Tony Award winner James Earl Jones.

Later years

In the late 1980s, Haley began working on a second historical novel based on another branch of his family, traced through his grandmother Queen—the daughter of a black slave woman and her white master. Haley died in Seattle, Washington of a heart attack before he could complete the story and was buried beside his childhood home in Henning, Tennessee. At his request, it was finished by David Stevens and was published as Alex Haley's Queen; it was subsequently made into a movie in 1993.

Late in his life, Haley acquired a small farm in Norris, Tennessee, adjacent to the Museum of Appalachia, with the intent of making it his home. Subsequent to his death, the property was sold to the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), which calls it the "Alex Haley Farm" and uses it as a national training center and retreat site. An abandoned barn on the farm property was rebuilt as a traditional cantilevered barn, using a design by architect Maya Lin. The building now serves as a library for CDF.In 1999, the U.S. Coast Guard honored Haley by naming the cutter Alex Haley after him.

Haley was also posthumously awarded the Korean War Service Medal from the government of South Korea ten years after his death. This award, created in 1999, did not exist during Haley's lifetime.

Plagiarism and other criticism

Alex Haley researched Roots for ten years; the Roots TV series adaptation aired in 1977. The same year, Haley won a Pulitzer Prize for the book as well as the Spingarn Medal. However, Haley's fame was marred by plagiarism charges in 1978. After a trial, Haley settled out-of-court for $650,000, having been accused of plagiarizing a 100 word segment from The African by Harold Courlander. Haley claimed that the appropriation of Courlander's passages had been unintentional. In 1988 Margaret Walker also sued him, claiming Roots violated the copyright for her novel Jubilee. Her case was dismissed by the court.

Haley has been accused of fictionalizing true stories in both his book Roots and The Autobiography Of Malcolm X. Malcolm X's family and members of The Nation of Islam accused Haley of changing selected parts of his story.

In addition, the veracity of those aspects of Roots which Haley claimed to be true has also been challenged.[6] Although Haley acknowledged the novel was primarily a work of fiction, he did claim that his actual ancestor was Kunta Kinte, an African taken from the village of Jufureh in what is now The Gambia.

According to Haley, Kunta Kinte was sold into slavery where he was given the name Toby and, while in the service of a slavemaster named John Waller, went on to have a daughter named Kizzy, Haley's great-great-great grandmother. Haley also claimed to have identified the specific slave ship and the actual voyage on which Kunta Kinte was transported from Africa to North America in 1767.

However, noted genealogist Elizabeth Shown Mills and the African-Americanist historian Gary B. Mills revisited Haley's research and concluded that those claims of Haley's were not true. According to the Millses, the slave named Toby who was owned by John Waller could be definitively shown to have been in North America as early as 1762. They further said that Toby died years prior to the supposed date of birth of Kizzy.

There have also been suggestions that Kebba Kanji Fofana, the amateur griot in Jufureh, who, during Haley's visit there, confirmed the tale of the disappearance of Kunta Kinte, had been coached to relate such a story.

To date, Haley's work remains a notable exclusion from the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, despite Haley's status as history's best-selling African-American author. Harvard University professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., one of the anthology's general editors, has denied that the controversies surrounding Haley's works are the reason for this exclusion. Nonetheless, Dr. Gates has acknowledged the doubts surrounding Haley's claims about Roots, saying, "Most of us feel it's highly unlikely that Alex actually found the village whence his ancestors sprang. Roots is a work of the imagination rather than strict historical scholarship."

Speech at the "March on Washington DC" in 1963

"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five-score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. (President Abraham Lincoln). This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free; one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination; one hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity; one hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. (In 2007, many say the situation for the African-American is worse - in "the richest country in the world" where 30 million of its citizens live in poverty).

So we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check (to demand the equality guaranteed to every American). When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was the promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note in so far as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. (Although some middle-class blacks have indeed "cashed" their "check" the vast majority still wait in 2007 – including those in the penal system where it is said that the blacks who make up only 20% of the population make up 80% of the prison population; where President George Bush’s Texas is the biggest legal executor with virtually all Death Row prisoners there being African-American).

And so we've come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy; now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice; now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood; now is the time to make justice a reality for all God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the movement. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content, will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. (The revolt today, 2007, has turned inward, with the drugs, gangs, guns and illiteracy destroying Black America). But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice.

