It makes me frustrated knowing that the upper-class or the so- called middle class & the educated people in our society are responsible for repressing ‘Mbindans’ or maids. If they have that attitude, who are we going to formulate the law for? The educated people know that there is a labor law in the country. Do they follow it?
The truth hidden in plain sight indifference to modern-day slavery in the Gambia or elsewhere in Africa trickles down from the top African elites, the middle-or upper class.
The ’Mbindan’ or maids work in some houses of African elite’s face slavery-like working conditions and treatments (rape, low wage, crumbs as food, verbal abuse, no off-days). Events or African slavery in Libya should compel us not to just tweet about it but also to look inside our houses how we treat our maids, the ‘Mbindans’.
Many maids both male and female are treated inhumanly by their employers. It’s such an unorganized market that it’s a pity there is no protection for them. The women, who are primarily employed as housekeepers and babysitters or nannies, reported low pay, little time off work with verbal & physical abuse.
At least 90% of ‘Mbindans’ suffer working excessive hours or days, while more than a third of them either had bad living conditions or low to no salary at all.
These ‘Mbindans’ many of whom live with unjust living and working conditions. But the Gambia’s Labor Code does not cover any of the rights of ‘Mbindans’. Consequently, there is rampant verbal, physical & sexual abuse, financial exploitation, mental torture, & false accusations such as theft. Many maids suffer from food deprivation. These conditions have been normalized due to a lack of legal protection.
“To be a slave is to have no options. The slave cannot appeal to courts or to the rule of law because the essence of slavery is to not be recognized by these institutions. So, the slave has two options: to remain a slave, or to fight back.”
Eradicating modern slavery in a country marred by entrenched poverty is no easy task, especially when most it occurs in the private economy—in our private homes and private businesses—and has seeped into so many aspects of our society today. But if the state’s outlook is any indication of the government’s indifference to tackling modern-day slavery in the Gambia, I would beg to differ and go as far as to say that it is not the lack of laws we are suffering from. It’s the lack of enforcement of the myriad of laws that’s more offensive.
One can’t argue with logic, why our authorities responsible for implementing the law gets absurd. Are laws not created precisely so that accountability can be established? And how do we go about doing without enforcing the law?
Despite the Gambia’s Labor Act and & the suppression of people’s human rights charters, why are forced labor, child labor and human trafficking so widespread in the Gambia?
Slavery comes in many forms: bonded labor, forced labor, forced marriage, etc. Unlike chattel slavery, which once functioned and thrived under the auspices of the law, these types of slavery, despite being illegal, continue to flourish in the present day due to the presence of wide, intricate networks of human traffickers, recruitment agencies, and so on. While it is important to note the differences between the many forms of slavery, the underlying fact is that they are all rooted in coercion.
Although the Gambian Labor Act prohibits children under 14 from being employed, child labor, forced labor & exploiting maids, ‘Mbindans’ one of many faces of modern slavery, remains widespread in the country. But can you blame the people when for the government eradicating modern slavery seems to be an agenda only on paper? “Mbindan Du Jamm”.
Alagi>>>strikes again. !!! Gambians are good at accusing others of social depravity. But bad at accepting responsibility for their own acts of depravity.This exploitation of the poorest and most vulnerable in Gambian society, should be a top priority of any normal government. But the elites are the worst of all. I recall sitting for two hours in Banjul Methodist Church listening to a lay preacher urge the community to refrain from incest. Good God “””” This is a sick and corrupt society. Gambia needs a Union for home workers rights…and a childline for children to complain about sexual exploitation in the home.
A wealthy American woman was convicted and ordered to pay restitution for abusing her Jamaican maid. In Gambia there is very little legal protection, also poverty and lack of opportunities make this evil practice pervasive. The remedy is education, awareness and a strong economy.
We should condemn this vigorously but let’s not delude ourselves, Gambia does not have a monopoly here. My employees have been with us for many years and they are not maids, they are family. My children call them Aunties and we all eat together as a family. Their children attend the same school as mine when I am home. I am not saying everybody should do this but I know many that do. There are really good Gambians doing what Allah commands. Look some employee work 2-3 months while the employer is in Gambia and are paid every month for 10 months while they are away in Europe or America. For some these jobs are a life saver. We all must learn that all Gambians are equal.
