Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 93/2006, 30-31 October, 2006
EDITORIAL
THE NEED FOR GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY TO REDUCE COST OF EDUCATION IN PRIVATE
SCHOOLS
The schools are open. Parents have been going up and down to find places for
their children in Upper Basic and Senior Secondary Schools.
The government schools are charging less than the private schools. The
private schools claim that they have to erect or rent school buildings and develop
other facilities to be able to provide educational services. The cost is
being passed onto the parents. The debate goes on but the parents are
increasingly finding it difficult to sustain their children in school. Many are
resorting to charity to fund the education of their children. The government needs a
cabinet report and discussion on the charges by private educational
institutions to determine what level of subsidy or subvention would be required to
make secondary education more affordable and accessible to the poor.
This is in line with section 30 (1) of the constitution which states that “
Secondary education, including technical and vocational education, shall be
made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and
in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education.”
Foroyaa maintains that the current charges in private schools are far above
the earning capacity of many parents. Since government cannot provide enough
schools. It should come to terms with the private schools and provide the
subsidies required to make them accessible to the poor.
APPEAL AGAINST LAI CONTEH
Proceedings on the Appeal Against Mayor Abdoulie Conteh of the Kanifing
Municipal Council commenced on Wednesday 25th October 2006 at The Gambia Court of
Appeal.
Appearing before a panel of three Judges Mr. Emmanuel Fagbenle, the Director
of Public Prosecutions, said the state had complied with the court order by
updating the record of proceedings. He then applied to substitute the updated
records for the former records.
The appeal panel granted the application to substitute the updated records,
to be certified by the registrar of the High Court, which would be served to
the respondent.
The defence counsel, Amie Joof Conteh, has been urged by the court to inform
it if, while writing her address, she notices some missing records. The
court directed the prosecution to file their written address with the court
within two weeks from Wednesday, 25th October and serve the respondent. The court
also directed the respondent’s counsel to file her address within two weeks
from the day she was served with the state’s written address. The criminal
appeal has been adjourned till the 6th of December, 2006.
Abdoulie Conteh was charged with economic crime, fraud, resisting arrest and
willfully obstructing an officer in the course of executing his duties. In
her ruling on that matter, the trial Judge, Justice Haddy Roche said resisting
arrest and obstructing an officer are different offences, yet the accused
was charged with both of them in one count. She later ruled that the court is
deeply troubled that such a defective charge was filed. She then decided to
dismiss the charge of resisting arrest and obstructing an officer.
Justice Roche further ruled that the rules of natural Justice, fair play and
equity prohibit any further action against the accused person in respect of
the sums of money stated in the economic crime and fraud counts. She ruled
that the Gelega King’s Commission has already made a decision on the issues
raised in the economic crime and fraud counts. She said there must be an end to
litigation and punishment. According to the trial Judge, it would be an abuse
of process for the court to allow the state to go round in circles with a
matter already determined with punishment set. She concluded her ruling by
dismissing the counts of economic crime and fraud.
WHAT NEXT FOR DARBOE’S ELECTION PETITION?
After publishing a report on Darboe’s press conference, I called Mr. Darboe
to find out whether he was going to challenge the decision of the Chief
Justice in court. This was done after many readers pointed out that the Foroyaa
reporters did not mention the details contained in the report of The Point
reporters.
Apparently, in The Point report it is mentioned that lawyer Darboe did state
as follows: “I can do something about the matter. But will not because this
is a political matter and we will deal with it politically. I will take this
judgment anywhere and make a political issue of it.
I am going to pay the amount that I have been ordered to pay and let it be
on the conscience of these people that they are wrong because I am saying what
is in tune with the law and then it will be on their conscience for the rest
of their lives.”
When I posed the question whether he plans to take further action, the
leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP, Ousainou Darboe, on Friday informed me
that he will seek legal advice on whether he should challenge the recent
decision of the Supreme Court on his election petition.
He added that he will make his decision on the matter within a week after he
has sought legal advice.
BUNJA DARBOE AND CO COURT ADMITS STATEMENT
It the general court-martial of Bunja Darboe and others the Judge advocate,
Justice Agim, on Friday 26th October 2006, held that the cautionary statement
of Captain Yaya Darboe was obtained voluntarily in the presence of an
independent witness, dismissing the testimonies of defence witnesses as
contradicting each other.
