Atsar Kunda guest house, under the management of Mrs Susan Stage, is currently serving its best to its customers without hitting their pockets hard or even imposing expensive fees. The guest house, which is situated in KololiVillage about 50 metres from the highway and 5minutes walk from 7miles from the sandy beach, is poised to take its customers by surprise by giving them the best.

In an interview with the Proprietor, Mrs Susan Stage revealed that the guesthouse is suitable for anything that one might want to enjoy. She said, “it is clean, comfortable and conducive”, adding that there is a tropical garden where one can relax or have a drink. According to her, Atsar Kunda guesthouse was established for some year’s back and their determined and well-trained customers return from year to year. She said they received guests from all over the globe, notably England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Germany, France, Spain, America, Sweden, Norway, Jamaica and even Japan. The house also offers overseas guests the opportunity to take many courses available in The Gambia such as Kundahini Yoga, Peanic Healing, Meditation through Drama, African dance and Drumming.

Disclosing the various services the guesthouse operates, Susan Stage further said they tailor- make trips. The guesthouse welcomes any one who wishes to know what life means.

GRA management thanked Mr. Gaye and his staff and urged them to continue the trend as it serves to enable the GRA to meet its revenue targets and even exceed them. According to the letter, GRA management are keeping track of Mr. Gaye’s records and find them very encouraging. The letter is signed by Mr. Madi Jobarteh the head of corporate and public affairs at GRA.

Mr. Gaye, for his part, said this great achievement was made possible during his five months at Amdallan Border Post.

It will be recalled that in 2003 when Mr. Gaye was posted to LRR as a customs preventive officer he increased the regions revenue collection from D6,000 to D10,000. In 2006 Mr. Gaye was moved to URR as CPO and also increased that regions revenue fromD329,854 to D 1,003,341 between July 2005 and July 2006. This was the first time such a large percentage gain had been seen at that post.

During his two years and seven months posting in URR he received two letters of appreciation and recognition from GRA management for his impressive revenue collection in the region.

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 Paper Recycling Skills Project (PRSP), a charitable non-governmental organisation in Faji-Kunda, is currently embarking on a waste management programme by collecting waste papers dumped on the streets and recycling them to make exercise books and bricks.

In an interview with the Daily Observer on Wednesday, Mr George Riegg, vice chairperson of the project, said PRSP was formed in 2001 with the aim of making exercise books, bricks, greeting cards and writing papers as valued added products from recycled wasted papers to buy school items like books, pens and pencils for schools across the country.

The project, according to Vice Chairman Riegg, is to help promote a clean and healthy environment to reduce health hazards.  “We collect dumped papers and put them to good use,” he explained.

Mr  Riegg also noted that the PRSP is trying to offer a twenty-four week training programme for early childhood development specialists.

This training would include turning waste papers into toys and giving them back to their pupils in school.  “Whatever we do, we try to involve educational aspects because the more we educate people on waste management, the better,”  he noted.

Mr Riegg added that they also intend to have exchange programmes with foreign universities and colleges in making drums so as to promote Gambian culture.

Mr Riegg finally noted that the PRSP is not without constraints, as they need funds to be able to undertake further ventures.  “We need a solar plant for electricity,” he concluded.

According to Foroyaa Sports, eight coaches (among them former Under-20 coach, Peter Bonu Johnson) have applied for the managerial position of the Gambia Ports Authority FC that is currently occupied by caretaker coach, Faraba Fofana.

Fofana took over the post mid-way during last season’s campaign shortly after the dismissal of coach Ebrima Cham.

As the club prepares to taste life in the second tier of Gambian football next season, appointing a seasoned coach remains a top priority and Peter Bonu, according to reports, remains the favourite to capture the seemingly hot seat.

Sources have it that Coach Johnson, who earlier this year resigned as assistant coach to Gambia Scorpions, was on the verge of landing a two-year deal with the Ferry Boys but the club search team’s failure to meet his demand rocked the negotiation.

“He was offered a lucrative [deal] but he asked for more which seemed high for management. If no breakthrough is [made], an alternative coach or Faraba (the current coach) will continue with the team,” the highly placed sources told Foroyaa Sports.