Where there is opportunity there is always exploitation. Should we condemn a culture that allows young girls as young as 8 roam around town looking for a tourist to bed for money. Perhaps Alagi and Dr Sarr are too well educated and mannered to say it as it is; I have said it. I have seen it. It must come to an end….or are they saying for some it is a life saver. Poor wages indeed for loss of innocence.
The culture doesn’t allow it (sexing 8 yr olds), but unscrupulous, unconscientious, shameless and greedy people do it. It is one of the many “evils” of opening up to tourism, and as such, sooner or later, the debate about the over-all benefits of tourism, in light of the (non economic) effects on society, will have to begin.
I am happy to note that Hon Sidia Jatta has raised doubts about our erroneous belief in tourism as an indispensable and unchallengeable forex earner. I think our efforts to generate forex must be directed inwards, targeting such areas as underground minerals, agriculture and fisheries.
Tourism is too expensive and its over-all effects on society may actually make the efforts directed at the industry not worthy at all, in the long term. That debate needs to begin now to arrest those emerging trends, perhaps, attributable only to tourism.
True story that is in the archives of Freedom Newspaper and Maafanta;
I was sitting on the veranda close to the sea when I espied two little girls holding hands walking towards me on the beach. They came up to me as I sat drinking a Fanta, to ask if they could have my room number. Immediately they were surrounded by hotel security and asked forcefully to leave. I said stop !!!… they are my guests, give them a menu>>>and take their order. The older girl was called Fatu who said she was 10. Her sister’s name escapes me. She aged 8. The hotel staff were apologizing for their words and actions/ I said I was not offended. I questioned them whilst they ate a hearty meal. Fatu said their Mother was sick in bed without medicine…and Father had died. That the Mother has asked them to get money for food and medicine from a tourist. I wrote down the hotel number and my name. I gave the eldest girl 500 dalasis…and asked them to urge their Mother to contact me. But she never did. As the older girl got up to leave she said Michael you are a very nice man,,,, but I still want your room number. At which they left without my room number, and I was shedding the coldest of tears. Another time I was sitting at the bar…when a scandinavian gentleman brought in from the street a 13 year old girl who was taking a soft drink with the man at the bar and she was visibly shaking. The hotel staff were trying very hard to look the other way, but you could tell they were angry. I went to the corridor to the bedrooms to wait. AS they entered I confronted the man. I said some things that are unrepeatable . I asked the girl how much money had he offered. She said 50 dalasis. I said that’s not enough…and forced the man to pay her several hundred. Then I asked the girl to leave with the money. I said to the man, next time will be one too many…and let him run away.
I am afraid Bax and Jack’s comments in their respective posts are by all measures right in this case, Mr Scales. You keep mistaking the subculture that exists in the tourism sub-culture for that of mainstream Gambian society. By the way, what is the percentage of Christians to the entire Gambian population? How many members of the urban population allow their daughters to run after tourists in The Gambia? I can assure you: very, very small, and frowned upon by members of the average Gambia family. Just for the toubabo’o’s information.By the way, after a certain age, girls are not allowed to physically touch their dads or other adult males except under very special circumstances which are invariable done in public. Indeed, that has been one the dominant cultural norms of The Gambia in this regards for centuries! To avoid future quarrels of this nature, please try to put your acts together first before delving into the unknown. Indeed, your ancestors use to say: appearances have a tendency to be deceptive. Meanwhile, watch out, your tourist perpectives on Gambian culture are just that … conventional Gambian culture is quite another.
Knowing the kind of person you are Mike, I am pretty sure that you are the one who abused that 13 year old vulnerable girl and gave her D50 and now pretend to be the saint. Your business partner, Yaya Jammeh, have doing the same thing.
I believe we are exhibiting a knee jerk reaction to Mike’s comment, because the truth is excruciatingly painful. Our culture norm is that of respect and modesty, but have you guys moved around our beloved country lately. If you do, try to take lots of tissue paper to wipe your tears. What you will see, around the tourist area will alarm you and change your perspective. What Mike described is not an exception, and not very far from the truth. But let’s leave it at that because I rather not rob anyone of our proud heritage. What I like to bring to your attention is this. The tourists can only do what you allow them to do. How come the police turn the other way, how come parents allow adolescents on the streets at midnight. Of course blame can be apportioned but who cares. You better believe we need the hard currency from our tourist, most are great people by the way, until the day you can become self reliant and sufficient and start developing a sustainable growth oriented economic environment just zip it. The reason why our children’s innocence are being sold for Dalasi 50 is because of irresponsible leadership and followership. Don’t waste your time insulting me, I won’t read it.
