Gainako Newspaper

I have read Mr. Madi Ceesay's essay on questions I posed through the sister
publication The Gambia Echo, on The Gambia's future should Jammeh leave
the helm of office.

I thank Mr. Ceesay very much for trying to answer some of the questions I
raised in my previous piece. Readers have directly e-mailed and asked that
I answer the questions from my perspectives. However, due to my current
film production schedule, I would only be able to honour their humble requests
when I am through with the field shoots.

Mr. Ceesay, I can understand when you chose to stay out of my fight with Mathew for when two
elephants are fighting it is the grasses that suffer. All the other smaller animals that cannot mediate
would either have to stay away or risk being trampled upon!

Madi, I value your points but we must NEVER forget the realities on the ground. They should serve
as our permanent points of orientation and return. We must realize that 42 years in too short in the
history of any independent nation-state. We should not make any illusion of having a Westminster
styled democracy at home anytime soon. May be our grand children and their off springs would
benefit from a Gambianized political economy in which the yardsticks between the Divine Rights of
Kings and the Bill of Rights would be decently demarcated.

We must however start now: I, for one, support an organic reform strategy in which transfer of
power would be part of a broader dynamic socio-political evolution so we do not repeat past
mistakes simply because some people want system change by all means without preparing for the
aftermaths. Emperor Nero or his successors did not build Rome in a day. The harmonious
Trans-Atlantic systems of checks and balances and the Rule of Law of former colonial powers were
not perfected overnight - constant amendments and adjustment in tune with the prevailing realities on
the ground brought things to their current standards.

Based on my calculations and assessment of the political realities at home, I stand to be proven
wrong by unforeseen circumstances, Jammeh will rule The Gambia for 20 years atleast. He has
already served 13 years and by common sense, 7 or 8 years, if we consider the election timetables,
are left. To avoid the transitional mistakes of the past, I would like to appeal to all those intending to
play key frontline roles in shaping the destiny of our Great Nation to join me in considering the next
seven years as period of smooth democratic and realistic transition from the Second to the Third
Republic. We should prepare every move very carefully and make provisions for the unforeseen, so
in case of any abrupt transition or inevitable tenure elongation, the innocent Gambians will not feel
the shock much.

The economic shocks of the 1994 takeover and the subsequent brutality of some of the solders
almost forced people to the street. If you can remember, the very first batch of peaceful
demonstrators against the coup involved mainly former PPP sympathizers. They were mercilessly
suppressed and their transparent (banners) confiscated. Their success could have been replicated
across the country as a hungry suppressed man, they say, is an angry man. If the news of
socio-economic hardships at home is anything to go buy, then the present situation of our country
could equate a time bomb. Even if our strategic foreign reserves could help finance reconstruction, I
would love to help in defusing the bomb now than complaining until it is accidentally detonated!

Furthermore, I am trying to help avoid a situation like Afghanistan or South Africa where the
never-ending battles of ideas between the former Diaspora nationals and the domestic elites are
arresting progress. In Afghanistan, the local leaders are accusing President Hamid Karzai of
monopolizing power together with his former exiled colleagues. The in-fights are hijacking
government performance despite massive Western aid and, the Taliban are taking advantage of the
situation by resurging. The protesting local leaders, under the stewardship of former President
Burhanuddin Rabbani, have recently regrouped into a curious National Front alliance of former
warlords, drug barons, communists, pacified Mujaheedens and all those who stayed and faced both
the Soviet invasion and the Taliban terror. The irritating factor is that, five years ago, these new
strange bedfellows spoke only through the barrel of the gun but now they found a common cause for
unity and resistance to intellectual arrogance. This made Karzai and his is former Diaspora elites
panic by inviting the Taliban for peace talks against the wish of their Western backers!

Similarly in South Africa there is this cold war between the former exiled leaders of the African
National Congress (ANC) and the local heroes who stayed at home - on faction wants fast
economic reforms while the other is taking things gradual. The uncomfortable power struggle is
distracting the government's attention from the fight against crime, HIV/AIDS and xenophobia. One
big political setback it caused the ANC is the loss of the psychologically important City of Cape
Town to the former Apartheid party, the Democratic Alliance.