In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. ("rightful place" have not been granted or gained for the vast majority in 2007).

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. (Yes, if you come from a comfortable middle-class home as King does this is easy to say. Your children are not growing-up in ghettoes and alleyways where drugs and killings are the order of the day).

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. This offense we share mounted to storm the battlements of injustice must be carried forth by a biracial army. We cannot walk alone. (In "Black Nationalism" below Malcolm argues that, on the contrary, we must "walk alone" and do it ourselves).

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. ("Police brutality" continues in America, Britain, France etc, against black citizens in 2007).

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. (An achievement in 2007 – except possibly in Texas!)

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one (for the majority of the "Negroes" that is still the case).

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

(Say it again MLK: "Nothing for which to vote". They have now tied up the system of so-called "Democracy" in such a way as to nullify the vote they have given to the Negro: President Bush’s two shameful elections, where Black Votes were discounted, is a case in point in the New Millennium. Turn in your grave MLK).

No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of excessive trials and tribulation. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. (i.e. turn the other cheek – Malcolm says "No" firmly, below).

Go back to Mississippi; go back to Alabama; go back to Louisiana; go back to the slums and ghettos of the northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can, and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

So I say to you, my friends, that even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. (But remember that the white Americans who wrote these words did not "turn the other cheek" – they picked up the gun and fought England for it, thousands dying in the process).

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith we will be able to hear out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to go to jail together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

"My country 'tis of thee; sweet land of liberty; of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride; from every mountain side, let freedom ring"

If America is to be a great nation, this must become true. (It is true, MLK bro, for those who wrote the national anthem!)

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that.

Let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children - black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants - will be able to join hands and to sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

'Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last.' "

It has been good to read Saihou Sanyang’s extremely informative essay on the above topic, the essay taking a full 4-pages of the Daily Observer this week. Mr. Sanyang ended with an Einstein-style formula for Good Governance:

“My formula for Democratic Good Governance (DGG):

DGG(cds + vcs + ips) over t

Where

DGG means democratic good governance.

cds means capable democratic state.

vcs means vigorous civil society,

t means time. and

ips means innovative private sector (QED).”

This formula scares me abit because it looks as if it could be applied to split the atom, but infact it is simpler than that. Or is it? Maybe getting good democratic governance is much tougher than splitting the atom! All our religious texts and constitutions going back to the beginning of time are about trying to find a formula for governance that could make most people happy.

Maybe again therein lies the rub. Maybe  we cannot make most people happy. Most people would probably always be grumpy with whatever system of governance we have in place. Maybe what we should look for is a system which most people find tolerable, a system in which the rulers are not so oppressive and corrupt as to lead to rebellion and revolution.

I think the secret of governments that call themselves “democratic” is knowing how far they can go in oppressing the people. It is not a sense of good democratic principles that makes a George Bush a good democrat, it is just a commonsense fear of how far the people can be pushed. It was the rebellion of the American people that, for example, led to the “loss” of the Vietnam War - and might equally lead to an American retreat from Iraq.

As for Mr. Saihou Sanyang’s formula, being a simple man, I would replace it with a simpler one: (B+ P=S)xI where B=Bread, P=Peace , S=Stability and I=Indefinitely which all means that: if you give the people bread and peace you can govern for as long as you wish. If people are hungry and fearful, beware a revolution.

The peoples of The Gambia consist of the Aku, the Fula, the Jola, the Serahule,the Serer, the Mandinka, the Wollof and a recently- settled Ethiopian Managing the Daily Observer. Over the next few weeks the Daily Observer will give an historical introduction to these peoples of The Gambia. In alphabetical order we start this week with the Akus.

One of the results of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was the emergence of a district ethnic group along the West Coast of Africa generally referred to as the Creoles, with a Krio language spoken throughout the region. The Creole is said to derive from the Yoruba word ‘akiriyo’, meaning “these who go about paying visits after a church service.” In The Gambia, the Creoles are known as the Akus.

The origin of the Akus dates back to the late eighteenth century and first half of the nineteenth when their ancestors, a number of groups of freed slaves, were landed in Sierra Leone.

The first batch of settlers to be landed were freed black slaves who had been living in England and sent to settle in Sierra Leone in 1787. The original settlement, known as the Province of Freedom, was the beginning of Freetown, the present capital of Sierra Leone.

Some’ of the settlers were discharged soldiers and sailors who had served with the British forces during the American War of Independence. Others were former slaves who had escaped from their American masters. Many of these people congregated in London unemployed and destitute.