This was the ruling in the trial within a trial, which arose from the
objection by the defence to the tendering of the cautionary statement of Captain
Darboe. In short, in the trial within a trial the court had to determine whether
or not the cautionary statement was obtained voluntarily or under duress or
by inducement, and whether an independent witness was present.
The prosecution called witnesses to prove that the statement was obtained
voluntarily in the presence of an independent witness. After this, the defence
called witnesses to prove that the statement was obtained as a result of
torture and that there was no independent witness. Upon completion of the
testimonies of all witnesses both prosecution and defence addressed the court. Below
is a summary of their submissions.
ADDRESS BY BORRY TOURAY
In his submission defence counsel Borry Touray indicated that cautionary
warnings were mentioned to the accused person only once. He said the cautionary
warnings were mentioned to the accused person by Tijan Bojang, the
independent witness, after Captain Darboe had written his statement. “What is important
is that these words came from the independent witness and not from the
officer who obtained the statement from the accused person. His position really
conflicts with the statement of Abdoulie Sowe who stated in his
evidence-in-chief that he cautioned the accused person.” Counsel Touray, emphasised that
both Abdoulie Sowe and Tijan Bojang are unreliable and that their testimonies
are not reliable. Touray said that Tijan Bojang is not a reliable witness
because he stated in his evidence-in-chief that he was called for the first time
in his life to serve as an independent witness in the case of Yaya Darboe. He
added that, Tijan Bojang had accepted that that was his first time to sign a
cautionary statement. Touray indicated that Mr. Bojang never explained how he
knew the procedures since he was a first timer. “If he was not an NIA, he
would not be able to know the procedures.” Mr. Touray buttressed that Mr.
Bojang was not even intelligent in his own area (profession). He said that Bojang
cannot differentiate between metres, centemetres and inches and that he does
not even know the difference between ground and floor. Touray, pointed out
that, Mr. Bojang has a special interest in the case, when he said that, “As a
good citizen, he should be willing to serve as an independent witness.”
Counsel Touray stressed that, Mr. Bojang, could not explained to the court why he
travelled almost thirty (30) kilometers from Sukuta to Banjul to serve as an
independent witness. “There are thousands of ordinary citizens in Banjul who
can serve as indpendent witness, but Mr. Bojang has special interest and that’
s why he travelled from Sukuta to Banjul,” Mr. Touray, pointed out. He
challenged the prosecution for their failure to produce the national identity card
of Tijan Bojang, he said this indicates that Bojang is a member of the NIA.
Mr. Touray further indicated that (PW1) Abdoulie Sowe has admitted that there
was an armed officer present in the room while he was obtaining a statement
from Yaya Darboe, while (PW2), Tijan Bojang denied that there was an armed
officer present. Counsel Touray also indicated that the witness has said that he
does not know whether that Yaya Darboe had a swollen eye. “But the medical
documents tendered to the court indicated that Yaya Darboe’s statement was
obtained under inducement and not voluntarily.” According to Borry, the witness
said he was in a position to deny that Yaya Darboe was assaulted prior to the
taking of the statement. “For nearly one hour and thirty minutes (1hrs-30ms)
the accused has gone through baptism of fire. I therefore urge your Lordship
to consider the evidence of the defence.” Counsel Touray added that the
accused was reminded not to forget the night of 22nd March and that the same
armed officer who was present on that particular night was present when the
accused was taken to make his statement. He also said that the accused has
admitted being threatened and intimidated by the presence of that armed officer. “
Therefore the statement was not made voluntarily, but under inducement,
intimidation and torture,” he stated.
