BANJUL LION CLUB MEDAL AWARDS
WHY STATE GUARDS PRESENCE?
Few months ago the Banjul based lion club, organised an awards ceremony. The late Deyda Hydara, a long time member of the club chaired the ceremony. Speeches were delivered by Ebou Manneh of the UDP and other members of the club. I could heard Mr.Hydara
calling the name of one of the club members, prominent human rights lawyer Ousman Sillah. Mr.Sillah, was not available to pick up his award. Sillah's absence was felt by his fellow lioners. His life was attempted by some thugs in the Gambia.
While at the ceremony, i noticed the presence of some state Guards. One of them, called Kawsu Camara, alias "Bombaredeh" I was bid worried about their presence in the area. It was unusual for such guards to be in such functions, without Jammeh attending.
A senior journalist working with The News and Report Magazine can bear me witness of having expressed concern about the presence of Sgt "Bombaredeh" and his colleagues in the area.
Knowing the type of soldier SGT "Bombaredeh'" is, he will execute any assignment given to him. Be it good or bad assignment he will execute it. All what i am saying about this guy is a statement of fact. I have good reasons to fear him, in view of
his past encounters with Banjulians. He droves his vehicle with impunity in the streets of Banjul without observing basic traffic codes. Residents of T Road and Leman street can tell you who is "Bombarman" He had humiliated many folks in that city,
because of his taste for women and so called loyalty for Jammeh.
NIA QUESTIONS HYDARA AND PAP SAINE
In the early part of 2004, Deyda Hydara and Pap Saine were summoned for questioning by the NIA. The interrogation revolves around a commentary written by the late journalist that the head of State Yahya Jammeh spent most his time at his farm in his
home village of Kanilai. In that write up Deyda concluded that dictator Jammeh was not delivering the goods as expected. He reported that Jammeh was neglecting pressing state matters . That the Vice president Isatou Njie-Saidy usually to deputise him in most state functions which requires
his presence. The NIA insisted that Deyda's commentary borders on National security and therefore warned him and Pap to be careful about the type of stuffs they report in their Newspaper. What security implications are they talking about here? Jammeh not attending state functions?
SECURITY SURVEILLANCE AROUND THE POINT OFFICES
I could remember Deyda telling me that, our office was placed under surveillance by state security agents. He said since our stories on Baba Jobe 's 200 Million tax evasion, he had noticed some strange faces around the office premises, thus concluding that they were state agents. I could
also remember former Information minister Yankuba Touray refuting a point story i authored that Baba was indebted to the state. The minister lied to the Daily Observer that Baba was a clean man and owed no dime to The Gambian government. Thanks to Former Finance minister Famara Jatta, the Point was
vindicated. In an exclusive interview with this writer, he confirmed that Baba was indeed owing millions of dalasis to the state. Few weeks after the publication of Fams confirmation piece, he was fired alongside with the Customs MD Mboge and other customs officials. Baba was
indeed a powerful man. And who knows if he instructed former police IGP Ebou Njie or NIA Director Abdoulie Kujabi to mount surveillance on the Point?
2004 A DIFFICULT YEAR FOR THE POINT
This was the year in which Deyda was killed. This was the year, in which Deyda was separated from his family, friends, colleagues and love ones. This was the year in which two female Point staffers, Ida Jage and Nyan Jobe were shot. This was the year in which Jammeh and his cronies passed a
draconian bill to end dissent in The Gambia. 2004 was the year in which Jammeh vowed to sentence journalists without of a fine. This was the year, in which dozens of Point staffers were denied employment. The temporal closure of the Point is a big loss to the Gambia.
We all know the type of investigative and comprehensive stories published by this media House. It will be difficult to fill the vacuum left by Hydara and the Point in general.