- Secy Grey-Johnson

Mr. Crispin Grey-Johnson, Secretary of State for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, has asserted that Africans are the victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that lasted for some four hundred years. He reiterated that the slave trade did not only cause untold misery, suffering and damage to Africans, but that it also led to the colonisation of the continent and the institutionalisation of racism, especially in the Americas and certain parts of the African continent itself.

He added that there is no gainsaying the fact that slavery and racism have taken their toll on the Africans who have remained the only victims of these crimes and have not received as much as an official word of apology, not to mention reparations.

According to him, even after the formal abolition of slavery, the practice of slavery has endured in different forms through the many acts of racism. This, he said, has affected the lives, and caused the deaths of millions of Africans on the continent and beyond, as well as through the emerging growing phenomena of human trafficking, sexual slavery, child prostitution among others.

He explained that the effects of slavery and racism on African social, economic and political fabric have been debilitating and enduring to this day.

Secretary of State Grey-Johnson was speaking on Tuesday at the opening session of the four- day African Union Expert Group meeting on slavery and follow-up to World Conference against Racism underway at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi.

“It is therefore fitting, albeit long overdue, that as a people, we should come together to craft a common position on the subject and racism and their continued drag on the self-actualisation of Africans wherever they may be,” he said.

Secy. Grey-Johnson revealed that “the racist trans-Atlantic slave trade has been classified in international law as a crime against humanity,” adding that it is in the same league as the holocaust, apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

“It is no secret that the Jews, the Japanese, the native Australians, the native Americas and every other group against whom such crimes were perpetrated have all received some form of restitution or an apology or both.

“Why have Africans and people of African descent remained the only victims of these crimes, that have not as much as received an official word of apology, not to mention reparations, for the death and destruction caused by this crime committed against them?” he queried.

“As we prepare for the forthcoming review of the implementation of the Durban Declaration in 2009, let us refresh our memories on some of the salient points agreed in that declaration.

“The declaration calls, among other things, for the provision of effective remedies, recourse, redress and compensatory and other measures at national, regional and international levels.

“As Americans observe the bi-centennial of the abolition of slave trade in the United States this year, and as the United Nations prepares for mid-term review of the United Nations Durban conference on racism, let us rise up together and for once make it known to the whole world that we have not forgotten our history, and that we shall never forgive those who have wronged us for as long as they refuse to ask that forgiveness and offer to make amends” Mr Grey-Johnson averred.

Experts from member states and the Diaspora are attending the meeting. According to Mrs. Julia Dolly Joiner, Commissioner for Political Affairs, African Union Commission, the meeting has been convened in pursuance of the 10th African Union Summit, which was held in January/February 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At that time the Executive Council requested the African Commission to convene an expert group meeting on the subject matter and to submit a report thereon at the next ordinary session of council in July 2008. Central to such a report, she noted, is the formulation of strategies to deal with the historical and continuing realities of slavery and racism.

The information communication technology (ICT) providers in the country joined the rest of the world Saturday in observing international telecommunication day. The celebration started with a march passed, led by the police band from the Serre Kunda Gamtel exchange, along

The theme for this year is connecting people with disabilities-ICT opportunities for all.

One unique thing about this year’s celebration in The Gambia is that almost all-key ICT providers in the country participated in the event.

Speaking at the occasion, CEO Gamtel/Gamcel Rein Zwolsman said that the key to information society is universal access. “Every one should have access to ICT. No one should be denied the potential benefits of the new communications, information technologies” he stressed. He noted that ICT brings a wide range of innovation to people. He used the opportunity to hail the various institutions in the country that have created employment for disabled people.

CEO Zwolsman encouraged other institutions to emulate the sector thus giving disabled persons the opportunity to explore their potential.

Mrs. Ida Jallow, Acting Director of Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), described telecommunication as an essential engine of growth.

Mr. Gaira Lamin, deputising the president of The Gambia Federation of Disabled, expressed his admiration with the theme of the celebration.