At the time of anti-Apartheid struggles, those in exile around current President Thabo Mbeki
mobilized international support for the ANC and condemnations of the Apartheid regime. The ones
who stayed at home together with former Vice-President Jacob Zuma faced the full terror of the
Apartheid system. Now that the search for the next president is getting critical, the domestic leaders
feel it is their turn to produce the next Head of State. The local elites are boasting of heavy weights
like ex-VP Jacob Zuma, politician-turn-industrialist Tokyo Sexwale and trade unionist-turn-tycoon
Cyril Ramaphosa. All these three big boys have equal chance of becoming the next president of
South Africa if the big businesses behind ex-exile Thabo Mbeki do not spoil the show. In any case,
Tokyo and Cyril have built massive wealth in recent years to survive cash politics. Jacob's own
assets are his popularity and charisma. The scandals not withstanding, he was re-elected Deputy
President of the ANC, a training post for the office of the country's president. His intelligent
communication advisers successfully made the masses believe that the allegations of rape, immorality
and corruption against him were cooked by his political rivals since most of the people accusing old
boy Jacob maintain secret lovers alongside their legal partners�is politics not nice? I love politics!

I would not like to see similar situation when we all land in The Gambia. We will stagnate or fail if for
example, you and your fellow Gambian-Americans would be only advocating an American way of
life for our peoples, the returnees from the UK feeling nostalgic about the golden old days of Queen
Elizabeth, the ones from the Middle East preaching petro-dollar Sharia, the domestic elites insisting
on more local government authority and we the German boys calling for a social market economy
with the freedom to just make money, legally I mean! To avoid these vexatious polemics, we can
start making best use of platforms like The Gambia Echo and this respectful publication to learn how
to make compromises as leaders in waiting.

Sorry if you think I am daydreaming about my upcoming role in our country. To be realistic, would
you like me to serve Mother Gambia as a taxi driver when I can continue from where BB Dabo and
Dominic Mendy stopped - as a pragmatic technocrat?

To our fellow Gambians at home, I kindly request you to not only complain and cry about the hard
life at home, but to equally submit proposals on how to improve the problems within the spirits of the
bottom-up national development approach. This will make it easier for us to confidently tell
President Jammeh what his advisers might be afraid of saying as Jammeh knows very well that any
leader who ignores his constructive citizens would be committing a political suicide!

Madi Ceesay, you described my questions "everybody-knows-the answer kind of childish
question". You are lucky to find them simple and childish but not all my targeted readers are
fortunate like you. Whether I intelligently summarize the questions to two or stupidly extend them to
hundred, I consciously know very well that I am addressing a diverse readership with different levels
of understanding. As an effective communicator, I keep making a compromise by comporting myself
like a sunny boy using childish, feminine and some times buddy Father Christmas vocabulary for
people to feel just good. If my target readers were a homogenous conclave of cardinals, I would
have used Latin or classic English and if I should be addressing the Islamic Fiqh Academy in Saudi
Arabia or the Al-Azhar University in Egypt, I would surpass Captain Sana B. Sabally's style with
countless questions from the Holy Scripts. Mr. Ceesay, I am no apprentice and Communication is
my natural game!

I agree with your point on possible colourful results for grade twelve students. I now discover that
there are people who would study just to pass their exams. They would brag out of school with
distinctions only to make headways in real life as pimps. The ones among them who could further
their education would go for degree programmes in stupidity!

Madi, you are equally lucky to be among the privileged few that know the type of leaders they want
at the summit of our national affairs. For the majority of our voters at home, the case is however
different. Time pressure would not let me explain some of the interesting real life examples I gathered
from election news reporting across The Gambia. However, these three factors influence the
decisions of our voters: one, the psychology of the Divine Right of Kings makes it difficult for our
peoples to realize that they have the powers to appoint and dismiss elected officers - if you win an
election, they say it is God's work and if you loose, it is God's will! No matter how intensive we try
to educate our peoples, we would not succeed in demystifying this dogmatic perception within a
generation. We need a continuous process of peaceful civic enlightenment; two, the hierarchical
structure and patronage systems of our society tempt people to vote for persons recommended by
influential community leaders and three, the abject poverty makes people sell their votes to the
highest bidders to cover immediate needs like a bag of rice, attaya (green tea), school fees,
medicine, transport and other pressing basic survival needs at the time of electioneering. I stand to
be corrected but I feel we are decades away from a system through which our electorate would
choose leaders based on informed decisions and free choices!

