Tomorrow 22 July 2008, will mark 14 solid years of the leadership of the APRC government under the stewardship of President Yahya Jammeh who came to power through barrel of a gun on July 22 1994.Then in 1996 Jammeh like many of his military colleagues in the sub region and beyond turn into a civilian, contested and won the elections, since then he won two more elections in a country that has no presidential term limit.

 The Gambia as a developing country had scored some developments in certain areas but notwithstanding have some short comings under Jammeh. The Media Agenda’s reporter at large went on a wide raging vox voice to feel people’s feelings on where the coup took us in the last 14 years and whether there was a need to celebrate the day.

Mustapha Kujabi a student said for him it is difficult to make comparisons since he was too young during the first republic. One thing he made clear is that no matter what he cannot condone a military rule. He condemns all coups including the one that brought President Jammeh to power. He however said he thinks there are some developments in terms of schools.  I think yes the day can be celebrated but with little cost owing to the hard living conditions of ordinary Gambians.

A journalist who whish not be named in this article said there is absolutely no cause for celebrations as far as he is concern. I would like to see justice done in the pending cases of my colleagues like Deyda Hydara and the disappeared Chief Ebrima Manneh.One cannot celebrate when ones colleagues are killed and got disappeared with little commitment by the state whose responsibility is to do so as people’s representatives.

Nyambi Drammeh a farmer in the URR village of Perai said yes there is a cause to celebrate as the developments speaks for themselves, unless one is blind to see. Apart from the bad road conditions from Banjul to Koina on the south bank, under the Jammeh regime we have seen much development. The schools, the health centers, the television and rural electrifications speak for themselves.

Fatoumatta Suko told this reporter that she is disappointed by the regime because as a farmer if she cannot find a market for her produce will there be any cause for her to celebrate July 22. NO, she said. I need to feed my family from these produce, to educate my kids and to take care of the welfare of my family as a single parent.

Lamin Ceesay a university student said yes there is much cause for celebrations as if it were not the Jammeh regime I would not have seen the walls of a university, so bravo President Jammeh.

“We need good governance, free press, and progressive democracy” said Kumba Fatajo of Laminkoto village of CRR. Without the above she said there is no cause to celebrate July 22. For her a coup is a crime and should not be glorified.

The collective farm in Sabach Sanjal is the right direction that all Gambians who are interested in self sufficiency in food should go in for. This farm that is initiated by them and as far as the information reaching us the farm and the produce belongs to them. This is a product that they can always fall back at when the need arises. No barrier at all as far as access to the produce is concern since it will be in the safe hands of the members of the community themselves. Chief Mambiran Gaye of the district said the farm does not belong to any individual or political party; he was speaking to a local newspaper journalist, when the reporter visited the farm. The farm he stressed belongs to the people of Sabach Sanjal it is only the people of the district who will decide what to do with the produce.

Paramount Chief Alhagie Demba Sanyang implore that all districts will be encouraged to have what is call a district farm. He challenged all the youths to double their efforts in agriculture. He made these statements at the Kombo North district farm at Brufut. He made a similar statement at Sabach Sanjal district farm also. This may look like a new task for the Paramount Chief among other duties.

If all the districts emulate these particular districts, we may not right away be self sufficient in food but it will be an important step towards achieving it. This action looks quite different from the kind of the new farmers and farming system that we hear and see every other day on GRTS. Communities are seen on the farm of the President working very hard. Well if people spend most of their time helping some body else I do not know how much time they will have for themselves.

I for one hail the president’s call for a return to the land but do not agree for communities to be encouraged to spend their valuable time on some one else farm. This for me is discouraging people cultivating at a time, when they could yield more food for themselves than helping some one who is better off than them. If I were the president I will personally discourage such and encourage them to go and work on their own farms. Some of these people paraded on the TV screen are no true farmers, some of them do not own a piece of land for a back yard garden much more a farm, and they only have an agenda. So districts should emulate the district of Sabach Sanjal and that of kombo north.

