These African presidents/criminals should be ashamed of themselves,
especially Wade.  Folks, this is why I continue to echo that we cannot
look to Senegal for the liberation of Gambia from the criminal that is
Yaya Jammeh.  Wade has courted Jammeh ever since he came to the scene at
the expense of Gambians.  A couple of years ago he called Yaya a lover of
democracy.  Now, he's coming to take a seat as Tony makes a mockery of
Gambians.  Folks are hungry, sick, and dying, yet Tony saw it fit to feed
the world.  Gambians should not play a role in their humiliation by
Jammeh.  Gambians should stay away from the crime scene that is the July
22 buffoonery.  Please read on.


6 presidents expected to attend July 22 celebrations
By Malick Mboob
Jul 19, 2004, 09:09

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The Daily Observer has been reliable informed that six African heads of
state will attend the 10th anniversary celebrations of the 22 July 1994
revolution.

Amadou Scattred Janneh, the secretary of state for Information and a
member of the publicity committee for the event, disclosed that an
official of the rank of prime minister from Taiwan, the vice president of
the Comoros Island, South Africa’s foreign minister, the speaker of the
Ethiopian parliament and the chairman of the AU Commission are also
expected to attend the celebrations.

The heads of state confirmed are Abdoulaye Wade from Senegal, Blaise
Campaoré of Burkina Faso, Henrique Rosa of Guinea Bissau, Pedro Pires of
Cape Verde, Ould Sid Ahmed Taya of Mauritania and Amadou Toumani Touré of
Mali. The visiting heads and their entourages are expected to start
arriving on Tuesday, July 20.

The main July 22 day celebration is scheduled to take place at the
Independence Stadium, Bakau, and will feature a march past by the security
forces and schoolchildren as well as cultural performances by troupes from
The Gambia and the sub-region. President Yahya Jammeh is expected to
deliver a keynote speech.

Traditionally, the Juy 22 day public celebrations take place at the Arch
22 in Banjul, but these tenth anniversary celebrations are billed to be
marked in a grand style. The activities began in earnest on Wednesday,
July 14 with a wrestling contest in Kanilai and will end on July 31 with
celebrations in the Kombos, Basse and Kanilai.

The programme of activities for the two-week official celebration period
will include a 9-nation football tournament, international wrestling
competitions, exhibitions, a women’s solidarity march, opening and laying
of foundation stones of infrastructural projects.
Opposition politicians have criticised the "lavish" celebrations.

A local newspaper reported that at least D80m has been set aside to be
splashed on the event.
When asked how much government will spend on the celebrations, SoS Janneh
explained: "We are not irresponsible to be spending such an amount for the
celebrations. It is not remotely close to that. If we make such an amount
and spend all in the celebrations, how can we explain that to the IMF and
the WB?" He however could not give a figure and referred our reporter to
contact the Finance & Economic Affairs secretary, M Bala-Gaye who is the
July 22 finance committee chairman. He was however unavailable for
immediate comment.

Sports secretary, Samba Faal, confirmed to this paper yesterday afternoon
that six under-17 national football squads have so far arrived. They are
Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea Conakry. He
said teams from South Africa, Tunisia and Ghana are expected to arrive
today.


--
Chi Jaama
Joe Sambou

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