Excuse me Dr Sarr, but I think you may be mixing things here. I don’t think any body can argue against changing behaviour patterns in society, especially amongst the youths, which of course, becomes part of our evolving culture. The changing behaviour we see in our young adults is not unique to Gambia. It is the result of Western education (and peer assimilation) that has created more awareness of other cultures (ways of lives) in the “modern world”, through global interconnectedness, and activities we see in the tourism area, whether sexual or drug related, or other kinds of crimes are just examples of how situations can be exploited for one reason or the other. The tourist areas simply provide “lucrative markets” for these people, and frankly, I think we will be living in denial, if we think we wouldn’t have had these problems, if there was no tourism. The nature of how it is done may be different, but they would exist, just like brothels exist for commercial sex and non/extra-marital relations for similar reasons. Why do married women, for example, indulge in extra-marital relationships? It is part of the hidden culture which is not accepted and still frowned upon, but very much part of our reality. We can’t blame tourism for that, can we?
The world is changing and we are changing with it. That change started well before tourism was even formally adopted as a national economic activity. Many here, have witnessed that change and are products of that change.
I have no doubt, that the Gambia I grew up in was not the same as the Gambia my parents grew up in, because of the narrations of their Gambia, and I know that my children’s Gambia, is a million times different from the one grew up. We didn’t even watch TV because there was none in our entire community. Very few had radios and they were so precious that you will get the beating of your life, if you even dared touch it, except to get it for your dad. I can go on and on.
The problem I have with Mike’s initial posting, is not whether girls, as young as 8, are prostituted for D50, but whether this is accepted by the larger society and I still maintain that it is not.
As Mr Saikou M Drammeh pointed out, there is a subculture within the tourism area, and people may look the other way, because they are part of this subculture and may actually benefit from it, but I do not, for one second, agree that a tourist walking around Bakau (most touristic area) for example, parading an 8 year old as his sex mate, will get away with it. Certainly, not in many other parts of The Gambia, where exposure to this subculture may be very limited, if any at all, and such a person would actually be endangering their own life, as they may be physically attacked.
I can understand Jack’s frustrations with the timing of Alagie Yerro’s piece and the seeming distraction it creates from the serious problems and despicable actions of Libyans and their helpers, some of whom are Black West Africans, but I don’t accept that this was the writer’s intentions, or indeed, that of Mike and Dr Sarr. I think the writer, regardless of the timing, has raised an issue of national concern, and provided the forum a platform to discuss, share experiences and exchange ideas on the need to tackle it, which to me, is the whole rationale for these online fora, in the first place.
I think it takes a lady and a doctor to confirm what I have written. Many thanks for your bravery in the face of the male dominated species. Yes good question…why ? does Gambian society and the Police turn a blind eye to such regular acceptance to child exploitation. ? If you read the state of denial and insult and false accusations on here, its easy to understand. Regarding allegations of youth exploitation in Libya…which Alagi raised and is being mercilessly character assassinated for his honesty>>>Hang your heads in shame. Mr Manneh>>>for a self proclaimed educated man…your dribble against me is silly, opportunism which does not deal with any point other than your hatred of the Toubabo. That is why people like you have no place in the teaching profession. Your view on the world is biased and without reason and rationality. AS for Jack and Gambian>>>bush babies they are nothing more. But you have a dark place to occupy/ You occupy it well.
I thank the combative Mr Scales for his claims against the undersigned above. However nothing could be far from the truth in this regard! The issues Mr Jallow raised in his article are indeed legitimate, and you can rest assured that I have no problems with them at all. I however dare not say the same as far as his timing is concerned. In fact, Dr Sarr’s family experience with domestic servants compare favourably to mine. My mum employed two domestic servants on two different occasions when I was a child with a view to helping her out because she did not have a daughter of her own at the time. Both have from the outset been treated as her own daughters even though they both belong to a different ethnic group, Jola. In other words, they enjoyed all the privileges that her sons enjoyed and were subsequently assimilated into my clan. They have since been addressing my mum as “mum”. When they grew up and got married they continued to regard my ancestral home as theirs too, and even naming their kids after members of my extended family.
