Damn. Shit is hitting the fan in the Gambia. Yahya Jammeh has perfected the art of con artistry. He is now peddling some bullshit that purportedly cures an assortment of ailments including sexually transmitted diseases. This at a time when AIDS is wrecking havoc on the continent of Africa.
Here is the story as reported in the Daily Observer:
When you think he can't get any worse, Yahya Jammeh always come with another stupid idea that blows you away. The saddest thing is that our people fall for his bamboozlement and spend their scarce resources buying the dictator's crap.
Here is the story as reported in the Daily Observer:
Kanilai medicine reputed to cure a wide range of ailments, including diarrhoea, malaria, headache, muscular pain, and partial blindness, was on Friday formally introduced into the Gambian market at the July 22 Square in Banjul.
Bottled in two different sizes of Naturelle plastic containers, Kanilai medicine was sold at D100 and D300 to hundreds of Gambians who queued up to buy the popular medicine that had been showcased at the second National Trade Fair at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.
According to President Jammeh, who graced the selling of the latest locally produced medicines with his presence, Kanilai medicine is efficacious against Sexually Transmitted Infections(STIs) and abdominal pains, as well as helping to regularise menstrual periods.
He described the preparation of the medicine as “hectic and time consuming”, explaining that its preparation is accompanied by the recitation of the Holy Scriptures.
The Gambian leader warned the public against buying the medicine from unauthorised agents. “People are unscrupulous. They can dilute this and start
selling it to people. You can buy from us directly. “It will be futile for anyone to obtain or buy the medicine from any where else without coming to us.
“We are only selling it in bottles of Naturell with codes. Next time we’re selling it, we are going to change the codes,” he said.Besieged by a crowd of appreciative buyers, President Jammeh in his characteristic magnanimity, gave out bottles of the Kanilai medicine free to the elderly and students.
When you think he can't get any worse, Yahya Jammeh always come with another stupid idea that blows you away. The saddest thing is that our people fall for his bamboozlement and spend their scarce resources buying the dictator's crap.
BROOKS: This is important. This is important -- it's not racist -- when the immigrants -- Listen, I'm for pretty open immigration. But when the immigrants come, they come with a culture of criminality. It's out of control, and I can see people wanting to put the system in control.
That was the New York Times David brooks on the Chris Mathews show. The right wing is trying to turn the 2006 congressional elections into an immgrant bashing fest. They can't run on their record of deficit spending, high energy cost or the invasion of Iraq.
Media matters has the transcript of the show.
Jib Jab video..Bush's year in review
0 comments Posted by ousman ceesay at Monday, December 19, 2005
Education stimulates people to want what they do not have. In an African village, like the one I grew up in, the effects of western education on the inhabitants is evident everywhere. From the growth in modern communications media to the infiltration of western cultures and mannerisms; the gulf created by western education between the literate and illiterate (in the western curriculum) is indeed great.
Growing up, I remember village life as some kind of paradise. A place where you felt life was never going to end, but would go on forever. Amid the forest trees, the gardens, the warmth, the rain, the smell of damp earth, the comfort of family, and a sense of life without need we were raised, not by a parent but by a village.
But my father, like many of his compatriots had decided that his children would not remain tied to the life of a village farmer. Education will be the means of our escape. The peanut he plants, along with the generosity of a Swedish lady whom I have never meet to this day, I was able to attend high school. The rest like they say is history.
Education is widely respected in Africa. I read somewhere that among the Fang people of Gabon, parents who in the past would have dipped a spear in the water which was used to wash a new born son, began using a pencil instead. But while a pencil may indeed be mightier than the spear in the long term, the short term effects of education in rural African communities is not wholly favorable. Schools emptied the villages and filled the cities. At the end of each school year thousands of able bodied youngsters leave the sparsely populated villages where labor is short and move to urban areas where jobs are scarce.
Statistics aside, because they are not readily available in Africa, I will estimate that ninety four percent of children with no schooling stay in their villages, but about that same percentage of primary and secondary school graduates leave for urban centers. Of the secondary and high school graduates, 10% moved on to higher education, 31% become apprentices, and skilled laborers or were self employed modou, modous (street vendors). The remaining 59% are either unskilled laborers or unemployed. This out migration of the “educated” from farming communities represents a major hindrance to the agricultural sector.
There can be little doubt that the 59% (if you go by my estimate) who were either unemployed or working as laborers in urban centers could have made a very useful contribution to the improvement of resource utilization in the villages they have left behind. But education has given them a glimpse of broader horizons and policy makers have in effect declared that national development could not begin in the village. A literate middle class they envision is required to run the country and run a market economy. “Let it be remembered”, my sixth form business teacher quoting John Galbraith in a commentary he wrote on the challenges facing underdeveloped countries, “there is no literate population on this planet that is poor, no illiterate population that is otherwise than poor”.
And to paraphrase another commentator on development in Africa: “children should be equipped with basic literacy, and stimulated to want what they do not have”. That is more or less the concept that a great many parents like my father have in mind when they sent us to school. The effects it will have on their community never cross their mind. Policy makers were either short sighted or ineptitude in their formulation of policies. The consequences is densely populated cities with semi literate youths who came to look down on farming but were not educated enough to get themselves out of the hell hole that an unemployed African youth is destined for.
Growing up, I remember village life as some kind of paradise. A place where you felt life was never going to end, but would go on forever. Amid the forest trees, the gardens, the warmth, the rain, the smell of damp earth, the comfort of family, and a sense of life without need we were raised, not by a parent but by a village.
But my father, like many of his compatriots had decided that his children would not remain tied to the life of a village farmer. Education will be the means of our escape. The peanut he plants, along with the generosity of a Swedish lady whom I have never meet to this day, I was able to attend high school. The rest like they say is history.
