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Moe
USA
2326 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Jun 2009 : 05:17:56
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For the first time in the annals of the country’s history, Gambians in the diaspora, last Friday, celebrated the developments registered by the president of the Republic of The Gambia, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh in the form of a carnival at the July 22nd Square in Banjul.
The historic carnival, which was presided over by the Gambian leader himself, was preceded by a solidarity march past from Westfield to Banjul and was attended by thousands of Gambians. Friday’s solidarity march past saw thousands of Gambians manifesting their appreciation and loyalty to the president through written slogans on T-shirts. Such slogans included ‘No more elections’, ‘Thank you, Mr President’, and a host of others.
The move by the Gambians in the diaspora, which was meant to thank the visionary leader for the massive developments registered by his revolution within a short period of 15 years, was also meant to serve as an eye opener to other Gambians in the diaspora and those critics who still refuse to acknowledge the massive transformation that the country is going through under the leadership of President Jammeh. Addressing thousands of people, President Jammeh hailed the Gambians abroad for a move that he described as a manifestation of true patriotism and commitment to support the development of the country. The president, who appeared touched by the distance walked by the organisers, renewed his unshakable resolve to further advance the country.
“What I want to tell you is that I sacrifice my soul and blood for this country and Africa in general,” said the president, and continued “what I want to assure you of is that 10 years from now, if any Gambian goes out, it will not be because you are poor as all your requirements will be available in the country.” He told the gathering that in 10 years, The Gambia will be compared with the most advanced countries, such as Dubai, in terms of development. This declaration, he stressed, was not a political one.
The Gambian leader reminded the people that seven years ago, he had told Gambians that anyone who goes out of the country and stays there for six months would see new developments upon coming back. This, he told the carnival, is the reality today, thanks to the blessings of the Almighty Allah, whom the president said, he has always had faith in. According to him, what his government did in 15 years, in terms of development, is more than what was achieved in 400 and 30 years of British rule and in the First Republic respectively. He noted that when he took over, the country only relied on groundnut and tourism, and pointed out the fact that with those limited resources, he has been able to achieve some things that the former rulers could not achieve.
To this end, he noted that one canimagine what The Gambia will achieve in terms of development when the country, under his leadership, will be utilising the discovered mineral resources in a very near future. Speaking to the Gambians abroad and other Africans in general, the president implored them to be good ambassadors of their countries.
He stressed that no matter how much they dislike their government, it should not go to extent of tarnishing the image of the country by telling lies. He reminded them that the countries that they currently reside in are eating today thanks to Africa’s wealth, which they exploited in the colonial days. He also urged them to bear in mind the fact those African leaders who do not want to dance to the tune of the West are the ones described as dictators.
Expressing his party’s unshakable stance in sweeping polls at any given election, the Gambian leader urged the celebrants not to campaign for ‘No elections’ in order to avoid giving room to critics who be sceptical of the country’s democracy. While calling on all to partake in national development, the president expressed his resolve to support the organisers of the carnival anytime they wish to organise one. Speaking earlier, Pa Modou Mbowe, one of the Gambians in the diaspora, assured the president that the carnival will be organised as long as the country continues to exist. The carnival, he said, will from now on serve as an annual pilgrimage to the country to thank the president for the continuous developments.
Noting that their gratitude to the president cannot be expressed in words, Mbowe told the gathering that the event was apolitical, maintaining that it was meant to showcase their appreciation and to highlight the fact that the country is blessed with a champion in development. For his part, Ousman Drammeh, fondly call Baka - who is said to have spearheaded the event, attested to the fact that anytime he lands in the country, he always sees new developments. This, according to him, had inspired him to come up with the idea of organising a carnival with a view to show appreciation to the president for the developments.
Drammeh observed that the country’s resources are not many, but noted that despite that, the president is developing this country to a level that impresses anyone who steps on Gambian soil. Reiterating their resolve to organise the carnival annually, Drammeh also expressed their commitment to stand by President Jammeh. Antouman Saho, the minister for Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, who doubles as the APRC National Mobiliser; Fabakary Tombong Jatta, majority leader and NAM for Serrekunda East; Samba Faal, mayor of Banjul and Lamin King Colley, a member of the organising committee; all spoke at length about the developments registered by the president. These speakers also hailed the Gambians abroad for the exemplary move.
Friday’s carnival, which was attended by ministers, the speaker of the National Assembly - Honourable Elizabeth Renner, NAMs, service chiefs and a cross section of the Gambian community was punctuated with music, with Jaliba Kuyateh and Musa Trawally from Senegal leading the show.
