(JollofNews) – The Gambia’s online journalism chief Pa Nderry Mbai has again gone beserk.
He has done what he is at best at: insulting, provoking, fanning seeds of hatred and tribalism. The bad boy is simply rotten, and nothing can sanitise him. The problem could have been his upbringing, lack of understanding of cultural sensitivities, filthiness or rudeness. But we cannot fold our hands and allow one rotten soul to destroy our hard-earned success.
Everyone knows that the coalition’s victory symbolises defeat of Yahya Jammeh’s hatred, tribalism and discrimination. His painful insults and threats to wipe out Mandinkas have rallied patriotic Gambians from all the tribes, cultures and religions to red card the rotten soul. Even APRC supporters admitted their leader had crossed the red lines.
Now that Jammeh is gone, the goal should be how to clean up the mess, which is hard and complicated. We need to heal the wounds inflicted by Jammeh. The wounds that are left opened will not heal themselves. This is why the role of the media – I mean responsible media – is crucial at this point in time. We are in times of uncertainty; all we need to do is to unite our diverse people, cool down the tempers before we get on the road to justice and ultimate reconciliation.
We don’t expect the road to be rosy but if South Africans can do it, I see no reason why Gambians cannot. We are more socially, culturally and religiously attached than any country.
But for us to get the job done we must not leave the likes of Pa Nderry M’bai to put sand on our already cooked soup. In fact, this is a guy who had damned and vigorously campaigned against elections. He had never supported the coalition. We might be independent journalists but our situation called for everyone to fight and defeat Jammeh. Neutrality here depicts hypocrisy.
If Pa Nderry M’bai doesn’t want Jammeh to go for whatever reason is understandable but what is not acceptable is to allow him to become another Jammeh. Gauging by his behaviour, he has taken over from Jammeh. Both of them have proven to be dirty tribalists who bully anyone who disagrees with them. That’s not the type of journalism one should be proud of. I assume that is not the attitude his parents taught him either.
Read the full article here.
You have got to laugh !!! As I am sure my good friend Pa Nderry will be doing ha ha ha !!!
Rubbish !!!
Absolute Rubbish
Pa Nderry had been putting salt and pepper in Dictator Jammeh and his regime and all of you were celebrating him. Now that the ball has turn and you want him to praise sing the Blantant tribalism and nepotism going on. We are not blind, neither are we Deaf. The truth in the Gambia is clear for all to see. UDP ( Undercover Desperate People); Undercover using the exit of Yaya Jammeh(dictator) to self perpetrate tribal domination, Desperate to take all the key government potsions and decision making powers to bully other parties and tribe in the name of we are the biggest party and tribe and in the name of Yaya Jammeh had insulted us
Pa Nderry , do not be moved by this egoist and none considerate people. They only consider what suit them or their situation. The selective justice is apparent. Well done PA keep up the good work. We need consistent people to watch on any undercover people party
I think is more important to engage in our economy and development of The Gambia than the personal attacks.
Remember: Our unity, peace, security and justice is the foundation of our lasting development and the reinforcement of our democracy. We should take all efforts to defeat CORRUPTION, without which we are bound to fail.
It may be a “laughing” matter if written by Dida Halake, but this is from Yahya Dampha … a “serious” Gambian journalist with much integrity and respect in The Gambia. As Yahya Dampha promises, there may be far more serious matters to come. Lets wait and see.
It is good rebuke for someone capitalising on sensation to create uproar. I think the strategy is actually working for the other side. The more people perceive Nderry as another Jammeh, the better for UDP and coalition. What udp or coalition should never contemplate doing, is to attack Nderry physically or unethically verbally. The man is the best thing for udp as Jammeh was. Nderry will either see reason and become a serious journalist or he will run his course. Until then, let him enjoy his imagined relevancy.
Gambians and friends of Gambia, let us respond to each other’s points on their merits or demerits and avoid attaching each other’s person (personality). We are all different in so many ways including how we see, analyse and respond to (phenomenon of life) things/events around us!