A call back to the land is a clarion call, but farmers needed to be convinced and encouraged to go back to the land. One way farmers con be encouraged to go back to the land is not only by a mere call, it should go with incentives. Not monetary or kind sort of incentives. Farmers must be assured of a ready market for their produce. The farmers should also have tools to work with. This and other things must be in place for our farmers if we expect them to go back to the land. If not the sky will fall to the ground but the clarion call will not be heeded.

What is happening now is the reverse; farmers leave their lands for different things to do. Most youths find their way to the towns and cities for a change in their lives. They are no longer interested in wasting the whole rainy season on the land when in the end their produces have no market. So they prefer to come down from the villages just to do some odd jobs and save money that will see them to Europe or Babylon as most of them call it. In finding their way to Babylon most of them use illegal routes and many get their lives perished in the wild waters of the oceans something that is very bad for us.

So it is the policies that can send the people back to the land and not mere calls. We have to reflect on some years back to see if we can borrow anything from the past to make our youths and productive farmers tile the land. Not everything about the past is bad as most sycophants portrait.

In the early sixties (60s), coming to the eighties (80s) when this author himself was a young cooperative staff engaged in buying of the farmers produce, our farmers in those days are very keen on farming as it was one sure way of getting money. Once the rains began` youths where ever they are all return to the communities for farming, there was no need for one calling them to go back to the land. The market for the farmers produce was there, fertilizers given on time, subsistence loans available.

It was not only Gambian youths returning to the land, those who are rural youths and are in their 50s now will know what am talking about. We have youths coming from the Guinea Bissau and Conakry to Gambia for the farming season, because at the end of the season they get a good reward in terms of money for their produce. Farmers are no longer paid on time and that is what is discouraging them from going back to the land. No amount of call will get people back to the land. Policies must change to assure our farmers getting the reward of their produce on time.

This and the lack of seed nuts and fertilizers either being loaned to our farming communities or sold to them, and the fact that they cannot get the reward of their sweat is compelling them turn their backs to the land for alternatives. Unless policies are formulated to change such, there cannot be any amount of calls for people to go back to the land. Where are the mixed farming centers? Where are the Agricultural Assistants (AAs)? Where is the large number of agricultural staff to do the job? Where is the cooperative union to facilitate the marketing of farmers produce? These and other issues must be address in order to get us on the path of self food sufficiency.

Agriculture is declining a fact no Gambian can deny. If I may borrow some excerpts from the point newspapers July 8 2008, editorial which says and I quote "the reasons of the gradual decline of agriculture as a foreign exchange earner and as a major contributor to the economy lies primarily in the comparatively low level of productivity in the sector. What farmers used to enjoy in the 70s and 80s cannot be realized within the current political frame work. Before the farmers use to have access to qualitative seed varieties that were made readily available and distributed in a timely manner"

Are our farmers today getting seeds and fertilizers on time? No, it was only few days ago that the news was on the radio indicating the supply of fertilizer and seeds to some of our farming communities. The rains are gone I wonder what effective impact will that supply have on the final produce of our farming community? Unless our farmers are encouraged with such assistance reaching them on time, there is no way we can make a head way. In fact such will only go to make them poorer and poorer because they will only be indebted. Logics are they will not use the farming input into good use because such an inputs is coming late, as a result they will not be able to pay as required.

The managing director of the Gambia Daily Observer Dida Halake was on Saturday June 14, 2008 arrested and detained at the kairaba police station.Haleke was until his arrest the managing director of the daily observer. A post he held for several months. He is since being replaced by former minister of Information Mrs. Neneh Mac Dull Gage.

At the time of going to press there was no clear information as to the reasons of arrest and detention. However some inside sources have it that Halake is being question about related financial mismanagement at the Daily Observer offices.

The new MD was a board chair before her appointment. She was also the designated Ambassador to the UN in New Yoke, a post she has never taken.Neneh is a seasoned broadcast journalists, who before her appointment to the earlier post of minister of information was deputy director Gambia radio and television services.