Author: By Hatab Fadera
Source: http://observer.gm/africa/gambia/article/gambians-abroad-celebrate-president-jammehs-achievements
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I am Jebel Musa better yet rock of Gibraltar,either or,still a stronghold and a Pillar commanding direction
The GPU wants Me Hunted Down for what I don't know ..... |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jun 2009 : 18:25:38
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Moe
I would like to make a correction. We never had 400 years of colonial rule. Instead we had 149 years of colonialism.
Gambia became a colony after the battle of Waterloo in 1816 first administered by Captain Grant who saw combat with the Duke of Wellington and Grant Street in Banjul was named after him. All the other streets like Hagan etc were named after his bosses in the Napoleonic war. He was the first to assume the title of Administrator. He was a Civil Engineer by profession and built the sewage system and oversaw the planning of Banjul.
Gambia was founded almost at the same time as New Zealand and the city of Wellington was named after the Duke of Wellington, the hero of the war. The colony in fact was only extended from Banjul to the Lamin Bridge by the zoo commonly called Kombo St. Mary's. The rest of the country was a Protectorate which was administered differently. As protected people, Gambians born during that time had rights to be British Citizens whilst those in the Colony were not.
That principle is still practiced in many British Protectorates around the world today. As "protected" people, they had rights to full protection of the Crown. This partly explains why, Gambia was, and more specifically, did the Crown establish the first Asylum laws in the provinces accorded to freed slaves captured in the Atlantic. By that same token, they were cared for by the Crown and many of the old wooden raised buildings around the Police Station in Georgetown were part of the rehabilitation project.
Sadly though, Gambia today has no Asylum laws granted to fleeing refugees. The Cassamance refugees are considered temporarily displaced and so are the Sierra Leoneans. Georgetown was Africa's first Ellis Island where refugees and freed slaves were processed and resettled. We have long since been at the center of human rights issues years gone by.
One difference between the colony and the Protectorate was that the Colony had no Chiefs. Indirect rule was not practiced in the Colony and to this day, what was once the Colony still had no Chief.
No hard feelings but its important for purposes of posterity and for our children to know our history. GAMBIA NO PROBLEM was not a PPP coined-phrase. It preceded them. Even Slave traders coming from the interior of the region, become very relived once they enter the limits of Gambia. In fact, slaves from Gambia, attracted one of the highest prices in the Americas because of our "malleability" and less recalcitrant than the Igbo of Nigeria. Many of those ships went to North Carolina.
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“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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Kitabul Arerr
Gambia
645 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jun 2009 : 23:53:05
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| What a carnival atmosphere that was. The so called Diaspora Gambians with their tails between their legs, one wonders if it was part of the act, or just a sinister propaganda ploy. |
The New Gambia - Stronger Together! |
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Moe
USA
2326 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 06:00:27
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You are the type of brother that would see a Cow and claim it was a crocodile. If the cow was not a crocodile it has to be a fake croc, kinda like magic huh!!.The real diasporans are down with the program, I guess this puts ya'll at a compromising position now,what are you guys since you ain't considered the diaspora anymore. I think i have been telling Ya'll about a day like this...............................Peace
CAMPAIGN FOR A CULTURE OF COUP MAKING, AUTOCRACY OR MONARCHY HAS FAILED!
24th April 1970 is the birth of the Republic of the Gambia. As of that day the sovereignty of the country resides in the people. Consequently, it became mandatory on that day for Executive and Legislative authority to be derived from the political will of the people expressed through free and fair elections.
Hence, when it came to our notice that some people were campaigning for no election so that President Jammeh could stay in office for a life time, Foroyaa did caution that they were engaged in a futile exercise. This however, did not deter them from mobilizing resources and people to promote their agenda. Several reasons were advanced to people who were being mobilized to attend the programme at July 22nd Square on Friday 26th June 2009. Many musicians were mobilised to give a carnival like atmosphere to attract the youth. Despite intensive and extensive mobilization of people in the country through the party structures and the state media, the number of people who were present when the President was delivering his speech, could not be compared to the number of people who were present during the celebrations of the victory of the under 17 team.
Foroyaa waited for one message which was more important than all other messages. After much circumlocution by the speakers, one of them by the name of Baka did come to the point by announcing that the purpose of the carnival is also to call for no election.
It is amazing that after 39 years of Republican existence, we are yet to have a Government which could heighten the consciousness of the people to a level where they would consider it disgraceful to carry out a no election campaign. In our view, if the Jawara or Jammeh administration had made it a priority to commemorate 24th April as Republican Day on an annual basis and had further introduced the issue of governance in a Republic as part of the curriculum in our school system or as civic education programme on the state media, no single Gambian would have dared to waste resources, time and energy to promote a no election campaign.
