The case resumed yesterday at Banjul Magistrates’ Court before Principal Magistrate Edrissa Mbai.

The Wednesday proceedings saw the testimony of the prosecution first witness, Mr. Mbemba Hydara, Director of Analysis at the National Intelligence Agency.

Mr Hydara told the court that some time in the month of July 2008, his office received a written report from the accused person, who was at the time posted in Lower River Region, containing two allegations against Governor Momodou Soma Jobe.

In that report, he continued, the accused indicated that there was a political problem in Lower River Region and caused by Governor Soma Jobe, and also unlawful issuance of licence to the wood dealers in the said region.

Further asked by the prosecutor, Cadet Inspector Keita, to elaborate more on matters relating to the case, Mr. Hydara told the court that he has to seek the consent of his office before he could disclose anything else, noting that he has taken oath to keep the confidentiality of the institution.

The case was adjourned to early October when a date will be set for hearing.

The Secretary of State for Energy (DOSE)

Honourable National Assembly Member

Chairman, PURA Board of Commissioners

Permanent Secretary, DOSE

Permanent Secretary, DOSFEA

Director of Energy

Community Leaders and Residents of Kanifing South

Members of the Press

Fellow Colleagues and Staff of PURA

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the Board, Management and Staff of PURA I welcome you all to this event. We are here to mark the formal launching of the Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) Pilot Project. The aim of this project is to raise public awareness about energy efficiency by demonstrating the economic and environmental benefits of using simple alternative technologies such as CFLs for lighting our homes and premises. It will also highlight the collaborate efforts by all stakeholders to ensure that energy efficiency as a national policy objective, championed by the Department of State for Energy, is attained.

Some of you may be aware that since January this year PURA as part of its mandate to Inform, Educate and Communicate to consumers about the use of regulated services has been campaigning about energy efficiency at homes. This has been done through radio, the TV and the

print media in the Greater Banjul Area and a community radio station that reaches consumers beyond the Greater Banjul Area.

In the next few weeks we intend to consolidate this media campaign about energy efficiency after the airing of this pilot on TV, radio and in the print media.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Compact Fluorescent Lamps consume less electricity than regular incandescent bulbs. Indeed incandescent bulbs whilst cheaper, suffer the disadvantage of converting most of the electric energy into heat rather than light. This is easily realised by simply touching them. For the average household buying a bulb means walking into a corner-shop and purchasing an incandescent bulb for just Ten Dalasis irrespective of the wattage, ranging from 40Watts to 1 00 Watts.

However it goes without saying that such a choice that you make can translate into significant financial consequences in terms of your monthly electricity consumption. The Project we are about to pilot today will demonstrate to consumers and the public at large the benefits of switching from Incandescent Lamps to CFLs. These benefits include savings in electricity consumption, a significant reduction in heat generated by lighting, the conservation of electricity to connect more people to the network and the mitigation of the negative consequences of global climate change. 

Throughout the design and implementation of the project, we have worked closely with all stakeholders especially NA WEC without whom it would not have been possible to execute this project today. We have also taken the extra care to ensure that the CFLs used in this pilot project are of the highest quality. When purchasing CFLs we must caution you that there are indeed substandard bulbs in the market and these don’t last long. Please invest wisely in your choice of bulbs and ask for advice from PURA or the Department of State for Energy on the right quality of bulbs to be purchased.

This pilot project is going to install 2000 CFLs free of charge in this community to replace inefficient incandescent bulbs. Each CFL bulb has a lifetime of 6000 hours (or 3 years). The immediate impact of this based on our projections, would save the average household between 200 - 300 dalasi every month. Furthermore since you are all being served by the same transformer substation, reducing the load on this

substation would allow other communities elsewhere without electricity to use the electricity saved by your community.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I also add that the engineers at PURA together with NAWEC would be monitoring the community’s consumption for the next 3 months and will come out with a report on how to replicate the project on a national scale. Thus your community offers us a unique opportunity for the future and I hope that the lessons learnt from this pilot will influence the need for us to apply this universally within The Gambia.

I implore all of us to use energy wisely not only to save money but also to ensure that we use this limited resource equitably. These include closing your fridge doors after use, switching off appliances like fans, lights and TVs amongst others, when not in use.

As NAWEC consumers you do not only use electricity but you also use water which is another natural resource that we should use wisely and sparingly.