ADDRESS BY ACTING DPP
The Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Fagbenle, told the court
that the testimony of Abdoulie Sowe and Tijan Bojang narrated confessions and
they remained unshakable during cross examination. He said that the second
witness, Tijan Bojang is the independent witness and that both him and Abdoulie
Sowe confirmed that there was an independent witness. He added that, even the
accused person (Yaya Darboe) confirmed that Tijan Bojang was introduced to
him as an independent witness. Fagbenle noted that even though, the issue
before the court is not about professionalism, the witness testified that he is a
mason and he remained steadfast. He also added that, Tijan Bojang has
demonstrated before the court the African method of measurement. “The measurement he
gave in African norms is almost the same to the Western measurement; the
presentation he made before this court is simple and honest. DPP Fagbenle
stressed that, the statement of Captain Yaya Darboe was written by himself without
duress, torture or force. He pointed out that the presence of an armed
officer who was far away could not affect the statement and that his presence was
justifiable as he was there to provide security for the accused person, the
officer who was obtaining the statement and the independent witness. On the
medical report, Fagbenle said, that it did not agreed with the statement of
Captain Yaya Darboe. He said that medical document contain both the original and
the duplicate, and that Captain Yaya Darboe, claimed to have given his
medical papers to a prison officer called Wharf. “My Lord if a person comes to
hospital for treatment, he must have gone home with something.” He added that,
the medical doctor did delay to explain the details of the trauma. The DPP also
objected to the statement made by Mariama Bah that she is the wife of
Captain Yaya Darboe. “She has told the court her name and surname that bears no
relationship with Captain Yaya Darboe.” Fagbenle also objected to her statement
that she first visited Captain Yaya Darboe at the high court, but later
admitted that it was at Mile Two (2). He added that she was pointing at her right
eye, when the accused has already said his left eye. He said that even the
lens that she claimed to buy did not show any date of buying neither a receipt
to indicate the date. On the testimony of second Lt Pharing Sanyang, Fagbenle
said Pharing has told the court that he was stabbed with a bayonet and that
he was bleeding from his head. He stressed that Pharing never showed the
court any part of his body that bears wound marks on him. “My lord, I urge this
court not to believe his statement. No evidence was ever produced to show that
Tijan Bojang works for the NIA. The statement of Yaya Darboe shows no
evidence that supports his story about, hell manager, burial place and charity
house.” The fact is that, the Police Officer obtained a statement from the
accused person (Yaya) and there was an independent witness,’ he stressed. In
conclusion, Fagbenle told the court that some of his witnesses were complaining of
unwanted visitors at an unexpected time at their place of residence. In his
response, Justice advocate Agim, told the DPP to advise his witnesses not to
be intimidated by any one, “tell them not to be scared, they are a witness
before a court.”
NADD FLAG BEARER ON THE ELECTION
The lessons are clear. The destiny of the Gambian Republic lies in the
sovereign hands of her sovereign people. In the same vein, my political weight and
fate lie in their hands.
Of course, it is rational to conclude that people just decided to vote for
either candidate for the presidency because of their assumption that NADD
cannot win and then proceed to prophecy that voters in Serrekunda Central will
vote for me in the National Assembly election. I will not allow my mind to
harbour such a fanciful logic.
Hence if I were to be asked whether I will be a candidate in the forthcoming
National Assembly elections my answer will be simple. My political fate now
hangs on the balance of probabilities. It is for the people to decide. It is
not for me to decide. To me representation is not a career but a duty that
one is called upon to perform. Whenever the people want me to rest I will
gladly do so. I have gained nothing from politics.
The fact that Wuli East and Wuli West gave me second place in the election
while Serrekunda Central gave me in 2006 almost 1/3 of the votes they gave me
in the by elections of 2005 must not be taken lightly. I need to know how the
people in Serrekunda Central rank me in terms of message, credibility,
popularity or charisma and trustworthiness. I want the voters in Serrekunda
Central to answer these four fundamental questions for me.
During the Presidential campaign, did they find my message to be inferior to
those of the other two candidates? Did they find me to be less credible than
the other two candidates? Was I less charismatic or popular than them? Did I
inspire less trust and confidence than them? If their answers are in the
positive then I have no reason to contest National Assembly elections not to
talk about future presidential elections. If their answers are in the negative
then I would want to know what motivated them to vote the way they did. In
short, if the good Jola is one who votes for Yahya Jammeh, the good Mandinka is
one who votes for Darboe, the good Fula is one who is under the dictate of
Hamat and good Manjago is one who follows Henry, then where is the place of
Halifa Sallah, a detribalized human being who has long committed tribal suicide
and belong to no tribe in Gambian politics. If this is how people intend to
conduct politics in this country then let me be excused to build my centre for
Social Science Research and civic awareness and leave the task of liberating
The Gambia to the future generation.
In order to interact with the electorate, I will conduct a constituency tour
to listen to what people have to say regarding my role as their
representative these past four years. I will start the tour on Tuesday, 31st October and
continue up to Sunday. I will send people to visit voters and get their
opinions. I will conduct the widest possible consultation to determine my
political weight and fate as the Member of Parliament for Serrekunda Central
Constituency.