In our view, only a person who is ignorant of the elementary provisions of the Constitution could proceed to promote a no election campaign. Section 26 and section 100 of the Constitution are entrenched clauses. They cannot be altered without a referendum. In fact, the way section 100 is framed it cannot be altered at all unless a Third Republican Constitution is adopted through a referendum.
In short, Section 100 subsection 2 states that: “The National Assembly shall not pass a bill to establish a one party state; to establish any religion as a state religion”
This makes it mandatory for the Gambia to be a secular multi party state.
Secondly, section 26 of the Constitution deals with the political rights of sovereign Gambians. It states:
“Every citizen of the Gambia of full age and capacity shall have the right, without unreasonable restrictions
a) to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
b) to vote and stand for elections at genuine periodic elections for public office, which elections shall be by universal and equal suffrage and be held by secret ballot;
c) to have access on genuine terms of equality, to public service in the Gambia.”
It is therefore absolutely clear that those who wish to handle executive and legislative power must be freely chosen representatives. This is why each citizen has the right to vote at genuine periodic elections in an atmosphere of complete secrecy.
It is therefore very clear that all those who thought that they could campaign for no election were simply displaying their ignorance.
They must have been dealt a terrible blow when President Jammeh warned then that if he were to put an end to elections he would be accused of being an autocrat and dictator. He said they will be playing in the hands of his opponents. He said that they should campaign for elections to show that they are not afraid and should strive to teach their opponents a lesson like they have done with the demise leader of the NCP.
We hope the campaign has come to pass and those involved will now proceed to advice the President to adopt the standards of best practice in governance if he is to stand a chance of getting another mandate.
Source:http://www.foroyaa.gm/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2800
quote:
Originally posted by Kitabul Arerr
What a carnival atmosphere that was. The so called Diaspora Gambians with their tails between their legs, one wonders if it was part of the act, or just a sinister propaganda ploy.
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I am Jebel Musa better yet rock of Gibraltar,either or,still a stronghold and a Pillar commanding direction
The GPU wants Me Hunted Down for what I don't know ..... |
Edited by - Moe on 01 Jul 2009 06:35:41 |
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Moe
USA
2326 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 06:27:19
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| Please delete admin |
I am Jebel Musa better yet rock of Gibraltar,either or,still a stronghold and a Pillar commanding direction
The GPU wants Me Hunted Down for what I don't know ..... |
Edited by - Moe on 01 Jul 2009 06:36:19 |
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kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 10:28:03
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| Hie Moe I used to enjoy bananas but I always feel bad nowadays when I do eat one because it reminds me of you jumping on your tiny legs or are they stilts? on the bantaba floor. C'mon why did you chose yellow , that is the colour for the UDP , oops! seems to me you are a secret member of that party and the colour chosen has exposed your true colours eh ! |
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ebou4th
USA
106 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 14:57:58
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| Kondorong; your posting is well reserched, do you mind shraing you sources. |
“Revolutions are brought about by men, by men who think as men of action and act as men of thought.”
Kwame Nkrumah
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ebou4th
USA
106 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 15:15:16
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In our view, only a person who is ignorant of the elementary provisions of the Constitution could proceed to promote a no election campaign. Section 26 and section 100 of the Constitution are entrenched clauses. They cannot be altered without a referendum. In fact, the way section 100 is framed it cannot be altered at all unless a Third Republican Constitution is adopted through a referendum.
Moe I beg to defer from the notion that it is only a person who is ignorant of the elementary provisions of the Constitution that could proceed to promote a no election campaign.
You have clearly underestimated the power of selfishness in African Politics. The brains behind the people advancing this tragic agenda are well versed in the consitutuin and well educated. ( Do you remeber the tea party organizers last April 15th, the brains were not at the forefront). This tragic agenda is simply out of self interest, Africa's so called intellectuals are part of the problem and I see self intrest posing a major problem in APRC. Thank God for the electric broom. These so call intellectuals do not put the intrest of the nation above everthing. Unless we buy into the idea that the common good should be placed above self intrest it will be hard to get ahead.
Su fukey nit the gass, fukey nit the sull punda bai bary reh.
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“Revolutions are brought about by men, by men who think as men of action and act as men of thought.”
Kwame Nkrumah
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Edited by - ebou4th on 01 Jul 2009 15:27:19 |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 17:10:48
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Ebou4th
You might want to read the Travels into the interior of Africa a personal journal of Mungo Park, also interesting to read is the series at the Archives on the Annual Reports of the Colony of the gambia. You will not find one text that will give you all that i have said, but they are buried in very many texts. I will try to give you more references |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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ebou4th
USA
106 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 17:17:17
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| Thanks a bunch |
“Revolutions are brought about by men, by men who think as men of action and act as men of thought.”