In his keynote address, Abdou Karim Sonko, permanent secretary of the Department of State for Information, Communication Technology, said that the theme is not only fitting but also relevant to the socio-economic advancement of the country. He revealed that their Department of State is currently pursing the development of national email account and web points in the country. He further revealed that plans are underway to have ICT connection points in the country to reduce cost, thus making internet service reliable, affordable and accessible to all while reducing demand on international bandwidth. PS Sonko stressed that ICT provides a lot of opportunities which must be used by all including disabled people. He posited that President Jammeh has set a stage to make quality education accessible and relevant to all including disabled people.

Understanding What It Is That Must Be Learned and Created: If science and technology means anything more than a vague emotional commitment, it must require that something be learned and created for the very long run.  It is very important to understand what that something is: I think it has to be a genralized capacity to produce economic well-being.

Development, and it must be added durable development, takes place under very definite conditions of which the economic ones are the most decisive.  The determining element in history is ultimately the production and reproduction in real life.  This does not mean that it is the only decisive element. 

Politics, for instance, matters in its own way; yet the economic conditions provide the parameters within which progress can be made.  These conditions tend to vary from one country to another, depending on the levels of development of such factors as science and technology.  Thus, what is materially possible in the newly industrialised countries (NIC) of Asia and Latin America cannot easily be replicated in countries where the forces of production, notably science and technology, are less developed. 

The degree to which science and technology has been institutionalised in a society determines in broad terms, its malleability.  It stimulates invention and innovation and promotes organised efforts to accomplish specific goals.  To be sure the demands for innovation and organisation are not always compatible, as many studies have shown, yet they create a social dynamic that is absent in societies where the rules of science and technology play a more marginal role. 

Furthermore the development of science and technology, the establishment of a nature artificielle, is associated with its own costs to individual and society alike.  By exposing the individual to corporate and bureaucratic demand, tend to reduce him to the equivalent of a link in a chain.  This is a link that must be adequately nurtured and reinforced if our concern is own a durable product. 

By promoting a secular outlook, society gets permeated by an instrumental type of rationality, one that creates continuous dynamism.  The development revival in countries like Argentina, Brazil, India, Iran, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore are cases in point.
 
An important lesson that experiences teaches is that, for an essentially agrarian society, science and technology policy cannot be effectively addressed apart from linkages with the domestic economy and the rest of the food and agricultural sector.  This is amply evidenced by the current global food (rice) crisis. 

At lower levels of development, food production and consumption account for sizeable portion of national economic activity.  Even in a closed economy, food is linked with investment, saving, relative prices, and income distribution.  These linkages are even more complex in an open economy, where shifts in external trade, aid, balance of payments, and exchange rates must be considered.
 
Science and Technology for Development in The Gambia

The role of science and technology in shaping modern economies is indisputable.  Scientific research contributes to the development of new technologies, and the application of these technologies in turn increases national productivity and generates new ideas for further basic and applied research.  Unfortunately, most third world countries have generally fostered the importation of Western technologies rather than investing in the development of scientific and engineering skills for the creation or adaptation of technologies for local use.

Increasingly, continental leaders are seeing the need to support the growth of indigenous scientific and technological capabilities.  The Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) of 1980, the Monrovia Declaration on the transfer of technology and the establishment in Dakar, Senegal of the African Regional Center for Technology supports this orientation. 

Carnegie Corporation has been assisting the continent’s efforts in a small but important way by attempting to strengthen the ability of scientists and scientific institutions to analyse national policies for development of science-based economies.  Towards this end, the Corporation and the International Development Research Center (IDRC) of Canada have been supporting the continent’s network of scientists and institutions. 

Covering Anglophone countries of sub-Saharan Africa, the network has been addressing such issues as the local creation of technology, the transfer of technology from abroad and its adaptation and use, the linkage of technology and economic policies, and the role of women in technology development and use.  Research projects have been focusing on these aspects in the areas of industry, agriculture, and health.  