The message I intend to put across is that witnessing a handful of unfortunately incidents of the maltreatment of domestic servants in the Gambia does not qualify you the non-native Gambian to generalize about Gambians in this respect – far from it. Not least because not all that glitters is gold.
Indeed psychological research has time and again documented that among patients suffering from such disorders as psychopathy and narcissism, a large number of these tend to be people who wield power over others e.g. employers or ones seniors. To my enlightened mind therefore pertinent answers to the problem could just as well be found by way of a psychological analysis of the phenomenon. Not least because people suffering from such disorders tend to be much less empathetic than those who do not suffer from the said “conditions”. Have you thought about the possibility that perpetrators of such gross violations may in fact be patients of these types?
It is my humble opinion that it is about time Europeans like you ceased posing as experts in complicated matters like like the one at hand. In Scandinavia of today, the middle-aged and old men and women who travel to The Gambia in search of sex with youngsters have a tendency to narrate that the ones they had affairs with in The Gambia are all male/female prostitutes. This has in any case been the typical media narrative in this part of Europe over the past two decades. Readers can rest assured that the narrative is as rule bought by the man in the the streets on a daily basis. Indeed, our nation has a work-in-progress in terms of countering such false narratives – sooner rather than later.
What Mr. Scales has observed in The Gambia in terms of under-aged girls having sex with tourist is by the way nothing new in any major tourist destination on the globe, Spain, Bulgaria, Thailand, Indonesia etc. Are these victims African?
In conclusion, rushing to conclusions in this regard just serve to show readers that Mr Scale’s intellectual abilities are by all means lower than the undersigned’s. Intemperate language just serve to distance you from a lot of decent Gambians, Mr Scales. Period!
I knew from the onset that it will end like this….. Englishmen wants to be masters only, that is why they overstayed in all the countries they had visited as christian missionaries or colonizers. They want to leave the European Union because they are overshadowed by Germany and France, hence coined the term ”Special Relationship” with the United States as that will offset their inadequacies. Mike Scales pretend to be one of us because he wants adulation, praises and the perpetuation of the same mindset of reverence always courted by Englishmen. When he realized that some Gambians like brother Jack and others are not willing to be bamboozled by his empty rhetoric and covert racist tendencies, he lashed out showing his ugly true self. Your taxes for African countries only help to entrench bad governance as it put our leaders on a lease only to further your interests at the detriment of our people and our continent. An Englishman have no justification to boast like you do knowing the bloody history of your people from the Balfour declaration, the partition of India and Pakistan, the Falklands war, the Northern Ireland interment of dissidents, the illegal Iraqi war, the slave trade etc, etc, etc. The only individual who should hang his head in shame is MIKE SCALES(THE GRAND MASTER OF THE KKK).
God bless our people and our continent from the hypocrisy of the men like you.
Jack : Mai Fatty has always been my educated legal friend…Show me where I have ever said anything untrue against him.
If you are amongst us for so long and hold such opinions against us….maybe you should show us your papers and on what basis The Home Office accepted your asylum claim ? I have fought tooth and nail to support so many Gambians indefinite right to remain. Perhaps if yours is a majority verdict on British tourists and life in the UK….perhaps you and yours are not safe to be amongst us. But we do not discriminate when we allow our taxes to keep your Presidents in famous luxury. Meanwhile our tourists slave away to promote fund and goods collections to feed your poor and sick and disabled. If your contribution is condemnation of whites, and false accusations against our integrity….then the only casualties are those less fortunate than you. Your sick attitude against those you choose to exploit and mingle with is hypocritical and embarrassing. Thankfully, I know the true character of the majority Gambian. You as an ambassador are a false deluded bigot, not at all familiar with my opinion. Protect your children, and stop your ostrich ways and take your empty head out of the sand. Dr Sarr and Alagi Yorro Jallow are the ones to follow and listen too. Your just a jerk off full of dirty words.
Gambia Male testosterone on display in abundance; It’s the difference between using a machine gun against, King David’s sling and pebbles.
These egotistic dribbles from your educated bigots, are all in a state of denial. Denial will never cure any problem simply because you choose to call it something else.
