The Gambia is a Republican State, not a monarchy where pronouncements may amount to law or carry the effect of law. Public officials should appreciate the dichotomy between law and policy. In a democracy, the Executive must lead the trend in observing transparent respect

The adjective, absolute, does not even begin to qualify the depth and breadth of the power wielded by Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh. Yahya Jammeh’s power is enough to make the powerful de' Medici family of medieval Italy, whom Niccolò Machiavelli dedicated his controversial political thesis, The Prince, green with envy. The ideas and theories behind Machiavelli’s

The ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) will meet in Abuja on Monday, 14th May 2012 to consider modalities for the deployment of troops to Guinea Bissau and Mali as part of the region’s response to the security challenges in the region.

The former President of ECOWAS, James Victor Ghebo, was a catalyst in the dawning of West Africa’s changing political culture. And now, not to be out-done, the larger African Union body has come out swinging with jaw-dropping insinuations about the abominable political lethargy of the past. Africa’s political leaderships can no longer expect safe shelter behind the infinite

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day this year, the Media Foundation for West Africa(MFWA ) notes with special concern especially, the harrowing experience of media

Sitting on an old mattress in front of a small house in Kimukunda village in the Rakai District of southern Uganda, Teddy Nakawoeisi, 60, is waiting for her grandchildren to bring home something for supper. Between the ages of 4 and 8 years, they are at a nearby farm —working as daily labourers.

Hand-dyed polished cotton — called bazin — is the mainstay of Malian fashion. The blind singers Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia extolled the fabric in a song released in 2005, “Beaux dimanches” (“Beautiful Sundays”). The song’s scintillating lyrics include the lines:

Momodou Sabally has just published a new book, Love Notes: Inspiring Poems. This collection of 119 poems was published by Fulladu Publishers, Banjul The Gambia, and is now available at Timbooktoo Bookshop in Bakau.

Save the Gambia Democracy Project (STGDP) categorically condemns the prosecution of Gambians and other citizens arrested and charged with indecent practices. We are dismayed by the actions of the security forces in disrupting the lives of these individuals. However, we are not surprised by these selective prosecutions on the heels of the twelfth anniversary of the

Ndeysan, by now we have all heard that most of our population face severe food shortages and outright hunger. Crops have failed and most people simply have little or no food and certainly no money to purchase the increasingly expensive food imported into the country. For those of you somewhat unfamiliar with the precarious life of the average subsistence farmer, here is a synopsis of the economics of their existence. Most households cultivate on a small

As African cities implode, leaders on the continent are intensifying efforts to address the challenges of urbanization. A forum bringing together Africa’s housing ministers was

I will not take his words as empty verbiage or mere political rhetoric. I hope you won't either. If there is something one can glean from Yahya Jammeh's statements to the press during President Macky Sall's visit to Banjul last Sunday, it is that he remains defiant in the Cassamance question. Simply put, Yahya Jammeh made it clear to President Sall that if the Senegalese president expels Gambian asylees from Senegal, he will reciprocate by stopping funding and arming Cassamance insurgents.

Participants at the NGOs Forum of African Commission on Human and People’s Right (ACHPR) on April 12, 2012 added their voice to the widespread condemnation of the Gambian authorities over their deliberate policy of blocking access to critical online news websites in the country.

One would think that being a citizen of a country with the second-largest oil reserves in Africa came with some perks. Not so in Nigeria where scores of people are up in arms after being stripped of a petrol subsidy in effect since 1973. The price of gas at the pumps more than doubled, sparking massive protests around the nation in early January.

The socio-political topography in Africa is littered with much uncertainty, penury, hopelessness, despair, despondency, cynicism, starvation, moral rottenness, corruption and misgovernance.

A media blackout is being enforced by the military junta in Guinea-Bissau that staged a coup d’état on April 12, 2012.

BANJUL, Gambia — Senegalese President Macky Sall arrived in Gambia Sunday for a one-day working visit on his first official trip since taking office.

Senegal and Gambia; two countries, one nation, and this is not political pandering. It is a fact grounded in our shared language, culture, geography and history. It is burnt into the social fabric bequeathed by our ancestors and seared in the traditions inherited from our past. The shallow view of the Senegal and Gambia dichotomous identities that today define us as separate entities is a forced historical legacy and a ridiculous invention of long ago geopolitical interests, which nonetheless have failed miserably to blur the reality of our common identity.

Selected leading Africa experts will assemble in Accra from April 11 to 12, 2012, to discuss media and elections reporting in Africa. The outcome of this two-day meeting will be collated into a reporting material titled: “Media and Elections Handbook.”

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