Other applicants for the job include current Gamtel boss Alhagie Sillah, Ebrima Manneh of relegated Interior FC, Kebba Ceesay, vice-chairman of the GFA technical committee, and Sira Ndoye, former Real de Banjul coach amongst others.

Burama Dibba, former Crime Management Co-ordinator of Gambia Police Force, was yesterday acquitted and discharged by the Banjul Magistrates Court of the criminal offence preferred against him.

In delivering the ruling, Magistrate Kayode stated that the ruling was in respect of defence counsel’s application for a no-case to answer submission. He said the application was brought pursuant to section 166 of Criminal Procedure Code, adding that the defence team urged the court to acquit and discharge the accused on the ground that at the end of the prosecution’s case a prima facie case was not made out against the accused person. He recollected that the accused was arraigned and charged with giving false information, stating that the particulars of the offence disclosed that the accused in year 2007 at the police headquarters in Banjul gave false information to the then Inspector General of Police, Mr. Benedict Jammeh, that David Colley, the Director of Prisons had fed carcass of bull to the prison inmates and also diverted a satellite disc meant for the prison to his personal use. He observed that the only witness called by the prosecution is the same Mr. Benedict Jammeh, now the Director-General of NIA, who was said to be falsely informed, in his former capacity as the then IGP, by the accused. He added that the prosecution witness in his evidence described the duties of the Crime Management Co-ordinator. He said the prosecution witness testified that the accused never gave any report to him concerning David Colley in 2007, noting that as a matter of fact the prosecution witness in his own words testified that the accused never even mentioned David Colley’s name to him.

Magistrate Kayode then spelt out the condition that the no-case application should meet in order for it to succeed.  “The lone prosecution witness impressed the court as a witness of truth,” he stated.

With reference to the charge before the court, he added, there is no iota or modicum of evidence adduced by the prosecution as a proof. “ I am therefore compulsorily led to the inevitable conclusion that the evidence adduced by the prosecution (if any) is not only manifestly unreliable…. such evidence is manifestly a clear testimony of the innocence of the accused,”  he added. He stated that as a consequence there has been arraignment without prosecution and a charge sheet without evidence. “ I am therefore satisfied that the arraignment and half-hearted prosecution of the accused before this court is both capricious and needless,” he revealed, noting: “ It is based on all the above that I conclude almost effortlessly that the no-case submission of the defence succeeds in its entirety. The accused is consequently discharged and acquitted for want of evidence pursuant to section 166 of the CPC.

The defence team comprised Lawyer Sheriff Tambedou, Lawyer Borry Touray, Lawyer Lamin Camara, Lawyer Neneh Cham-Chongan, Lawyer Edrisa Sissoho and Lawyer L. Farage.

Kombo East District Youth Committee, last Thursday, ended a two-day training on leadership management and child protection for  youth chairpersons from the thirty-three village youth committees in the district.

The training, which was held at Kuloro Village, was geared towards preparing the young people in the district to be well acquainted with the National Youth Policy .

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the chairperson of Kombo East District Youth Committee, Fatou Gassama, said the training will help to pave the way for the youth leaders to be more responsible persons.

Miss Gassama further told the gathering that her organisation was established by an Act of the parliament and is mandated to look into the affairs of the young people of Kombo East.

According to her, the Youth Committee of Kombo East, in collaboration with the Kombo East Youth and Children Development Association (KEYCDA), has over the years been preparing the young leaders of the district through various activities among them  the Youth and Children Empowerment Forum and the annual summer classes for lower basic school children in the district.

For his part, Ebrima Sanneh, the federation manager of ‘Kaira Nyining’  expressed delight with the successes registered by the youths of Kombo East.

Mr SAnneh said the theme “Leadership management and child protection” could not be completed in two days but the fundamental areas should be discussed during the training. He then applauded the young people of Kombo East for their pragmatic and visionary stance in the service of the people.

Mr Momodou Jallow, CCF area manager for Kombo East and Central, said CCF is now strengthening its activities mostly for youths and children adding that they want to see the youths taking the lead in development ventures. He urged the participants to take the training seriously.

Kombo East District Youth Committee, last Thursday, ended a two-day training on leadership management and child protection for  youth chairpersons from the thirty-three village youth committees in the district.

The training, which was held at Kuloro Village, was geared towards preparing the young people in the district to be well acquainted with the National Youth Policy .

