Junk Yard
Barcelona Metropolitan transport is dumping 74 used Pegaso buses on the Gambian tax payer. Yes dumping is the right word. These are vehicles that won't pass emission tests in the western world and will not be allowed to run. With the kind of roads we have in the Gambia, these buses will not last. The environmental degradation that will follow as they go to fallow will be insurmountable.You will assume that our knuckle heads will realise that, but that is asking too much of yaya and his cronies.... the mental midgets parading as leaders.
Click here to see what Pegaso buses look like and the road conditions they are assembled to ply.
Now imagine that vehicle running on the Brikama-basse highway. How many trips do you think it will make? There was a time in the Gambia when MAN bus ruled. Critics can say whatever they want about doctor Jawara...but the fact remains that Gambia during his rein is heaven compared to our resident dictator's.
Call it a spade
“We have put our country into a big mess because of greed, selfishness and corruption. How can one individual have 5 private vehicles, 11 compounds, 20 compounds, and expensive jewelry? That is injustice. You should question yourself with honesty how you got all these wealth. Let nobody fool you. God will never accept wealth that is obtained through corruption, nepotism...But, when you get it in honesty, he will. You may escape the commission on this earth, but nobody can escape God’s commission on the Day of Judgment. When we repent for our bad deeds, God will forgive. But when you continue doing bad deeds, He will never accept it.”
Those were the words of Imam Baba Leigh. I take issue with his generalization of the population... cum "we". Until the time that people in his position call Yaya Jammeh what he is... a thief and murderer nothing will change in that country. I mean why not call a spade a spade? Yaya... ten years ago makes a little over fifty dollars a months. How is he able to amass millions of dollars in ten years? If that is not corruption, thievery and robbery then what is? The pandemic is his fault.
Click here to read the rest of his Eid sermon on this issue.
Bantaba
The Gambian online community is getting a little bit bigger.The new kid on the block is Gambia Talk. It is still under construction; but if you are an early bird and want to subscribe, drop them a line at mail@gambia-talk.com
God speed guys...
Crime on the rise
Gambian society under Yahya Jammeh is like an empty shell, a living farce, or a phantom episode borrowed from Animal Farm where some are more equal than others and sycophancy was all that mattered to stay within the clique and feast on the carcass of office capital. We cannot excuse a regime, whose so-called revolution reminds us of the cataclysmic failures in other African countries, where revolutions have done nothing but promote repression, sign death warrants for journalists, create recipes for starvation and economic outrage and set the scene for a future without any sense of direction and a fertile ground for the seeds of potential crisis, which paralyses the structures and capacities of states to cope with and address them. The so-called July 22nd revolution has been anything but…
What good is Yaya’s government if it can't provide security for the inhabitants of a narrow strip of land, with a population less than the size of medium municipalities? Cattle rustling and other abhorrent criminal behaviors are on the rise in a place once referred to as the smiling coast of West Africa. In the midst of all these madness the schmuck we have masquerading as president has squandered the little economic viability we had prior to his usurpation of power. To add insult to injury, our people are not secure either while he (yaya) dances to the “Bukarabu” in his kingdom of Kanilai. The police in the meantime are coming up with fancy stories on any given day to cover up what has become evident…that the security situation in the Gambia is dire. A government that can’t provide security for the lives and property of the governed doesn’t deserve to rule over the governed.
Four more years
Results of yesterdays elections did not match pre elections expectations that some of us have. Dubya won hands down. It is one of those things. One thing I know for sure is that I will never trust exit polling again. God speed Dubya....
I'll spare you the lecture on the importance of voting. If you're visiting this site, there's probably no need.
We've all been focused on this day for so long. Now, the waiting is almost over. Bush got to GO.
Kerry Landslide?
The polls are too close at the time of this writting, but the momentum is on Kerry's side. Analysis by Professor Wang at Princenton is a good indicator. I think I will stick to my prediction a few days ago that Kerry will win in a landslide. Come wednesday I may have to eat crow if events turn the other way around and Dubya... God forbid wins.
Émigré
Abdoulie Jallow has written a masterpiece on the emotional conflicts that immigrants endure in foreign lands. Without further adieu click on this link to read the wordsmith’s piece.