Pa Nderry has critical of the past regime and his contribution towards de-popularising the regime in particular the former president is on record for anyone to see (who cares to anyway). For one to call him another jammeh or hater of the victory in the December election of the coalition is another thing that keeps us on each other’s throats instead of on with unite us in this case (Gambia). This is unhealthy!!! The coalition has dumped some of the support given to it by the course of action everyone (who cares anyway) have seen. Apart from failing to keep together and go into the parliamentary election as one entity that Gambians put their support in and gave them the win, they came up with a strategy named ‘tactical alliance’ which we ended up witnessing have gone against each other in some constituencies (this does not only stab their previous supporters in their back but also put people of some communities against each other! This is very unfortunate as there are already divisions that need the new government to bridge but what the poor electorate get in return is putting them against each other in some communities!!! Poor electorates!!!!! When shall we and our politicians will consider the philosophical mantra ‘You Are Therefore I Am’ ! Any course of action that is devoid of promoting peace and unity (prerequisites for any meaningful development) for a people can falsely be claimed by politicians to be carried out for the common good but in reality it is retrogressive for a society in the long term. The sad thing in this is the plain fact that in most cases (if not always) , it is the common people who pay the price of the inappropriate/wrong course of action taken on their behalf! This is very very sad!!!!
To buttress that fact, the very first time Gambians in very large numbers leave their homes with young babies, pregnant women, old people, ill/sick people etc seeking refuge in other countries for the fear of war (as it happened recently) affected mainly the common (ordinary) people who unfortunately did not either take part in the making of the decisions for the war nor were consulted before or during the making of the decision or decisions that ended up keeping them hostage!!! Those who made the decision or decisions are usually (if not always) protected beyond the reach of harm!!! These are things every one who take part in the process of running a country or affairs of a people should ponder on deeply! Everyone is a leader and everyone will be questioned on how one led one’s followers!!! It does include each and everyone of us (how one used one’s body parts- mouth, hands, legs, etc will all be questioned)!!!
I don’t know what all the fuss is about Pa Nderry. Let those who disagree with Pa Nderry engage him and proof him wrong, if they believe that he is wrong. We don’t want to see personal attacks or issues that have no bearing on his queries or grudges, being thrown into the discussions.
He thinks he has genuine queries and frankly, he does have some genuine queries, so it is up to the people concerned to address his queries. The problem we have today is that some people think that the departure of Jammeh should end criticism against government, and anybody who criticises government is not happy about Jammeh’s departure. That’s just sad.
I know there is no love lost between Pa Nderry and the UDP, but let’s be tolerant to dissent and engage those that disagree with us maturely and sensibly. Politicians and state officials need to be media friendly and easily accessible. Snubbing the media is not a sign of good and open leadership.
HA HA HA, my in-law! Pa Mbai is campaigning for PDOIS and APRC now – so you love him!!!
Anyway, my INFO is that UDP have won 30 seats. With nominated seats they will have 35 (60%). That is just under 2 thirds – and a couple more APRC will join them to give them a TwO THIRDS majority. Game, set and match to Darboe!
Yep agreed, game set and match. Congratulations to the all elected candidates and the voters, who bothered to go out and vote.
Now, let the work begin. All I would say is that Gambian voters haven’t learnt from the past. It will be interesting to see how the UDP uses its majority in the National Assembly.
We yearned for a vibrant institution, where no party controls an absolute majority, but unfortunately, we have the “ingredients” for another rubber stamping parliament, with the “governing party”, controlling the house.