To the common observer you would have to think Gambians never tortured, murdered,raped and plundered with impunity. Why else would the Gambian Youth of both gender run such unbearable risk to life, health, sanity or body?
Was it Jammeh that did all these foul deeds or was it Gambians. ready willing and able to “enable” wholesale death, disappearances, economic graft and hidden away for years,never to offer a defence and acquittal.
Gambians did this; Westerners, can not be held accountable. But you see when these Gambians are challenged >>>what is the reply.. It was slavery 400 years ago.
This kind of perpetual, deflect the blame game to a heinous human rights claim to a time when human rights was only a pipedream for other western educated elites.
The misuse of Gambians vulnerability, resulting death, torture and rape and financial destitution>>is a Gambian thing. It’s about time Gambians acknowledged it and then to change. {for the better}
Again, I have to disagree with you Mike, when you describe all those inhuman and abominable evils as a “Gambian thing.” We acknowledge that individuals within the Jammeh regime had committed these evils, and we want to hold them and remedy their wrongs, hence the TRC (Truth & Reconciliation Committee).
It is wrong and not helpful at all, to call these as a “Gambian thing”, (because some Gambians perpetrated these against fellows and others), just as it is wrong to call sexual harassment, paedophilia and corruption (expenses fiddling) as an “English thing”, because some English do these.
I think we need to exercise care in our choice of words to express our views, least we unwittingly contribute to the risks of being misunderstood and misconstrued.
To those who misconstrue and attribute hidden motives to Mike Scales, I can only disagree with you. Mike continued and persistent involvement with Gambians and in Gambian affairs is a clear testimony of his interest, affinity, love and care for Gambia and Gambians. I remember Jollofnews used to run stories thanking Mike for coming to their aid financially, when they were really struggling. I think theseveryone benevolent actions, in addition to his positive connection to Gunjur, is enough proof to distance him from some of the charges we might be tempted to label against him. That’s my honest assessment of Mike from our online interactions and that goes back a long time; back to the days of his one time “best online buddy”, the great Lalo Kebba Drammeh.
Wonder if you still remember him, Mike. PS: I want to wave the WHITE FLAG guys.
Since we are on a matter with an international dimension, I would like to comment on another matter of international significance: President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Whatever his motives (and many have been cited), listening to reactions of those who support this move brings to my mind, the dictum: “if you want all, you lose all.”
The zionist lobby and the Christian Evangelists in the US, as well as, the right wing, but frankly racist settler regime of Israel, may have set the collapse of their project into motion by their greed to claim all of Jerusalem.
As the two rogue regimes (Trump’s & Netanyahu’s administrations) stand isolated and abandoned, even by their closest allies, the Arab and Muslim World erupts into an almost synchronised show of defiance and disagreement, forcing regimes in the Arab world to pander to public mood, least they risk another “Arab Spring”, that may finally sweep the zionist acolytes aside. Where this will end is anyone’s guess.
I have always admired Bax for his objective analysis in all debates and except his rare disagreement against my opinions.
The first objective was to support the frank contribution from Mr Jallow. All I did is take it further, based upon personal experience. Any country who supports tourism face similar challenges. Most have effective and well trained officers, to police and reprimand, under local law and procedures. I am aware that policing in Gambia is less than perfect. Jack suggests I should have put that Dutch tourist over to the Police.
The fact of the matter is at that point he had not actually committed a crime. I think for most Police I knew would not understand that the Tourist was in the course of committing a serious crime as the girl was under aged.I was also aware that there was crimes committed by sexual tourists against young boy’s
[ We call them “rent Boy’s”] Some of these kind of sexual predators were frequently exposed and prosecuted by the authorities.
So this sexual trade is happening frequently. If Hon Jatta raises ” do we need tourism? I would say it does, but some serious thought needs to go towards Police education supported by strict Law. The percentage of sex predators is very small. But if Government is prepared to get tough on peodophiles , I believe it can be reduced and controlled to Gambia’s financial and social advantage.
I thank the kind words from Bax regarding my honourable support for the ousting of your madman. My money and physical support for the Media is well known. THe contributions were around £8,000 in total. It was not the amounts that matter but how and when they were used. The money given in 2007 to Freedom Newspaper, assisted with computers, rents and progression towards radio. I was always insistent that all contributions were to be published and I have never had any input into content. I liked it that way. All the support to Maafanta and Jollof news followed a similar route Using my own name and was vehemently against the rogue regime,taking many risks. I was even informed that there was to be an attempt on my life and to not entertain any Gambian in the UK.