Neneh is the third MD of the Daily Observer under three years. The immediate former MD took over from Dr Sajar Taal less than a year ago.

In a press briefing at the head offices of Media Agenda on Wednesday May 28 2008.Journalists were informed of a journalism course to kick off by September of this year. The training is jointly being organized by Media Agenda and Insight Training Center.

Madi Ceesay the Director of Media Agenda informed journalists that his organization have been working with Insight Training Center to wards a journalism programme for the past six months. A technical committee was set up tasked to write a syllabus and to put other logistics in place for the course. In that committee is people like Swaebou Conateh a veteran journalist, he is the editor   of the Gambia News and Report Magazine, Alieu Sayang of Information department, Cherno Jallow a media consultant, and Amie Bojang Sissoh a broadcaster are the other members of the committee.   This technical committee is the ones serving as lecturers.

Ceesay went on to say the course will cover Newspaper and Magazine Journalism, Broadcast Journalism, Photo Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations and Communication theories.

Talking about who is eligible for the courses, Ceesay told the journalists, the grade nine graduates who are interested in the certificate course must have credit in English language, or the interested candidate must have five years experience as a reporter with one of the local papers.

For the diploma course, a candidate must be a certificate holder in journalism or grade twelve graduates (12) with a pass in English language. For candidates who are interested and do not neither have a grade 12 certificate, nor do they have a certificate in journalism must have ten years experience or more as a reporter with one of the local newspapers. This category is treated as matured candidates.

The fee for the certificate course is twelve thousand (D12000.00) and the Diploma is fifteen thousand dalais (D15000.00).

Mr. Malick Jones, Principal Producer responsible for Current Affairs, Documentaries and Sports yesterday resumed work with GRTS, reliable sources informed this paper. Mr Jones was interdicted from September 2007 to May 28th 2008. He was previously charged along with Mam Sait Ceesay for sending coded words to a foreign journalist. That charge was subsequently dropped.

It would be recalled that Mam Sait, former Press Secretary State House, was on May 14th 2008 acquitted and discharged by a Magistrates’ Court.

Mr Malick Jones confirmed the story and said he was “happy to resume work” after being notified by the relevant authority that he could do so.

Thanking all those who stood by him during his trying times, Mr Jones said: “I will be happy to be on the air to serve the purpose of being a versatile broadcaster. I will always serve my country.”

A two day workshop on civil /military relationship organized  by the Media Agenda came to an end at the Baobab Holiday Resort on Thursday  May 14 2008 presentations were delivered from the media and the security.

The editor of Foroyaa newspaper Sam Sarr presented a paper on Human Right Awareness as development tool. Sarr referred to the constitution of the Gambia which he said makes it possible for the people of the Gambia to exercises their rights

The Fire Service public relations officer, (PRO) Ms Haddy Bah appealed to the media to help sensitize the public on the roles of the fire fighters.  She said the journalists should educate the masses about the role of the fire fighters, she disagreed with some of the journalists who indicated that some of her men do not even know where the location of the hydrants where. She went on to say that they have a training school where new intakes are trained and shown the various locations of the hydrants .A call was made on Media Agenda to include the judiciary in such workshops .

ASP Yero S.S Baldeh in his presentation on arrests and detentions, said there must be a reason of arresting someone, he said there are two types of arrests which are, arrest with warrant and one without a warrant .Arrest with warrant comes from the magistrate, the other can be done by police officers or even civilians.

Civilians can arrest where no police officers are, but less than one condition that the person or persons are taken to the nearest police station without beatings or harassments.

 ASP Baldeh said a police officer can arrest a poerson for hours without telling him what offence he or she has committed because if he does, it might tamper with their investigations.

He said some of these people need to be squeezed   in order to get the hidden information from them which they need to know. He said there is no space for detainees in some police stations like Manjai and Bakoteh station, in such cases they are taken to Sere kunda station. The officers make sure that before detaining any person, he or she is search properly for the simple reason that the person doe not have anything that will harm him or her.