Education is widely respected in Africa. I read somewhere that among the Fang people of Gabon, parents who in the past would have dipped a spear in the water which was used to wash a new born son, began using a pencil instead. But while a pencil may indeed be mightier than the spear in the long term, the short term effects of education in rural African communities is not wholly favorable. Schools emptied the villages and filled the cities. At the end of each school year thousands of able bodied youngsters leave the sparsely populated villages where labor is short and move to urban areas where jobs are scarce.
Statistics aside, because they are not readily available in Africa, I will estimate that ninety four percent of children with no schooling stay in their villages, but about that same percentage of primary and secondary school graduates leave for urban centers. Of the secondary and high school graduates, 10% moved on to higher education, 31% become apprentices, and skilled laborers or were self employed modou, modous (street vendors). The remaining 59% are either unskilled laborers or unemployed. This out migration of the “educated” from farming communities represents a major hindrance to the agricultural sector.
There can be little doubt that the 59% (if you go by my estimate) who were either unemployed or working as laborers in urban centers could have made a very useful contribution to the improvement of resource utilization in the villages they have left behind. But education has given them a glimpse of broader horizons and policy makers have in effect declared that national development could not begin in the village. A literate middle class they envision is required to run the country and run a market economy. “Let it be remembered”, my sixth form business teacher quoting John Galbraith in a commentary he wrote on the challenges facing underdeveloped countries, “there is no literate population on this planet that is poor, no illiterate population that is otherwise than poor”.
And to paraphrase another commentator on development in Africa: “children should be equipped with basic literacy, and stimulated to want what they do not have”. That is more or less the concept that a great many parents like my father have in mind when they sent us to school. The effects it will have on their community never cross their mind. Policy makers were either short sighted or ineptitude in their formulation of policies. The consequences is densely populated cities with semi literate youths who came to look down on farming but were not educated enough to get themselves out of the hell hole that an unemployed African youth is destined for.
They who think that you are gone,Because no more your face they see,
No more Good Morning Mr. President columns,
Are wrong, for in our hearts you live
And always will in memory.
We think of you with love today
As we have done so often,
And feel once more the bitter blow
That does not seem to soften.
Wishing today as we wished before
That God could have spared you many years more.
In our heart your memory is kept.
To love, to cherish and to never forget.
Rest in Peace Mr. Hydara.
Dedicated to the memory of Deyda Hydara who was murdered one year ago today. His killers have not been apprehended as of this writting. Mr. Hydara was the editor of the Gambia's Point Newspaper at the time of his murder.
The three NADD leaders arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned by the Gambia's resident dictator have been granted bail today. This is not a testament to the independence of the judiciary. These gentlemen should not have been arrested in the first place.
The only plausible rational behind their arrest is to waste their time and resources and by extension that of NADD before the impending 2006 election. The next hearing is slated for thursday.
The only plausible rational behind their arrest is to waste their time and resources and by extension that of NADD before the impending 2006 election. The next hearing is slated for thursday.
I am against the death penalty for multitude of reasons, chief among which is the belief that innocent people are caught up in the justice system and end up getting executed for lack of adequate defense and other social vices that may be at play especially RACE.
Stanley Tookie Williams may not be the best poster child for opponents of the death penalty, but the push to get him clemency is a just cause. However it will be a tactical mistake on the part of death penalty activist to use him as a catalyst in their fight against the death penalty.
The case for Cory Maye, who is sitting on death row in Mississippi has spark an alliance between the left and right across the blogosphere. Battlepanda is urging the creation of a blogstorm from both sides of the political spectrum to create publicity about one of the most blatant miscarriages of justice in recent history.
Battlepanda links to the Agitator's excellent ongoing coverage:
Hammer of Truth has been doing an excellent summarization of the case and has links to the blogs getting in on this, as well as contact information and letter suggestions for the governor of Mississippi.
As usual, the mainstream media is AWOL on this whole thing. The blogs are the only avenue pushing against this travesty of justice. If this was a story about some damsel missing in Aruba it will be all over the cable channels 24/7. It goes to show their priorities.
Stanley Tookie Williams may not be the best poster child for opponents of the death penalty, but the push to get him clemency is a just cause. However it will be a tactical mistake on the part of death penalty activist to use him as a catalyst in their fight against the death penalty.
The case for Cory Maye, who is sitting on death row in Mississippi has spark an alliance between the left and right across the blogosphere. Battlepanda is urging the creation of a blogstorm from both sides of the political spectrum to create publicity about one of the most blatant miscarriages of justice in recent history.
Battlepanda links to the Agitator's excellent ongoing coverage:
Let's summarize: Cops mistakenly break down the door of a sleeping man, late at night, as part of drug raid. Turns out, the man wasn't named in the warrant, and wasn't a suspect. The man, frightened for himself and his 18-month old daughter,
fires at an intruder who jumps into his bedroom after the door's been kicked in. Turns out that the man, who is black, has killed the white son of the town's police chief. He's later convicted and sentenced to death by a white jury. The man has no criminal record, and police rather tellingly changed their story about drugs (rather, traces of drugs) in his possession at the time of the raid.
Hammer of Truth has been doing an excellent summarization of the case and has links to the blogs getting in on this, as well as contact information and letter suggestions for the governor of Mississippi.
As usual, the mainstream media is AWOL on this whole thing. The blogs are the only avenue pushing against this travesty of justice. If this was a story about some damsel missing in Aruba it will be all over the cable channels 24/7. It goes to show their priorities.
Katrina Evacuee confront Congress
0 comments Posted by ousman ceesay at Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Mama D gives Chris Shays holy hell for Accusing Katrina victims of Lying About Racism, Levee Bomb and Ethnic Cleansing.
Read the rest of the story from DailyKos diarist Sherlock Google
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