So really insults ,false accusations and character assassination are futile.
This is never an” us and him” situation. The thousand of people who know me and my work especially in youth and sports investment makes all these silly people and there wholesale bigotry against a white Gambian, laughable. You make me laugh a lot. xxx
I am truly glad to notice from the posting above that Mr Scales has at long last begun to nuance his opinion about the matter at hand. However, I am still not convinced that he has learnt enough from his mistakes since he has not stopped throwing stones, even though he lives in a glass house by persistently labeling his adversaries quote as: silly and full of wholesale bigotry against a white Gambian. Such attitudes only serve to show the intelligent reader that he is running short of good arguments in the face of potent arguments from adversaries. By the way there are at present a handful of white members of my family – from different countries.
Honestly speaking, I for one, think it is a contradiction in terms for present-day whites to label blacks as racists, bigots or anti-white. I in fact equate it to Germans accusing Jews who are skeptical of German nationals as either racists or Nazist!!! Remember, what the Jews endured in the Second World War does not amount to even a quarter of the tribulations of blacks in the hands of white-skinned Europeans over a period of over four hundred years. I take it as self-evident that any black who is skeptical of whites does not do so either because he/she believes his/her race or culture is superior to whites. Far from it. To my enlightened mind these are essential pre-requisites for labeling any person a racist. The same thing can however not be said of whites who to my experienced mind most of the time find it hard to hide their white superiority sentiments when they interact with blacks on a daily basis. Those of us who have been living amongst whites for decades can write volumes about that topic. Just ask African Americans … or read that vast amount of available literature on the topic.
Putting on my homo economicus hat, however, I am not for a second convinced the so-called philanthropic acts you mention in your posting are as philanthropic as they may seem. Rather, I can read “hidden commercials” for your business and personal projects in The Gambia between the line. In other word: a PR stunt. Not least having regard to the fact that you are a businessman. In the business world, there is an old adage which says: There is no such thing as a “free lunch”. Besides, the thousands of pound invested in these publicity stunts are “tax deductible expense items” in accordance with elementary tax law rules.
For your information, my extended family has inherited a very noble virtue from my late grandfather – a onetime Alkalo of kombo Lamin. It is his considered opinion that a genuine selfless “giver” never boasts of his/her goodness in public. It is even un-Islamic! Native Laminians above the age of “sixty-five” will confirm that following the opening of Saint Peter’s Primary School in the village in the colonial days he personally financed the schooling of every pupil from “Lamin Sateba” without ever boasting about it in public. Prominent beneficiaries of this selfless endeavour are the present Alkalo of Lamin who happens to be one of the first Gambian “principal Agricultural Officers” during the first republic plus our current Paramount Chief who was a onetime “Comptroller of the Household” at State House during the Jawara regime. Not least because I have a large doses of my grand-dad’s genes in me, those who know the undersigned will confirm without hesitation both my genuine modesty, humility and selflessness – even when compared to many of my countrymen. The same propensity to genuine selflessness and modesty can be said of my late dad and his brothers. At the funeral of the former, there was not even enough space in my childhood home for all the mourners from all over the Kombos. Our neigbours will still be able to confirm this fact. Hence, my definition of genuine charity is offering assistance to those in need from the bottom of ones heart without expecting pecuniary rewards of any kind as a result of it.
I can think of no European nation that has ever had that as part of its culture. Rather, the culture tends to be that of boasting of how good one has been when it comes to giving “aid” of one type or the other to so and so countries in the developing world. Not the huge economic rewards they reap as a result of having some of the world’s worst dictators as their “allies”; not to mention the massive tax avoidance gymnastics practiced by these countries’ multi-nationals as far as their operations in the so-called third world is concerned.
Bax,
Well, I think I’m not too harsh/hard on Jaliba Kuyateh. The side of this renown Gambian griot is his double standard in dealing with issues, simply for his personal interest.
Knowing the role of JALOLU(griots) in our society, I don’t think Jaliba is the calibre, who should be appraised. He has sidelined his JALI role for money and nothing else but money.