Other presenters included Ndey Tapha Sosseh President of the Gambia Press Union, who talks on Gender she said there is a good deal of misunderstanding about the meaning of ‘gender’ which is often seen as synonymous with the word women. The word gender now embraces the socially determined characteristics of men and women and the social organization of relations between them. She said due to these disadvantages, the UN and other organizations have been putting a great emphasis on the position of women in society. Focusing on projects and programmes such as the women in development and ‘women and development initiatives.

The vote of thanks was given by Mr. Madani Senghore of the Gambia Navy.

This is the final part on the president’s dialogue with the people’s tour introspective. The president have concluded the tour and what one can consider as success is the pronouncements by the head of state on some major undertakings that his government is up to. Some on them are the same promises in the past years but few are new ones. What is of great concern to the people is whether he will fulfill such undertakings within the time frames given. Gambians were promised rural electrifications in the face of poor electricity supply in the greater Banjul areas. The president has dished out much cash to groups and individuals. What remains unclear is whose money was dished out? Is it his personal money or state money?

At Kaur waft town, the president did told his audience that his government will turn Kaur into a modern regional town, by introducing a railway link between the town and some land lock countries in the sub-region. These countries are Burkina Faso and Mali. With such he said Kaur will be a town that will regain its old status.

At Jangjang buray one of the regional head quarters President Jammeh said these towns will see a total reformation. The island will be bridged from the South bank end and that will make its access very easy. Rural electrification was also high on the president’s agenda. He told jubilant supporters in the Central River Region, Upper River Region, and other regions that soon all will glitter with electricity.

At Basse he told his supporters that he is frustrated with the people not going back to the land. When they took over power he promise that he will turn places like Basse into a modern towns. How is it today he asked? You have electricity every where. I build the chamois bridge, which promise some people think was a joke. He reiterated that they are with a difference.

 He said he knew the answer to the problem of Gambia was a mechanize agriculture, that  was why soon after the take over he brought tractors, the first ones were all abused, then he brought another the same abuses. Now am brining another 500 but this ones are not for free, they cost $17-18,000. We will give to those who can pay an advance of $7,000 and the balance be paid by installments. Any one who fails to pay, they he or she will have to go to one of my hotels either at Mile two prison or MarCharthy prison.

When the president was coming into the capital he was given a be fitting welcome and one can see him throwing out gifts of biscuits and T-shirts as a token of appreciation.

 A two day workshop on civil /security service relations which brings the security men and media practitioners together in order to build a smooth relationship was organized by the Media Agenda and sponsored by the US Embassy in partnership with the UK embassy in Banjul.The workshop took place at Baobab resort hotel May 14 2008.

In his welcome speech, the director of Media Agenda Madi .M.K. Ceesay said, this is not a training workshop but one that brings together civil society and the uniform men and women together. He went on to say the aim of the workshop is to create a relationship between the journalists and our service men that will enhance a very good working relationship, we have seen in the past when this two groups sometimes find it difficult to simply relate to one and another in a friendly atmosphere and he believes that it is due to misunderstanding, Ceesay said, with such opportunities. , such misunderstandings can be a thing of the past.

He said it is also clear that the security will not and cannot compromise state security. Whiles the journalists is all out to inform by publishing things that are happening or about to happen , the security will always hold on to some information that they felt its not fit for publications. This is where we clash.

He further said that Media Agenda will always endeavor to create avenues that will enhance reporting in the context of human rights.

Ambassador Barry L. Wells of the USA to the Gambia said he was delighted to be associated to the sponsoring of a workshop on civil / military relationship. Wells urge the media to work hand in hand with the security men and women. Also security personnel must not see each other as enemies. He said for them they will continue to sponsor such activities. He calls on the media to research their stories well and to be factual in news presentations.