We thank NAWEC for their cooperation and I would, on behalf of PURA, like to express our gratitude to the Honourable Secretary of State for Energy - Mr Ousman Jammeh for his open and objective appreciation, continued personal support and understanding of the challenges the sector faces. I believe that through continued dialogue and discourse we will collectively manage the challenges we have and this pilot is testimony to the fact that we are progressing in the right way collectively

Finally, may I take this opportunity to thank you all for coming and indeed the members of the community for letting us into your homes to replace inefficient incandescent bulbs with CFLs.

Thank you for your time and kind attention.

Mr. Hydara has worked with the agency for many years.

Atone time in 2006 he acted as Acting Director General before he was removed from the NIA.

Mr. Gassama, who reportedly went missing some four months ago, is still said to have not returned home after leaving his house for work.

Speaking to this paper yesterday on behalf of the family, Sidat Gassama, Bakary Gassama’s younger brother said Bakary left home on the 13thMay 2008 for work and never returned home.

He noted that despite numerous complaints and searching, their loved one is still missing.

“We have done all that we can but we cannot still know his whereabouts. He left the house for work and never came back,” he said.

For Sidat Gassama, his brother has not done anything wrong and any attempt to implicate him should not be accepted, adding that if there is anything wrong that he has done let him be charged as stipulated by law.

“We want the authorities help us release my brother. He is the breadwinner of the family and he should be released because since his disappearance, we have been going through very difficult times,” he said.

Now they come, now they go, it all has the dynamics of abrogation. The more you look, the less you see. In recent times, The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has seen Director Generals come and go. It was Harry Sambou, then the late Pa Jallow, then Captain Malamin Jarjue, then Benedict Jammeh and now its Major Modou Lamin Badjie who is the new boss of the NIA.

Please sir! Accept our hearty congratulations on your appointment as the new Director General of the NIA. We rejoice with you on a familiar terrain having served The Gambia Armed Forces for several years.

Ever since the NIA came into being, Director Generals have been coming and going at the NIA; is it that they haven’t been doing well enough?

It is an undeniable fact that countries all over the world, The Gambia of course is no exception, set up intelligence agencies with the sole objective of uncovering real threats to national security.

However, we as journalists are concerned about the environment in which we operate. Journalists are generally perceived as troublemakers. It is through our activities that the world gets to know what is happening, where, why and by whom.

We keep the world going by providing truthful information. Because the truth is sometimes difficult to swallow, those who at times engage in dubious deals brand us as trouble makers or even enemies.

To be sure, there would be chaos around the world without journalists, as people wouldn’t know what is happening next door. And what do we get in most instances for our efforts? Arrests, arbitrary detention, closure of newspapers and broadcasting stations, harassment, torture and even assassinations.

Regarding assassinations, we’re appalled that investigations into the cold blood murder of our very own Deyda Hydara seem to have stalled. Although we were recently informed through the Vice President, Dr. Isatou Njie-Saidy that investigations are still on, its now nearly four years since Deyda Hydara was gunned down, yet his killers are yet to be found and brought to justice. The killers should not be left to get away with the impression that The Gambia is a lawless country where the gun rules. It should be thoroughly investigated.

So we are appealing to the new NIA boss to revive the investigation into the death of Deyda Hydara. We also appeal to the new NIA boss to use his noble office to help trace out journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh of the Daily Observer, who in July 2006 went missing and is yet to be found.

The Independent newspaper, Citizen FM and Sud FM remain closed. This is no doubt not a good image for the country. The more newspapers we have in this country, the better because what one newspaper may suppress, another paper will blow up. In this way, the government, the general public and the NIA know virtually everything that is going on in the public domain rather than having it repressed somewhere in the recess of their minds.

We know it is not easy to control the intelligence agency of any country. It is a demanding job and that is why we are entreating you to be conscious enough to distinguish real threats from imaginary ones. We journalists, like every other serious minded citizen, love this country as much as anyone else.

In conclusion, we would like to appeal again to you to double-check any information against people that may be aimed at damaging the image of good citizens. This more often than not could lead to the dismissal or arrest of innocent people.

We wish you good luck and God’s guidance in your exacting newly found job.

“Truth exists; only lies are invented.”

Georges Braque

The permanent secretary was speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day stakeholder’s workshop on public service reform and institutional capacity development project. The workshop was jointly organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and held on Tuesday at the Atlantic Hotel, in Banjul. He pointed out that the main purpose of this planning workshop is to discuss, in detail, the work and monitoring plan for the public services and institutional capacity development project. “This project was conceived a year ago following government’s formulation of the public sector reform strategy document 2007 –2011, a major component of the poverty reduction strategy paper 2,” he said.