It was for this reason that the British Government agreed to suggestions that they be sent to found a new home of their own in Africa, and so it was that this first batch of settlers landed in the “Province of Freedom” in May 1787.

In 1792, new settlers were to join the settlement from Nova Scotia. These were former slaves who had fought for the British in the American War of Independence and settled in Nova Scotia by the British. By 1800, a group of Maroons also joined the settlement from Nova Scotia. The Maroons were former slaves who had revolted against their owners in Jamaica and set up their own state. They were defeated by the British who sent them first to Nova Scotia and then to the Province of Freedom.

The number of these settlers were to be increased considerably by another group known as the “recaptives”. These were men and women rescued from ships that were carrying them to be sold as slaves despite the formal abolition of the slave trade and slavery.

Ship loads of these recaptives were constantly landed in the area and by 1811 they outnumbered the Nova Scotian and Maroon settlers combined. These recaptives originally came from countries throughout West Africa from The Gambia to the Congo. Few of them came from East Africa.

By the middle of the nineteenth century this mixture of settlers and recaptives had blended into a distinct cultural group. Without a common language of communication they would invent the Krio language which, based on European languages, was developed under the influence of the recaptives own various African languages including that of their neighbours, the Temne and Mende.

Cut off geographically and spiritually from their community based ancestral religions, and unable to perform their own rites, they embraced the Christian preachers in their midst. They took new names and began to wear European styled clothes.

Realising the practical advantages education and technical skills could offer them, they were ready to learn and see to it that their children also learned the white man’s culture and civilisation. Through hard work as tailors, masons and blacksmiths, they would earn enough capital to give their children the education which would prepare them for important positions in trade and commerce.

Sir Charles MacCarthy, who was Governor in Sierra Leone from 1814 to 1824, saw the settler community in Sierra Leone as people who could advance the prevalent European view that what Africa needed was Christianity and European civilisation. He proposed that the Colonial Government and Christian missions should cooperate to transform them into a Christian population who would spread Christianity and European ways throughout West Africa.

As a result of missionary activities Western education flourished in Sierra Leone. In deed mission schools were started since the founding of the settler colony in 1787. By the 1840s there was a large network of primary schools, and grammar schools for boys and girls were established. From 1876, Fourah Bay College, founded in 1827, was empowered to award degrees of the University of Durham. As a result of this investment in education, a distinguished body of Aku professional men emerged.

Among this body of distinguished professionals were men like John Thorpe who became the first West African to qualify as a lawyer in 1850; Samuel Ajayi Crowther who became the first West African Christian Bishop in 1864, and Africans Horton who qualified at Kings College, London, as West Africa’s first medical doctor in 1859.

Meanwhile the small Sierra Leone colony offered only limited scope for this ambitious and enterprising population whilst all along the coast of Africa their skills were in demand. They found jobs as clerks and agents for European exporters or set up as exporters on their own.

As missions spread they found jobs as pastors ad teachers. Their skilled tradesmen built and repaired houses in the growth coastal towns of West Africa. By the middle of the nineteenth century Akus were scattered in communities from The Gambia to Fernando Po, forming distinct societies widely apart from the indigenous inhabitants they preferred to Call “natives”. In deed for the whole of their history the Akus had though of British West Africa as one unit.

In the case of The Gambia, the British had, in the 1830s, sponsored a large scale immigration of the sick recaptives and criminals not wanted in Sierra Leone society to Bathurst (Banjul) and to Janjangburey in the Central River Division.

As in Sierra Leone, some outstanding Akus emerged in The Gambia. One such leading Gambian Aku was Thomas Joiner. Joiner was a Mandinka griot born about 1788 who was captured and sold into slavery in the Americas. He was to work hard and bough his freedom. He worked as a steward on a boat sailing to West Africa. On reaching The Gambia, he left the boat and started a new life as a trader and soon became a prosperous merchant and ship owner.

Another prominent Aku was Thomas Rafell, an Igbo recaptive, who settled in The Gambia in the early 1820s as a discharged soldier. Having been wounded in the Anglo-Niumi Wars he was granted a pension of four dollars a month by the British.

He also became a successful businessman. He used his wealth and influence to establish, in 1824, an Igbo Social Society which became a very active watchgod on British colonial administration in The Gambia, especially in matters affecting the welfare of the people.