The Gambia was a founding member of the continental network and was privileged to host two annual general meetings (AGMs) in 1990 at the Atlantic Hotel and in November, 2000 at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.  The Gambia chapter of the African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS) network prepared a draft science and technology policy with IDRC funding.  It was during the November, 2000 AGM that the authors proposal “performance review of irrigated rice development projects in the Gambia, 1965-1995” won a technology policy research funding.
 
At the beginning of this millennium, I enjoyed the rare opportunity of conducting an International Development Research Centre (IDRC) funded technology policy research on the “performance review of irrigated rice development projects in the Gambia, 1965 – 1995.”  The study was carried out under the auspices of the African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS) network, Gambia chapter.

Irrigated rice development projects were introduced in the Gambia in 1965 for increased rice production geared towards self-sufficiency.  Yet the record of pump irrigated rice development in the country has been, at best, disappointing.  All the projects implemented, through donor and lending institution funding, have had extremely disappointing results and have failed to pass the important tests of sustainability and replicability.

Many reasons have been identified to explain this generally unsatisfactory outcome, and the list is long and meandering indeed.  From a policy research point of view, the two most important necessary conditions for success were commonly not met. 

These are the creation and development of independent technology learning capacity (ITLC) and independent technology creating capacity (ITCC). These are prerequisites for the generation of what is known in the technology development circle as ‘building blocks’ for the development of ‘indigenous technology capacity’ (ITC) for ‘technical change’.  These are important factors underling the rate and nature of production efficiency, accumulation, sustainability and, are not something exogenous to the economy, arising as manner from heaven.   

ITLC and ITCC are the opportunities offered by science and technology-based development programmes to make them individually profitable for the beneficiary households involved.  In addition, they make public investment in irrigated rice development to be sustainable and replicable and, hence, socially profitable for the region or country where they are located. 

Both require indigenous people’s participation in decision-making and ‘routine improvement training programmes’.  Which have been missing in all these development projects.  Social and individual profitability go together jointly as necessary conditions for success: the former makes public investments in development projects (including loans provided by donor and lending institutions) and the latter makes it possible for individual households to adopt, follow and benefit from the project's’ recommendations.
 
The development and strengthening of the ITLC and ITCC were the magic formula that catapulted the industrial success of Japan as well as the newly industrialised countries (NIC) of Asia and Latin America.  Specific Asian examples are the Asok (owners of Asok Leyland), Mahendras (the tractors assembled at the Maintenance Service Agency in Kotu are Mahendra tractors from India). 

Very soon they will graduate to become the world’s leading tractor manufacturer), Sonalikas and Tatas of India.  Because of Tatas technological competence and financial clout they were able to recently acquire Roll Royce and Land Rover from their British owners.

The implications for science and technology policy development (STPD) that follows from this policy research are self-evident.  The combination of ITLC and ITCC must be rendered and captured sufficiently favourable for indigenous technology capacity to be adequately developed and challenged. In such an event we can be quite confident that the developed and challenged capacity will produce the desired effects in terms of the bottom line, the sustainable attainment of society’s development objectives.

To be continued

Following a sealed partnership with Guangzehou Fengling Electronic Company, a China-based technology solution provider, Quantum Associates, a renowned ICT solutions provider in The Gambia, is putting finishing touches to the introduction of a new security technology solution in three key areas.

Geared towards ensuring greater security solutions, this new technology by Quantum Associates is expected to provide home security and monitoring, vehicle security and monitoring, personal security among others.

With this new technology, it is believed that security can be provided at homes that will actually create relationship between an individual and his home by installing devices that could send signals for all forms of movements and breakage into one’s house.

For the first time in the country, this device will at any time of a movement or breakage send a massage to your individual mobile phone or any other telephone device that you designate. The signal can in turn be sent to the police, fire and ambulance services, and any other concerned person.

Interestingly, the new personal device, which could be carried on the person of any human being, will also enable one to send emergency messages either to the police or any person by just pressing on a button indicating that one has an emergency.