Kwame Nkrumah
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 17:43:16
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Ebou
You might want to to read The Colonial Secretary's Office's file with serial number 2/1029 at the Archives titled: Affirmation of the Abolition of Slavery Ordinance, 1930.
Do you know that the current Albert Market in Banjul was in fact a called The Liberated African Yard where captured freed slaves passed through en route to Georgetown? Did you know that the current McCarty Square was actually a segregated land where Africans could not cross to the merchant and European quarters of the Quadrangle? Any black walking that empty land was most likely a domestic worker in the households of the merchants and colonial staff. The Quadrangle all the way to where the Lands offices was inhabited by Europeans only and were buried there. The current quarters of the Supreme Court was built on the graves of the European merchants. This explains why the buildings in those areas, including the state house are made of wood mostly. Those buildings by the Ministry of Justice were the quarters of the British colonial regiment. I mean the buildings were Marriage ceremonies take place. Water Resources, Fisheries and the Ministry were all colonial buildings mad of wood.
The only exception of European graves still in intact is the Anglican church in the Quadrangle where are buried two commissioners and some police personnel killed at the battle of Sankandi, the first and bloodiest native revolt against British rule by a small community. Sankandi is the symbol of Freedom and i believe the government, if they have any medals of freedom, should be named "Sankandi Medal of Freedom".
KGV or fondly called K G Five was named after King George the 5th, King of the British Empire and that the current Ministry of Education Building was in fact a place for execution during colonial times. It later became a jail and from there it moved to Mile II. It was also where electricity was generated (GUC) before it moved to half-Die and then after the explosions, moved to Kotu.
I am running out of time but will post more time willing and God sparing our lives
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“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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Kitabul Arerr
Gambia
645 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 19:47:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Moe
You are the type of brother that would see a Cow and claim it was a crocodile. If the cow was not a crocodile it has to be a fake croc, kinda like magic huh!!.The real diasporans are down with the program, I guess this puts ya'll at a compromising position now,what are you guys since you ain't considered the diaspora anymore. I think i have been telling Ya'll about a day like this...............................Peace
Keep on counting, Moelly. Good news 2U though, we can't keep up with the Moelies regeneration, which is a generic issue, Lucky U!
Pa Modou Mbowe et al. did show up though, at the carnival that is! My only concern is cross breeding.
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The New Gambia - Stronger Together! |
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Moe
USA
2326 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 22:43:31
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| I think this is where they messed up,everything was cool and dandy until they made mention of "No Elections". That was uncalled for and a very low blow to democracy.......................................Peace |
I am Jebel Musa better yet rock of Gibraltar,either or,still a stronghold and a Pillar commanding direction
The GPU wants Me Hunted Down for what I don't know ..... |
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Moe
USA
2326 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2009 : 22:52:43
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I don't think the Bantaba can handle me and Nyari in the same party ,We will win the elections for sure . Come to think about it,UDP just might be the real alternative . They have a strong arguement i hope you know....................................Peacequote:
Originally posted by kaanibaa
Hie Moe I used to enjoy bananas but I always feel bad nowadays when I do eat one because it reminds me of you jumping on your tiny legs or are they stilts? on the bantaba floor. C'mon why did you chose yellow , that is the colour for the UDP , oops! seems to me you are a secret member of that party and the colour chosen has exposed your true colours eh !
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I am Jebel Musa better yet rock of Gibraltar,either or,still a stronghold and a Pillar commanding direction
The GPU wants Me Hunted Down for what I don't know ..... |
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kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jul 2009 : 00:05:37
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| UDP yep but why not APRC made better by improved governance as they are already in the driving seat. You joking now ain't you ? Moe of many colours now comes up as a UDP guy amazing indeed!I have to pinch myself and see if am dreaming , this can't be true. |
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Dembish
Gambia
284 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jul 2009 : 01:20:34
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| Ebou4th you got the fact,ignorant of the constitution and lack of simply educational values is what is tempting these doggy people calling for no election .I bet all those so call Gambian in the diaspora who were matching has not even pass a GCSE, few are known to me and president jammeh should ask them, what are they doing in Europe then? what are their professions in europe?they should come home for good if things are as juicy in Gambia as they put it under president jammeh.Is a shame ,these are bunch of outcast criminals who tarnished Gambias image across europe for their selfish dubious acts and there last result is such nonse canival march just to please a Dictator.what a wise fools, the reality is they are covering their bad acts from the dictator for fear of being targets on the NIA and Drug squad team in Banjul. |
There is no egg without a chicken, and no chicken without egg. |
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