He affirmed that in view of this situation and given the absence of a comprehensive approach to civil service reform, government willingly undertook with UNDP support in 1999 to design and implement a reform programme directed at the public service management, as part of an overall six component national government programme. He added that as the attainment of the goals of the public sector reform strategy dovetails well with the objectives of Vision 2020, the PRSP 2 and the Millennium Development Goals ( MDG’s), the UNDP country office expressed an interest in funding part of the project. “On the basis of this expression of interest, the UNDP Regional Bureau decided to initially allocate US$ 1.45 million to fund the public service reform sector component,” he stated.

He said the government of Spain, through the Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund (DGTTF), provided the funds, with the UNDP’s local contribution of US$ 30,000 the total amount currently available is US$ 1.8 Million for a three-year period from 2007-2010.

The stakeholders workshop was attended all the key donor agencies including senior government officials, senior auditors, the national auditor, the dynamic staff of PMO, Journalists and representatives from UNDP.

The Country Director of ActionAid The Gambia, Dr. Kujejatou Manneh-Jallow, has said that an expert report has indicated that by September/October the price of a bag of rice, a staple food in The Gambia, will reach D1, 250. Dr. Manneh-Jallow made this revelation at a one-day consultative forum on National Food Security Situation and Response Strategies held at the Paradise Suites Hotel recently.

According to her, the issue has implication for majority of the citizens, especially for those receiving a minimum monthly income of D650 which, according to her, could hardly earn a bag of rice. She added that this is not taking into account the large number of non-wage earners.

Dr. Manneh-Jallow recollected that in the 1960s developing countries had an overall agricultural surplus of about US$ 7 billion but by the 1970s the surplus shrunk to $1 billion. By the end of the 1980s, she added, the surplus disappeared altogether, culminating in increased food imports from the 1990s to date.

She further observed that the capacity of most developing countries to produce their own food has been severely constrained by unfavourable policies both at national and international levels.

According to her, the liberalisation of agriculture through Structural Adjustment Programmes, free trade agreements and the World Trade Organisation eroded border protection through import tariff which, she noted, is needed to develop local agriculture.

As a result, she said, opening of borders together with huge subsidies in rich countries paved the way for cheap imports, thus undermining local agriculture and related sectors.

The Executive Director of the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS), Mr. Musa Mbye, recently returned from Songhai Centre of Porto-Novo Benin, where he spent a week. Mr. Mbye was at Benin at the invitation of ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre.

Upon his return, Mr. Mbye told the Youth Forum that he was invited in order to allow him consolidate and gain experience from the said centre and help him to better manage reforms that NYSS is currently pursuing at Nyaniberi farm in order to effectively host the ECOWAS training programme in 2009.

Mr. Mbye spoke at length about the differences and similarities between Songhai Centre and NYSS Nyaniberi farm. Mbye noted that Songhai is a Private Voluntary Organisation that seeks to create viable socio-economic environments in Africa by developing human capacities for the empowerment of individuals and groups as active members of the society and also developing a resilient integrated program that links agriculture with industry and commerce.

“Songhai Centre is an arena where Africans learn and put into practice the principles of self-determination by unleashing the creative potential of its members and cultivating a strong sense of a rational use of local resources. Songhai’s primary activity is the training of young Africans by the transfer of technical skills through practical and human training, so that they become capable of creating and managing viable enterprises such as agriculture, processing of agricultural products and marketing, small construction industries (production of stabilised blocks, design and construction of low-cost housing) electrical and mechanical workshops and also community development”, the NYSS Boss explained.

The Executive Director concluded by expressing his appreciation to the Department of State for Youth and Sports on behalf of the Board of Directors and management of NYSS for the continuous support in developing the human resource base of The Gambia.

Latest reports to this paper intimate that the services of Mr. Benedict Jammeh, Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), have been terminated with effect from yesterday, 12thAugust 2008. The reports also state that Major Momodou Lamin Badgie, hitherto serving in the Gambia Armed Forces, has been appointed to replace Mr. Jammeh.

Mr Jammeh served as Inspector-General of Police, from where he was re-deployed to the judiciary as a Senior Magistrate only for a week before he was appointed Director General of NIA some two months ago.