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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
 Posted - 11 Jan 2007 : 21:25:22
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Madi
This is the problem. If you don’t value your own, then others will take it and used it for themselves.
These people should be taken to court. Gambia is a member of ARIPO, the continents body on intellectual property and also WIPO the world body based in Geneva. They should be tried in a court of law. Unfortunately, my high school history teacher was from Sierra Leone who was struggling to teach us.
I can help her take legal actions on this matter. In fact there is a registered legal firm that handles such issues in Banjul and a telephone call is what it will take for them to have their day in court. Let her contact me through my private Bantaba mail. I don’t think the law firm is Gambian but they are registered and practice on behalf of people with interest in Intellectual Property Rights.
By the way, Yoro Bawol has poor signals and I cannot afford to climb the mango tree today for my cell phone to work properly.
May be their degrees should be verified. Most of the issues Mrs. Godwin Sonko wrote in this letter have been covered by this very BANTABA under the history forum. May be these sierra Leonean teachers should read BANTABA for guidance. Mrs. Sonko is right in all she said. The books should be off the shelves and not used in school as it contain wrong information.
I talked about the colony of SeneGambia, which started in 1765 and ended in 1783 with its capital at St. Louis where the British governor was stationed. St Louis is locally known as NDARR and Youssou Ndour made a song about the town called TAKOSANI NDARR.
It was after the battle of Waterloo, that Captain Grant who fought with Wellington was dispatched to form the settlement of Bathurst in 1816 and named it after the then secretary of colonies Earl Bathurst.
Njuks even posted that it should have been called Wellington like in Australia. That is why most Wolof who claim to have been from Banjul are actually from St. Louis and Goree because British merchants in those towns came to the new found British settlement of Bathurst and came with them to populate it.
Goree and St. Louis were then British territories. The second time the colony of Senegambia happened was in 1815 after Banjul was founded. At this time both Goree, St. Louis in present-day Senegal were under British rule and Banjul (present day Gambia) was also British.
However, to further breakdown what Godwin Sonko said about the colony of Senegambia being from 1765 to 1783, a major incident happened during this period. From 1765 to 1779, Gambia was part of the colony of senegambia (British) and from 1779 to 1783, we were part of French Senegal (when albreda was fought over with the French).
From 1783 to 1815, Gambia was not an administered territory. The second "invasion", which became permanent, started in 1815 with Alexander Grant. So therefore, the colony of Senegambia (1765 to 1783,) became so with the British at the top for sometime (1765 to 1779) and the French also (1779 to 1783.). The reason why it was recognized as Colony of Senegambia was the land at Albreda and not Banjul. Banjul was then not habited and because Albreda is in the Gambia, it gave rise to Senegambia. The period 1783 to 1815, Gambia was a free land with no formal colonial authority. I guess the British and French were preparing a major battle called the Battle of Waterloo and would not be distracted for the small piece of land called Albreda, St. Louis and Goree.
I hope this breakdown of the period helps. The Colony of Senegambia is not a total fusion of Gambia and Senegal based on today’s borders. In fact it was not until 1889 when the borders between Gambia and Senegal were drawn after the Berlin conference. Besides British rule only extended to the provinces in 1823 with the founding of Georgetown although the island was bought in 1785 but not habited.
Gradually the province was called a Protectorate and as such they were protected people of the Crown with no direct administration. This protectorate is what gave rise to the name PPP (Protectorate People’s Party). During those times, they were considered under British law as protected people of the Crown and therefore qualified as British Citizens. Unfortunately Birth Certificates were rare except in Georgetown and explained why the Aku people had British citizenship than any group in the Gambia. They took advantage of this legal loophole.
The register of Births could be found at the Archives. The same legal protection is what gives rights to British subjects in the many islands around the world including the Falkland Island to be accorded British recognition even to this day. I am not aware of the law to have been changed. French Maldives also operates on similar law and also Pueto Ricans.
Here is the contact address for the Intellectual Property law Firm In Gambia
Afrimark/AL
20 Allen Street
P.O. Box 2800
Serrekunda
Tel: 439-2292
Fax: 422-7861
Better still she can contact the company’s designee directly:
Michael .J. Clinton
001-23323-401-162 (Ghana). This is a his direct telephone and also a fax number or email
afrimark@ghana.com
Good luck
She can pursue legal action whilst waiting for the books to be pulled from the shelves. She deserves royalty from sale of such pamphlets. There is waht is known as "prior art" in the intellctual property field which should be the basis for her legal action. The biggest trouble is when our history is being distorted and sold to Gambian students as approved texts for distribution.
The education ministry must be sleeping. Not surprised because few Gambians know Gambian history anyway. The National Council for Arts and Culture should have taken this up long time ago. The Oral history division should be proactive. There is a chap called Siaka from Brikama, very good in this area, should be encouraged for further training. One must always stay ahead to be a good guardian.
The Board of the National Archives, which used to include the Permanent Secretary Vice Presidents Office, Chief Archivist, Director of the National Museum and I believe Mrs. Sonko herself was a member.
Well what do you expect if a Nigerian was appointed head of our National Records Office with access to all public records? I learnt he has now left. I met him on one of my visits there and goes by the name Evobrokai (excuse my spelling). He replaced the then and only Gambian Chief Archivist, Steven Bahoum.
I think there are certain positions that must be headed by Gambians otherwise this is what you get. A foreign teacher teaching Gambian history is unfortunate especially if they never read our history. The WAEC syllabus teaches national histories up to O’ Level. It’s only at A’ Level that you study histories of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan. Most principals don’t know anything about our history and I wonder how they conduct interviews for history teachers. May be Mrs. Sonko should be co-opted on these panels.
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