I hope the people in Serrekunda Central are fully aware that it is the
executive, the Office of President which has mandate to make policies, prepare a
budget to be approved and monitored by the National Assembly to solve the
problems of the nation. It is the role of the KMC to raise funds from the rates,
licences and taxes to provide good roads, public taps, street lights, proper
waste collection facilities, recreational facilities, markets, community
centres and so on. The duty of a National Assembly Member is to serve as a watch
dog to tell the executive what it should do and inform the people whether it
is being done or not. This is how they can put pressure on the executive just
as I have put pressure on them regarding the terrible conditions, which
existed near Sandika in Serrekunda. National Assembly members should combat bad
laws and promote good laws. They should conduct civic education to educate
their electorate. It is now left to them to determine the type of MP they want in
January 2007. I have done the best I can. I have exposed how women still
draw water from wells and queue for hours to get water from taps 500 to 1000
metres away. I have exposed the poor road conditions. I have exposed the
unemployment situation and the high cost of education. I have done what is not even
the role of an MP, that is, to deposit half of my National Assembly income in
to a fund that some borrow from to run small scale businesses or sponsor
disadvantaged students. We have launched sponsorship schemes for poor students
sponsored by interested persons; provide vocational training to members of the
community, provide football gears to children, established a counseling
service to settle land disputes, marital problems, juvenile delinquency cases,
psychological problems, labour disputes. We have a library where students
conduct research and seek advice to write their thesis and dissertations. There is
not a week that we are not invited to present papers or give lectures to
societies and schools. Most of the monies received from workshops go to finance
the fees of students including the education trust fund for girls.
We are consulted by NGOs, CBOs and other societies in writing their
constitutions. We are also invited internationally to give lectures on the problems
of the African continent. Not being an MP will not make me to stop these
services. I used to provide them before being an MP and I will continue to
provide them even if I cease to be an MP. Being asked to quit will provide me with
more time to do research.
In my view, people in developing countries often confuse the period of
National liberation and the period of the Democratic Revolution. People like
Marty, Castro, Nkrumah, Nasser, and Ghadaffi have played major roles in creating a
sense of Nationhood, a sense of Common destiny among their people just as
George Washington of the US did but was opposed to multi party system. Without
people liberating and taking ownership of their countries one could not talk
about building democratic societies or government for the people. Herein lies
the merit of the nationalist leaders
What many liberated countries have failed to do under the pretext of
ideology or pragmatism is to carryout the democratic revolution to the fullest point
of empowering the people to be totally in charge of their countries. Once
the people of each country are in charge everywhere and governments exist only
to serve them there will be national peace and world peace. The most
important of all battles to be won in the 21st century is the battle of democracy.
All progressive forces should strive to win this battle for the fullest
empowerment of the people to push world history forward to guarantee greater
liberty, dignity and prosperity for the people. This is the direction NADD wants to
take the Gambia.
I maintain an active political life because of my subscription to the
philosophy that even though it is good to understand the world it is better to
contribute towards changing it. Knowledge for its sake is sterile unless it can
be translated into action to make the world a better place than we found it.
Infact, my centre for social science research and civic awareness is
stagnant because of the duties I had to perform as an MP and for NADD. If the people
do decide that it is best for me to give way to others I would then proceed
to prepare my long awaited dissertation for sociology under the title “The
Language and Culture of Custom, Tradition, Religion and Rights in the Gambia.”
This will be very important to the way the future generation is brought up.
There is a lot of conflict in society today because of lack of understanding
of how socialization should take place in the 21st century. That will provide
a new insight.
It will show that religion is a depository of moral values and culture that
should not be a source of conflict. It will shatter the myth of the clash of
civilizations between the west and the east. It will give credence to certain
universal values and culture that could transform the world into a universal
home of people living in liberty, dignity and prosperity.
In the area of International Relations I would work on the title “The
Doctrine of Collective Sovereignty.” This will be very relevant to solving the
problems in the Middle East, Darfur and emerging conflicts on the continent.
Instead of a polarized world and the creation of spheres of influence. This will
show the importance of creating zones were clusters of states like Israel,
Iran, Syria, Iraq, Palestine will agree on standards of how to contain each
other on the basis of strategic balance of power and establish a compact
monitored by the international community to maintain good neighbourliness. The
doctrine of collective sovereignty could have enabled Sudan, Chad, Libya, Central
African Republic, Niger to all serve as a cluster of states adhering to a
common standard monitored by the African Union. Instead of seeking military
solution in Darfur civic education will start in the refugee camps and elections
done to select a leader as a starting point to empower the people. Men, women
and youth representatives could be selected. In the same vein negotiation
for cease fire should go hand in hand with negotiation on a comprehensive plan
for the sharing of wealth and power. In my view the future of world peace
does not lie in the unilateralism of George Bush of the US or Neo anti
imperialism of Chavez of Venezuela. It lies in the promotion of collective sovereignty
where all states are required to adhere to standards of governance that are
acceptable to the people of the world. In this way developing countries can
develop better standards than the developed countries and push them to create
a new international economic political. Military and diplomatic order instead
of justifying their own misgovernance by pointing out the inadequacies of
the developed countries. Anyway, this is just mentioned in passing. Let me get
back to the point.