Bax, if PDOIS were the party with a majority in the national assembly would they also be a rubber stamp parliament if they allow all the bills from Halifa or Sidia to pass through?Let’s please try and give UDP and national assembly the benefit of the doubt. What Barrow may want may not necessarily be the same as what UDP want. Halifa and Ousainou may not have any love lost between them but i strongly believe that they respect each other and they may very well surprise us and work together very well. The politics should be over now and work begin. All our political leaders read what is written by the diaspora Gambians online. Therefore we can influence their decision making with our debates. We are in a unique position because most of us are not directly involved in all that is happening on the ground so we can see things from a different perspective. It is this different views that we should be debating online so that they can realize their short comings. Bax, am beginning to wonder if there actually is voter apathy in the Gambia or is our voter register just bloated with bogus voters. All the parties in both the presidential and national assembly elections have really galvanized their supporters bases yet we have seen a massive differences between the actual votes cast and the registered voters. The IEC should conduct a fresh registration before the municipal elections. If they get a similar number of registered voters as currently on the register then we can say with all certainty that there is voter apathy. We should start civic education then to get people more engage in politics. If the number of registered voters is similar to the number of votes cast in both elections then we know the register was filled with bogus names.
Buba, the “ingredients” of a rubber stamping parliament would be the same in The Gambia, where the ruling party controls the majority in the house, regardless of which party is in office. How members conduct themselves and the types of bills they pass into law, will indicate whether it is a rubber stamping house or not.
Of course, I agree that this parliament can do wonderfully well for the electorates and I hope they, because that would setting the path for our future parliaments.
The voter register may be bloated but voter apathy is a serious problem in The Gambia too.
Well it is also a sign of maturity to leave the press on their own. Nderry is free to publish anything. Likewise the govt has the right to cooperate readily with a media house or not. Snubbing is one method of leaving a boulevard paper on its own. Engaging it just makes the relationship complicated. There are other critical houses like jollof or foroyaa that must be attended to. They have a critical distance which is necessary in a democracy.
“…..a sign of maturity to leave the press alone.”
Do you mean to ignore the press. My understanding of “leaving the press alone” is to allow them to do their job, without any harassment or exerting undue influence over them, but engaging them all the time, as engagement with the press, is a duty of any government that wants to be transparent and accountable.
Ignoring the press, even those that annoy you, on the other hand, is a very bad idea. It’s the first indications of an opaque, unaccountable behaviour that was one of the many reasons we complained about the Jammed regime. I am surprised that already, we may have people encouraging and supporting it.
Seriously. We are indeed, a very strange people, and I believe that unless we exercise care, we could slip right back into the past, despite all the rhetoric.
Pa Nderry may be sensationalist, annoying and outright idiotic sometimes, but he is very influential, as he has a large following and fan base, especially in the diaspora (who will soon become an important “constituency”, I hope) and any government or politician that ignores his attention, would be playing right into his hands.
I don’t believe that Mbai is influential. He is sensationalist that makes people curious just like any other tabloid. As soon as decision time comes, he will cease to be the reference. Beside that, people effectively voting are out of Nderry’s scope. The diaspora is also already tired of him. And there are alternative radios both in Gambia and abroad stilling the information thirst of Gambians.
” Why go to school to learn the words of fools”
Throughout Gambia’s darkest hours One Man stood for the people and freedom;
His name was Pa Nderry Mbai.
God Bless you my son !!! The King of hope !!!
I am proud of you.
This man Pa Nderry is on Yahya pay roll? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry! Very very very dangerous allegations.
You sleep with the fairies and goblins my friend lol
Pa Nderr did the dirty job for you during the President Jammeh administration and now it’s your turn to kick him on the ASS. Well done!
When I see such unscrupulous political allies turning foes, I enjoy the fray. I have no pity for either side. I only perceive their political immaturity.
I think Pa deserves being ejected by the people he once fanfared by levelling all sorts of insults on President Jammeh. Who should have condoned Pa’s bitter insults on President Jammeh on the merits of your hatred for Jammeh? Who should have condoned that? Not a true Gambian, neither a true Muslim nor a true Pan-Africanist. But for 22 years Pa had sold the services of his tabloid, being greeted by most Gambians, on the bitterest insulting articles/images of President Jammeh, his wife, mother, children and all those surrounding him.
Bax
“Snubbing the media is not a sign of good and open leadership”.
Send this statement to your sneaky/cheeky Ousainou Darbo. He’s UNDEMOCRATIC and virile!
Bambo///
You are a very generous and wise man !!!