JAMMEH CLAIMS PRESS FREEDOM |
"There were not many newspapers when I took over and now there are many newspapers in The Gambia. The Gambian press is more free now than ever before. The articles they write about me now, they could not write before. I am saying this because I was a member of the security service then and I know ...," said President Jammeh in response to this reporter's question on freedom of the media in The Gambia. | |||
President Jammeh was speaking at the press briefing held at
the Freedom Forum in Wilson Boulevard, Virginia on Wednesday, September
29.Still on the media, he said Alieu Badara Sowe of this newspaper
was not jailed but called in for questioning at the NIA headquarters
because he wrote an untrue story about him which was a threat to
national security.
When asked why this reporter was denied access to the press
briefing by Jammeh's security personnel, saying she was a threat to
security, he said the security personnel should answer that question
as he did not consider her as a threat to national security.
President Yahya Jammeh lashed out at BBC's West Africa
correspondent Mr Kwame saying that their handling of news items in
the continent "creates suspicion in the African continent, and
it doesn't help conflict resolution in Africa." In
response to Kwame's question on his opinion on the Sierra Leone war,
Jammeh said the war in Sierra Leone is pathetic and embarrassing.
"These wars don't fall from European skies. It
is instigated within the African continent," he said.
Jammeh blamed Africa's under development on corruption, tribalism,
marginalisation and nepotism. "When you push people to
the wall, they are bound to backlash back on you," Jammeh
said. He cited the Jawara government as an example, gripping
on to power for 30 years and not a single agenda on socio economic
development.
Sandra Maccgaw, director of the International Studies program in
North Western High School, Maryland, who was at the time of the coup
working in The Gambia with Operation Cross Roads for Africa, asked
Jammeh what reforms he has made since his takeover and what he is
doing for the youths so that they will not think of staging another
coup. Jammeh boasted of a new university where 80 percent of
the student body is sponsored by the government depending on
merit. He said education is now more accessible and cheaper.
He said there are now more than 250 doctors and specialists from
different parts of the world in The Gambia."Major villages and
health centres all have doctors now. We are also building
first class roads so that pregnant women will not trek on donkey
carts for delivery," he said. He boasted of the Gambian
Rice which he said is now competing against Asian Basmalti and Uncle
Ben's in local and regional markets.
Musa Jawara, a Gambian protestor residing in DC asked Jammeh to
clarify the issue on the denial of passports to the UDP's Yaya
Jallow, Lamin Juwara and Shyngle Nyassi. Jammeh said passports
are not automatically given. "It is not logical to
prevent them from travelling, when their leader Ousainou Darboe is
travelling everywhere," he concluded.
On Koro's death, he said ministers die everywhere in
accidents. Because a minister died in an accident doesn't mean
that the government killed him. He argued with the reporter
that Koro is a personal friend and he appointed him as
minister. "I relieve you of your post if I don't need
your services, I do not kill you," he said. "Even
the rebels who attacked the soldiers at Farafenni have been taken to
court as a rule of law not killed, because I believe in the rule of
law."
Jammeh thanked the US government and said "I was a friend of
the US and will always remain a friend of the US."On arrival at
the airport yesterday, President Jammeh told reporters that the
protest by Gambians in Washington DC on his presence in US was
stage-managed by the "Basadi, Kebba Jawara and Sir Dawda Jawara
families including some members of Ousainou Darbo's family."
Jammeh argued that the protest did not in any way affect his
mission or personality as out of the more than 1,500 Gambians
resident in Washington DC, only 17 were out to protest against his
visit.The President added that the protestors, one of whom was
masked had promised to take to the streets on each day of his stay
in US but "as time went on, they were sent away by harsh
weather and hunger."
A cultural panorama with performances by Pencha B, Born Africans,
Masla Bi and an American rap group, Sons of light received
Jammeh and delegation at the July 22
Square.. |