Now one may ask: What is the future of NADD and the NADD flag bearer?
It should be understood that my mandate as a NADD flag bearer did not go
beyond the acceptance to serve for one term as President with the sole objective
of putting in place a democratic constitution, laws and institutions,
policies and practices that would protect fundamental rights and freedoms, build a
transparent and accountable financial system, eradicate the excesses of
incumbency and set the country on the road of a genuine multi party system that
can guarantee free and fair elections. Since we did not win the elections I had
to ask the NADD executive to come to a determination and decision on the
political fate of NADD and its current flag bearer.
In short, should NADD disintegrate or should it be retained? Should the post
of flag bearer be void or should it be retained? The members of the NADD
Executive have resolved that as far as they are concerned NADD has been
enthusiastically received and accepted by the people.
According to them, the objectives NADD to separate state from party, conduct
civic education, curb the advantages of incumbency by restricting the term
of the NADD Presidential candidate to one term of five years, open up the
media to divergent views and build a foundation for a genuine multiparty system
to emerge, respect and protect fundamental rights and freedoms and consolidate
a democratic foundation for the country, are still valid. They resolved that
NADD should be maintained and that it should contest the forthcoming
National Assembly election. According to them, NADD’s flag-bearer was shown to the
people after many felt that the opposition will present only one candidate;
that time was needed to explain to the voters what led to the split for them to
be able to make up their minds where to cast their votes. “That finally many
abstained and others who traditionally use to cast their votes for the UDP
did so in anticipation tat it could win. They argued that now that it is clear
to such people that UDP cannot lead the opposition to victory, many saw the
need for the type of alliance NADD sought to build based on the equality of
all opposition parties just to achieve the aim of building a democratic
foundation for the country.
The Executive partly attribute NADD’s results to the overwhelming resources
of the APRC which enabled it to go back where NADD displayed strength such as
Fass Saho, Fulladu etc, to erode its support. The short time exposure of the
NADD candidate, the inadequate resources which prevents NADD to give
T-Shirts and flags to its supporters to retain their identification with NADD. The
Executive lamented that STGDP could not provide the resources anticipated
because of the split in NADD. They noted that the movement for Democracy in New
York and the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in the UK were
completely absent in giving support to NADD in the campaign. They asked me to make
enquiries why that was the case. They resolved that we should thank all those
who supported NADD in kind cash, votes, prayers and spirit especially the
voters of Wuli. They resolved that the flag-bearer should continue and that the
structures created in Wuli, which enabled the voters to develop a strong
resistance against inducement and intimidation should be emulated everywhere. They
mandated me to issue a press release to this effect. They called for a
tactical alliance between NADD and the other opposition parties or independent
candidates so that the strength of the opposition in the National Assembly will
increase. They resolved that all those who are opposed to such a political
alliance should be seen to be working so that there will be no opposition in
the National Assembly thus making the Gambia a one party state. They concluded
that such people should be exposed. What is my respond to the resolution of
the Executive Committee for me to continue to be flag-bearer?
RAMZIA DIAB STILL DETAINED
By Abdoulie G. Dibba
Ramzia Diab is still in detention, said a family member. The former
nominated National Assembly member was arrested on Wednesday by plain cloth officers.
An aggrieved family member informed this reporter on Sunday that they don’t
not know where their loved one is detained. The distraught family member said
they are anxious to know why Ramzia is detained.
The family member said they are yet to know the reasons for Ramzia’s recent
arrest. The source further indicated that they are not aware of any charge
against Ramzia. The latter was arrested and detained after the alleged coup
plot was foiled in March. She was later released by the authorities.
WHEN WILL SUD FM BE RE-OPENED?
Dear Editor,
Please give me space in your newspaper to address this letter to the Disk
Jockeys (DJs) in The Gambia.
First, I must say we have missed the station manager of SUD FM, Banjul. We
have missed some DJs we used to hear on the airwaves for a very long time now.