Also very important is the device that could detect gas leakages. This device also has the capacity to detect smoke and send alarm to mobile phones, the police and the fire service.

This new technological platform is also expected to screen vehicles and track them down where ever they are located. It will also guide drivers to where they want to go in addition to detecting how fast a particular vehicle is moving, at what particular date and what time.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr. Gibril Jibi Chorr, Managing Director of Quantum Associates, said that his company’s products are based on the convergence of three technologies, namely Mobile Communication, Global Position System and Internet as it is the focus of their products.

“We believe these technologies can be used for security and non-security purposes. The agreement we have with our partners is to provide this technology to any West African country for a start,” Mr. Chorr added.

According to the Quantum Associates boss, they are not only looking at the commercial aspect of it but also the corporate social responsibility aspect by partnering with the police, fire service and the navy.

For his part, Mr. Guang, a senior engineer from Guangzhou company, described the relationship between his company and Quantum Associates as very cordial.

The new technology, he said, is geared towards adding new advanced technologies to GPS and Mobile Communications technologies.

NASA seems to have a big interest in acquiring top-notch space travel equipment by the year 2012. They are offering hundreds of millions of dollars to companies who can design and build high tech space travel vehicles. Why is the year 2012 so important to NASA and the Government?

Is this just a goal timetable, or is 2012 the deadline? The NASA website clearly says "no later than 2012", so this is a deadline.  According to President Bush's earlier speeches, he plans to put men on the moon again by 2012. He speaks about moon bases, manned Mars missions, and the likes. Why this big space pushes by 2012?

According to the ancients, 2012 is supposed to be the end of Human life, as we know it. A dimensional shift. This theory is just gaining creditability, even though it was preached more than 5,000 years ago. If you are unfamiliar with the theory, Google it.  You will be overwhelmed by the results.

One could argue NASA and Other Governmental Agencies are aware of what will happen in 2012, and are preparing for it, and others can argue 2012 is a random date that just happened to fall in the same year as the Ancient Mayans and Sumerians predicted.

In April, 2003 NASA Released This

NASA announced approximately $135 million will be awarded to three competing contractor teams to continue support of NASA's Orbital Space Plane program under the Space Launch Initiative to provide crew rescue and transfer capabilities to the International Space Station. The three system design contractor teams — The Boeing Company of Seal Beach, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Corp. of Denver; and a team including Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and Northrop Grumman of El Segundo, Calif. — will each receive approximately $45 million to design potential candidates for the system, including the Orbital Space Plane vehicle or vehicles, ground operations and all supporting technologies needed to conduct a mission to and from the Space Station.

NASA today announced approximately $135 million dollars will be awarded to three competing contractor teams to continue support of NASA’s Orbital Space Plane program under the Space Launch Initiative to provide crew rescue and transfer capabilities to the International Space Station. 

The awards are a part of a contract modification of a Cycle 1 Space Launch Initiative solicitation originally awarded in May 2001. This modification extends existing contracts through July 2004. 

The Orbital Space Plane program will provide the capability for crew rescue by 2010 and the capability for crews to transfer to and from the International Space Station by 2012. 

The three system design contractor teams — The Boeing Company of Seal Beach, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Corp. of Denver; and a team including Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and Northrop Grumman of El Segundo, Calif. — will each receive approximately $45 million to design potential candidates for the system, including the Orbital Space Plane vehicle or vehicles, ground operations and all supporting technologies needed to conduct a mission to and from the Space Station. 

The contract modification includes work to develop system specifications, including systems analysis, trade studies and concept feasibility in preparation for NASA’s Orbital Space Plane Program’s Systems Requirements Review. The review, scheduled for October 2003, will evaluate the concept design based on the Level 1 requirements — guidelines that lay out the foundation and top-level needs of the system. The review will also set Level 2 requirements that will further narrow the scope of the system design, including requirements for crew safety, cost, and interfacing with launch vehicles and the Space Station.