Perhaps the most outstanding Gambian Aku has been Edward Francis Small who, as well shall see, was the doyen of modern Gambian politics. Indeed the Aku community in The Gambia, as their counterparters in other West African colonies, became the first vigorous advocates of a modern nationalism whose concepts were to spread not only in West African but throughout the whole African continent.

However, with Independence and political power being assumed by the indigenous peoples of the societies in which they settled, and forming small minorities in such societies, the Akus became a submerged people.

The History of The Gambia by Dawda Faal is available at Timbooktoo.

Timbooktoo: 4494345

If name is anything to go by, then elections in the world’s only superpower will not be anything small. Always trying to live up to its name as the most democratic nation in the world, the United States of America has always stood to its name as the champion of democracy – of course with exceptions, like the 2000 elections in which there were some alleged election malpractices.

Throughout the world, elections in the United States are always watched with excitement and sordid interest. Americans will not go to the polls until in few months time, but it seems the fascination surrounding the election is already trickling and permeating many countries. In the Gambia interest in the highs and lows of high level politics in America has already propped up.

While both the Republican and Democratic candidates were involved in whirlwind campaigns to win their parties nominations in the cut and thrust of politics in the United States, a debate on who would become the country’s next president was already taking place somewhere in this Smiling Coast of Africa.

Held at the Senate room of the University of the Gambia on Tuesday January 8 2007, this symposium was organized by the University of The Gambia’s Students’ Union in collaboration with a visiting entourage of American students, being headed by professor of Political Science and Juniata College’s director of International Affairs, Dr Jennifer Cushman.

The symposium also created the conduit for a general discussion on the American political system, and foreign policy with the latter almost overriding the whole programme.

Introducing the topic, Dr. Nanengast gave an over-view of the whole American political system. According to the American professor, the United States operates a two party system - the two operating parties being the Republicans and Democrats.

He gave the leading contenders for each of the two parties. He also elaborated on the issues that resonate to voters in this years election; the economy, immigration, environment and  healthcare.

The American scholar also dilated on the differences in policy between the two parties in this years election. According to him Republicans favor a stay of American troops in Iraq whilst, Democrats sordidly back a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

He added that opinion polls have indicated that the War on Terror which was one of the most contentious issues in the last elections held in 2004 does not resonate with most of the votes. The Professor disclosed that only 30% of Republicans think that it is important, compared to a 3% Democrats who think on the same line.

He however established that the majority of Americans now feel that the war in Iraq was a mistake. Under pressure from a rather judgmental student gathering, the professor reluctantly alluded to the fact that the current President, George W Bush, stands as the most unpopular US president both within and outside America.

However, it was not long before the debate swayed to the democratic end of the political spectrum. This was not surprising given the fact that one of the Democratic challengers Barack Obama is of African origin.

Introducing both Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama to the audience, Dr Jennifer Cushman  director of International Affairs and lecturer of German literature in Juniata college gave the audience a grasp of the policies of the two democratic contenders.. According to her Obama is more direct about issues. He is a strong opponent of the war in Iraq. He, consequently, favors a removal of troops from the Gulf country. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Obama supports the existence of two states living side by side in peace.

On the other hand, Clinton who hails from a middle class background has taken a different perspective in some of the most outstanding issues. She has adopted an ambivalent stance on many of the foreign policy issues. She has promised to restore America’s stance in the world, but did not state how. Dr Cushman however, believed that her ambivalent or middle of the road approach has reduced her revolutionary impact on the election.

The symposium later followed by questions and answers on some of the most contentious issues in the elections and also on America’s foreign policy, including Africom, the Palestinian conflict, American-British alliance and Africa’s negative image in the Western media.

The programme was attended by a cross-section of university students, lecturers at the UTG and the co-coordinators of the Juniata College and UTG exchange programme in the Gambia.

Four G4 security men were yesterday convicted and sentenced by the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court for stealing the very thing that they were entrusted to safeguard.

Kaba Bojang, Bakary Sowe, Edrisa Sanyang and Lamin Gibba were sentenced to serve a month’s mandatory jail term after being found guilty of stealing 700 litres of gas oil from the warehouse of the American Embassy in Banjul.

The quartet was each ordered to compensate the embassy with the sum of D5000 in default to serve 12 years in prisons.

The case was chaired by magistrate Pa Harry Jammeh and the IGP represented by Cpl. Camara.