We should remember them as they have been doing a nice job. They were just
perfect in entertainment. The likes of DJ Artical Dave, DJ Paco and DJ Jola
are still imprinted in my mind. Their voices and their sounds can no longer be
heard. This is really sad.
We should always remember them. Today their voices are no longer heard but
you as a DJ may be affected tomorrow. October 22nd marks the first anniversary
since the closure of SUD FM. Madam SoS for Information should consider that
these DJ are family men with responsibilities.
I wish to take this opportunity to appeal to her to re-open SUD FM so that
the long silence will come to an end and the airwaves will become lively in
Banjul. I make this appeal on my behalf and on behalf of the people of the
sub-region.
Not only have we missed DJs but also a religious programme, like TAFSIRUL AL
Qur’an, that Imam Fallon Joof, the first Deputy Imam of Pipeline Mosque,
conducts. We have also missed a Minarul Islam,” “Qutuwatul-Saliheena,” “Begal
Sa Sopeh” and other programmes.
I was very happy when I heard the voice of the station manager, Papu Tharreh
on 23rd September 2006 when he met the Head of State. I said to myself, “
Alhamdulillah,” SUD FM will soon be re-opened. But up till now nothing has
happened.
Once again I call on Madam SoS for Information to give them the green light.
Otherwise, very soon 22 October will mark one year of silence.
Thanks
A concerned Citizen
15th October 2006.
UDP SUPPORTER STILL DETAINED
Foday Bah, a supporter of the United Democratic Party and a resident of
Sinchu Alagie Village in Kombo North is still in detention, said a family source.
Mr. Bah was recently granted bail by Justice Monageng, but he is still
detained.
Mr. Bah who is standing trial at the Brikama Magistrate Court was supposed
to appear in court on Thursday, 26th October 2006, but he was not there.
The UDP supporter is alleged to have violated section 91 (a) of the
electoral decree during the election campaign.
Tourism and Private Remittances
Major Sources of Foreign Exchange
Tourism and private remittances from abroad are a major source of foreign
exchange for the Gambian economy, according to the monetary policy committee of
the Central Bank of the Gambia.
In a statement by the committee released after their fifth meeting of the
year, it indicated that the value of the tourism sector is estimated to
increase to D1.8 billion in contrast to D1.5 billion to that of last year,
representing a rise of D1.3 billion. Whilst on the other hand private monetary
remittances from abroad continued to grow over the years with the current account
deficit including official transfers expected to narrow to D0.9 billion from
D1.3 billion in 2005, from the estimated D1.8 billion relative to D1.7 billion
in the preceding year.
The bank revealed that the volume of transactions in foreign currencies at
the inter-bank market rose significantly to D8.18 billion in the nine months
to the end of September 2006. further noting that from last year the Dalasi
remained stable.
The committee also painted a bright picture of the banking sector describing
it as highly capitalized and that the total assets of the industry increased
to D8.41 billion from the D7.65 billion by June 2006. The committee also
projected a stable Dalasi for the remainder of 2006 pointing out that
inflationary pressures have been substantially reduced coupled with the rebound in
tourism and agricultural production.
However, the monetary committee sounded a cautionary note by pointing to the
“down side risks to the forecast” and the “volatility of oil prices and
larger-than projected fiscal deficits”, as indices which compelled them to
reduce the rediscount rate by one percentage point to 14.0 percent and at the same
time reducing the required reserve ratio by two percentage points to 16.0
percent.
BRIKAMA WILL HOST NAYCONF
The National Youth Conference and Festival (NAYCONF) will be hosted by
Brikama from 15th – 22nd December. NAYCONF is a bi-annual event, which aims to
bring 1,500 young people from all over the country to enable them to share their
experience and dilate on issues that affect their lives.
This year’s national conference will focus on the role of youths in
achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The youths are expected to make
recommendations on the National Youth Council Act and Youth Policy. They will also
discuss how to build on the growing interest of young people in the fight
against HIV/AIDS and come up with a practical strategy that would effectively
contribute in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS amongst young people. The cultural
performance, carnival, award ceremony, sporting activities and beauty contest
are the main components of the programme.
The participants will be drawn from the seven administrative divisions and
municipalities in the Gambia, from different national youth organisations.
Some participants will come from other countries. Fifteen (15) participants will
be drawn from each division and two from each youth organization.
Participants will also be drawn from government departments, NGOs, UN Agencies and the
private sector.
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