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the chairperson of Kombo East District Youth Committee, Fatou Gassama, said the training will help to pave the way for the youth leaders to be more responsible persons.

Miss Gassama further told the gathering that her organisation was established by an Act of the parliament and is mandated to look into the affairs of the young people of Kombo East.

According to her, the Youth Committee of Kombo East, in collaboration with the Kombo East Youth and Children Development Association (KEYCDA), has over the years been preparing the young leaders of the district through various activities among them  the Youth and Children Empowerment Forum and the annual summer classes for lower basic school children in the district.

For his part, Ebrima Sanneh, the federation manager of ‘Kaira Nyining’  expressed delight with the successes registered by the youths of Kombo East.

Mr SAnneh said the theme “Leadership management and child protection” could not be completed in two days but the fundamental areas should be discussed during the training. He then applauded the young people of Kombo East for their pragmatic and visionary stance in the service of the people.

Mr Momodou Jallow, CCF area manager for Kombo East and Central, said CCF is now strengthening its activities mostly for youths and children adding that they want to see the youths taking the lead in development ventures. He urged the participants to take the training seriously.

The Protectorate Peoples Party (Rural Gambia Party) then later renamed Progressive People’s Party (PPP) did not do much in terms of development for the country after the White Colonial Masters departed our shores.

The PPP did very little in terms of expanding the Gambian economy and its sectors to be what we all dreamt about and see today in the Gambia. However, I will give the former PPP regime credit for their direct or indirect efforts individually or collectively to get us our independence from White colonial rule and whether Sir Dawda did much to champion our course or the course of the Royal Family is another issue.

I am still in limbo as to what warranted the Knighthood? Was it service to the Gambia or service to Buckingham Palace, you may be better at answering it than me, over to you? What is true and out in the open is the fact that the Royal Family and the UK Government do not confer title to the rank of SIR if you have not performed a service to them or the Umpire.

The PPP also did very well in keeping the peace and Sir Dawda’s approach to hiring and firing people also contributed to the peace a great deal. Sir Dawda did well in his man management techniques of the average Gambian and as evident even in those days all the other political parties were fronted by his former recruits and lieutenants except the PDIOIS.

Some honest social scientists will tell you that the peace to a great deal was the work of lack of newspapers, lack of a TV Station, lack of a university, lack of radio stations, lack of massive scholarships as we witness today. All the above are recipe for social unrest and civil strife in any country devoid of democracy, development coupled with a leadership that is irrespective to change as we had then.

The social principles and observations remained that a conscious people could not be put in the dark for longer than necessary and an informed public is a difficult and volatile people to handle.

So Sir Dawda and his following and followers were very good at keeping this country in the dark and its people given just enough information, consciousness and literature to live on and not overtly bombarded with qualifications, scholarships, information, etc, to make them revolutionaries and social dynamites. So therefore, the PPP survived long after their sell by date to the detriment of this country and its inhabitants.

The PPP did well with the rice, oil and groundnut marketing sectors before and leading up to 1987, when we had that back breaking Economic Recovery Programme (ERP). To this day I still remember as a child how my grand mother use to blend some rice and some coos to give us something to eat on better days and on blue day we only rely on leaves and god knows what.

The crux of the matter remains for how long will the IMF, THE World Bank subject us to ongoing terms and policies in our quest for national development. However, I must state here that then the Gambian population was only about 800,000 and less bellies to feed and less people to look after.

Compared to today Sir Jawara would have had a good job on his hands as we are twice that number today. In his time we have also been hit by rice shortages time and time which has never happened under the present regime so far. The Seccos blossomed under Sir Dawda a plus I will give him and a  lesson I will advice the present regime to revisit, subtracting all the ills that dogged the Gambia Cooperative Union (GCU). Please bring back the SECCO so that the rural finance will resurface and the pressure on urban dwellings will lessen. Remember the seccos sponsored our rural weddings, our rural christenings, our rural constructions, our rural spendings and all our rural lives run around the Seccos.

When the Seccos are on the beat it is another Gambia and the whole countryside is transformed into mini carnival and we all go wow. Please bring back the seccos, bring back life and please bring back rural loans, inputs and finance. Remember it is One Country, One Love, One People and One Destiny.

To be continued