Jaliba was on the Gambian teachers’ payroll for years without going to give classes. That blatant abuse on our economy was halted by the President Jammeh government. Hence it surfaced Jaliba’s enemity for the AFPRC/APRC government. On the advice of his late brother Lamin Kuyateh, Jaliba started paying lipservice to the Jammeh government by going round with him on political campaigns and at cultural events knowing that he would earn a lot from Jammeh. He composed a song for a man he EVER hated.
Now that Jammeh is not in government, he should play the JALI role of going around the country to make families and friends reconcile. He should neither be UDP, nor APRC, nor PDIOS, nor GMC, nor GDC, nor NRP.. But Jaliba being that egocentric JALI would immediately ignore his former BATUFALU(benefactors) for the new ones.
Bax, the Gambia is a small country. If we possibility come across somewhere, and discuss issues especially families, we might be linked to a dad, mum, brother, sister, aunt, cousin or even a friend. There might be someone you know whom I know. Gambia is the only country where there are very close family ties. I usually go to Paris (once every two months) with my wife who deals in Dutch wax to Gambian, Malian, Senegalese families in Paris. She gives them out on credit and collects her money two months after. At the end of November this year we were in Paris. We normally lodge with my sister’s family and during our stay we do have very lengthy discussions most especially about politics at home. Her husband is a dire-hard anti Jammeh. He knows my die-hard pro Jammeh stance, so our arguments are always very lively in the company of his friends.
This time around our discussion centred on the MUMINATU song (you mentioned), Jaliba composed for a woman, who as I learnt, lived in Spain with husband and children. My brother-in-law’s friends, who know MUMINATU BAYO’s husband’s family (related to the late Alhaji Bunja Bayo, Sedia Bayo’s father) lodged their disappointment at Jaliba Kuyateh.
The said MUMINATU has since divorced her husband after squandering the husband’s total savings and incomes on Jaliba Kuyateh. She would fly to the Gambia to follow any Jaliba event, lavishly dish money to Jaliba when he came to Spain and personally invited him and group to lavish lunch and dinner parties. Now that the husband is broke, MUMINATU decided to divorce him, vacate the family house and move to England, leaving the +60-year old in shambles.
The point here, according to the group, is what role has Jaliba played to reconcile that family whose resources he has once participated in plundering? NOTHING!
As a JALI, I personally believe he should do everything in his capacity, in his role as a JALI, to bring that family together. But he NEVER did!
Just an anecdote about the JALIBA we have.
The role we know of our JALOLU; is to reconcile broken marriages, family feuds, KABILO and district misunderstandings, national misunderstandings, share and adequately inform, transmit/teach valuable cultural/traditional values/norms and unwaveringly become intermediaries at all levels of our social strata.
These virtues are all absent in Jaliba Kuyateh, JUST FOR MONEY!
You are typical egocentric, educated in the West,,,, and have the same superior Headmaster traits. Though I have some fond memories of my Headmasters.
You Like Jack and others fled the field in the long and ardent fight against Jammeh. I went to Gambia 21 times, each time leaving something for someone or group.
Then I went on the offensive, through the infant on line media. The Editors will tell you forcefully that without my small but timely contributions, they would have folded. If I had allowed this, who would be left to change Gambian History ?
The Editors; Yusupha Cham, Fatou Manneh and Pa Nderry Mbai, are Gambian hero/s
Though they are still criticised and falsely accused by the nasty elements that dog Gambian society.
I thank God that Gambia can still produce sensible and truthful men and women like Mr Drammeh, Alagi Yorro Jallow, Young Mr Jarjoe, Dr Sarr and Bax.
For me I will have the Freedom of speech that I fought for. I follow Dr Sarr in her notion that she will follow her conscience and ignore the insults. Jollof News will uphold the peoples democratic right of reply. I salute my true friends and let the public judge…just who is telling the truth, I think Gambians know who is friend and who is foe. God Bless The Gambia.
,,,and for the record Jack>>>It was me who first to coined the phrase Jammeh is a Vampire. I also called him The Wizard Of OZ….running down his yellow brick road to his Castle. You may recall that The Wizard shouted death threats through megaphones from his Castle proclaiming himself as a terrible Goliath. When in fact he was just another lonely weak and feeble nobody.
How right I was .
WE can enjoy our victory.