Other speakers included the Permanent Secretary Department of state for Information, Communication and Information Technology. Abdoukirim Sonko. He told the participants that the workshop will create a greater understanding between the media and the security personel. Sonko also said the military must not see the media as anti development, but rather partners in development. He went on to thank Media Agenda for spear-heading this noble course – training of people is the main foundation, he asked to put what is learnt to best practice.

He said in many part of the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, relationship of the military and the media has not been very cordial, tensions and fractions seem to be the humor of the day which normally is the manner and the type of information they provide for people.

The president of the Gambia Press Union Ndey Tapha Sosseh said the military and civil Society relations are a concern over the years. The Gambia Press Union has continually sought to improve on the relations and ease tensions between the media and security personel.

The GPU president thanks the organizers and urges the participants to participate actively during the deliberation over the next two days, to critically analyze the situation between civil society and military.  

Mr. Swaebou Conateh, of the Gambia News and Report Magazine a resource person presented a paper on how one becomes a good police or crime reporter.

Other speakers include Captain Sanneh PRO of the Gambia Army Forces who also express similar sentiments Mrs. Halimatou Jallow of Immigration Department.

Participants were drawn from the National Army, Immigrations, Fire and Ambulances Services, National Intelligence Agency, The police, and the media.

The dialogue with the people this year is took a different angle from the ones before. Right from start in the one’s , before this one, President jammeh is on record of saying that he was disappointed by Gambians electorates by not voting for him massively in the last Presidential election, he felt  not treated fairly because he deserves more votes as a sign of appreciation   by Gambians.

 In the previous dialogue he told the people that he and his government have brought much progress and developments that would have been impossible without him and his government. He sited the Barra/ Laminkoto road, the bridge at kerewan and not to talk of the numerous health facilities and schools. For him it means such developments are not appreciated by the people whom those developments are meant for.

Again the President is on record threatening Gambians oppositions not taking any development to them. It was at one of the meetings during the meet the people dialogue at the North bank that Jammeh told a large audience that –There will be no development for people who do not vote for him.

Some critics felt that the President got it all wrong – No President can speak like that. That No President no matter how rich he/she is , uses his personal money to develop a nation .Rather it’s the tax payers money which is use to develop the nation .  In tax collection, all taxes are collected be it that of pro-government supporters or opposition people. So is it fair to deny some the benefits of their money? No no Mr.  President so it’s only fair to give people what is worth of their taxes no matter what political affiliations they have.

Mr. President how would you also tell, who voted for you or not., say in a constituency. For example it’s not possible to have a 100% APRC vote or a100% opposition vote –so if a particular constituency is denied development because it’s an opposition control constituency do the pro- government electorates deserve a punishment? No Mr. President with all fairness you are running the country with people’s taxes and not your personal wealth you are only privilege to be elected as President and that is why you are entrusted with the monies of the tax payers.

Coming to the 2008 dialogue with the people tour its rather encouraging that no such threats are said for now. One can only ask you to keep it up.

Cont in the next issue.

Ms Ndey Tapha Sosseh, the out going Secretary General of the Gambia Press Union was on March 22 elected massively into the office of President, Gambia Press Union.This was during the GPU's fifth congress held at the President's Award scheme in Bakau.Her election came after the outgoing President Madi Ceesay decline to run for a second term of office.

In acceptance speech, Madam Sosseh told the jubilant journalists that she will take from the the former GPU executive stops, especially in the area of capacity buliding.She said there is already the GAMES/GPU patrnership which is mainly into capacity building.The GPU she went on will main the fight for press freedom. They as a team will do every thing to maintain the independence of the union.

The members of the GPU executive includes first and second vice president, Momodou Nyan and Sarata Jabie Dibba, Secretary General, Emil Touray, Treasurer, Pa Modou Faal,first and second Assistant Secretary General, Lamin Njie and madi Njie. then two copted members , Amie Sanneh and Buya Jammeh.

The elections was conducted by the Independent Electoral Commission, Mr Swaebou Conateh chaired the whole congress.