Once the Systems Requirements Review is complete, the contractors will begin work on the next phase, which includes trade studies, development of a conceptual design that meets Level 2 requirements and supporting analysis leading to NASA’s Systems Design Review, scheduled for April 2004. The Systems Design Review is a NASA-led review to validate the Level 2 requirements and determine Level 3 requirements to more precisely define the needs and specifications of the system. A full-scale development decision by NASA is expected in the fall of 2004. 

The Orbital Space Plane program supports U.S. International Space Station requirements for crew rescue, crew transport, and contingency cargo such as supplies, food and other needed equipment. The system will initially launch on an expendable launch vehicle to provide rescue capability for no fewer than four Space Station crew members as soon as practical — but no later than 2010. It will also provide transportation capability for no fewer than four crew members to and from the Space Station as soon as practical -- but no later than 2012. 

The Gambia’s Music legend , Abdel Kabir and his Soto Koto Band is set  to embark on a promotional tour of  Europe and America .

The  tour  which is expected to start  on February 16 2008 at  LVC Leiden, the Paard in the Hague and Amsterdam. will cover Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Norway among other destinations

CD Gumbay dance

The world acclaimed CD Gumbay dance was produced in America by a renowned Gambian Music producer, Oko Drammeh. The CD is distributed by Virgin Music Group worldwide. The CD is successful in Europe and America and sold in all major recording studios in London,Paris,New York, and have reached the Billboard top 10 world music charts. It is a regular feature on America cable radio and in airplaine.

The Gumbay dance CD is a promotional tool to raise awareness about the advance stage of Gambian music and the cultural diversity in The Gambia blended with African culture, an influence from the Carribean, in the United States.

The Band will be in USA in May this year until September. They are also expected to play on Labour Day before returning to the The Gambia.

According to Oko Drammeh, the tour is important for Gambian music because if one artist embark on it, he or she will open doors for other to follow .

“We have to go internationally to develop and to advance the trend and moods and also in technology. The tour is also good to raise the confidence and to be challenging with dynamic experience for world stage shows. The  Gambian songs of on this CD played by famous musician like Micheal Jacksons Band Horn-Section, Musician from Jazz Legend, Quincy Jones, Stanley Clark and the famous backing vocalists for Marvin Gaye and Micheal Jackson’s Leone Ware.

The CD is a musical combination of funk, blues and Jazz and rhythms of The Gambia.

Tour:

Europe                                        Discography                               Hit tunes

Europe                                        Motherland Dearest                    Bamba Bojang

USA                                            Takunder                                   Kelefa

Canada                                        Gumbay Dance                          Dinki RA

Amstedan                                     Gelewarr                                   Njie-O-Njie

Japan         

For more information log on www.okodrammeh.com

The Council of Agriculture yesterday opened a special office to deal with agricultural technology transfers and intellectual property rights (IPR) management and constancy, Deputy Minister Lee Jen-chyuan said. The establishment of the technology promotion agency was expected to help increase the total amount of agricultural technology transfer contracts over the next three years to NT$500 million (US$15.46 million), Lee said.

To step up the development of the nation’s knowledge-based agriculture and the application of agricultural technology, Lee said the council has spent the past several years setting up the required mechanisms and drafting a set of promotional measures.

Lee said the council has successfully promoted a total of 139 applications for technology transfers and IPR last year, up 50 percent from the average of 90 cases per year over the past five years, while the total income derived from technology transfers conducted through the efforts of the council amounted to NT$47.25 million, up 50 percent from the average of NT$12.93 million per year for the period from 2002 to 2006.

To upgrade agricultural technology research and development, management and protection, the council will have the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) carry out a project on the management and application of agricultural research, Lee said.

An ITRI official said the agricultural technology promotion office would cooperate with other world-renowned IPR application institutions to push for a revision of the relevant regulations on IPR and technology transfers and to enhance IPR education and training.

“More importantly, the office will serve as a platform to introduce various research and development achievements realized by experimental and research institutes under the Council of Agriculture to local businesses in an attempt to expand the application of agricultural technology,” the official said.