I pray our Right Honourable Halifa Sallah finds time to kindly elaborate, the key points I am raising
here in this article. For, what Halifa does not know about the level of voter education and political
maturity in our beloved Nation of The Gambia is not worth knowing!

These real shortcomings we have at home are common rudimentary problems in most nascent
democracies around the world. We can only find solutions if we resist the temptations of intellectual
arrogance and the self-centredness of the "me" generation. If you have top rankings that love their
air-conditioned offices, air-conditioned cars, air-conditioned houses and air-conditioned girlfriends
more than the hot boiling sun, you will only succeed in failing the peoples as a glamorous looser.

We must try to be at shoulder levels with the peoples if we want to condition them towards
prosperity and free choice; bragging about our various statuses as graduates, scholars, fellows or
members of exclusive clubs would not take us anywhere. Like wise, top-down concepts from elite
policy schools like the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), the Kennedy
School of Government (USA), the Sciences Po (France), Ibn Khaldun Centre for Development
Studies (Egypt) or the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), would not rescue our
politically-ignorant majority if we ignore the desires of the Gambians in the street.

At this juncture, I request all the critics concerned not to forget the arts of political marketing.
Politics is not about being a saint like Mother Theresa, a spiritual guru like the Imam of Timbo or a
PhD holder. It is about dealing with diverse peoples. It means applying the socio-political ideals one
stands for to suit the needs and aspirations of the masses that entrusts one with authority. The game
of politics is about pendulating interests and not permanent friends. When it comes to applied
political science with structural adjustments to the realties on the ground, political ideals and
principles are the first victims of compromise, hence we have gerrymandering or cross-carpeting, to
name a few tricks. Let us honestly cut the idealistic crap and stop grumbling for nothing; the
problems of the day like abject poverty, impunity, you name it, must set the political agenda beyond
party and ideological lines!

We should therefore not be complaining blindly when opposition politicians or technocrats shake
hands with the government of the day for, serving the Gambia is not the same as serving the ruling
party. Over the years, the peoples have been tempted to keep voting for politicians based on their
campaign promises and manifestoes and when they take office, they act differently. This is mainly
due to the fact that there is no school, college or think-thank coaching our emerging political leaders
on the arts of Republican power politics. The concept of Shadow Cabinet is not being followed
seriously at home. We should however be thankful that Halifa Sallah and Sidia Jatta of PDOIS and
some UDP-sponsored legislators in addition to committed public executives are gathering firsthand
experience on the system of Jammeh's Administration that could be helpful in the Third Republic.
There is nothing contradictory in their association with the Gambia Government. Both Djibo Ka and
Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal gathered real government experience as Cabinet Ministers under
former president Abdou Diouf!

Coming to Mathew K. Jallow, I never intended to "defame" the elder and I do not see my rejoinder
as "defamation". He started it anyway. As a fair player, I requested the Editor of The Gambia Echo
to psychologically prepare Mathew before publishing my response. I bear no grudges and I think
Mathew and I can co-exit peacefully as "arch political rivals" like you rightly put it. I have always
experienced Mathew as a friendly elder brother and my respect for him dates back to the day I
found him fighting for the rights of an impoverished community in the peripheries of Serekunda. I
never imagined that I would find myself wrestling with him in such a way. However, as the saying
goes, those in glasshouses should not throw stones. Had Mathew not provoked me with unexpected
missiles on my small romantic villa, I would not have responded with the fire power of Word War II
legend Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery!

Now that we know each other's positions, Mathew can continue to follow the radical left-wing
political school if he so desires and I will maintain my liberal-democratic and pragmatic middle way
of political dispensation. Most importantly, I think we have indirectly helped in educating the readers
in one way or the other.

Generally, I do not know what is wrong with the people of today. Some of the readers can bear me
witness, since the day I became an active contributor to our online Gambian cyber platforms, people
have been attacking me personally as if I misused my celebrity status to illegally impregnate their
daughters or sisters! Some were trying to discredit me at all costs while others were bent on
assassinating my character with all kinds of bad names. The hostile reception I got in our online
communities could only match that six-feet-deep baptism of fire we media practitioners received
from the defunct AFPRC junta in 1994!

Now how do you expect me to react when people want to use 21st Century technology for 6th
Century style of debate?

If you rattle a cobra, you must be prepared to be mercilessly bitten. Though I share the same slender
posture, except height, with Rwanda's Paul Kagame, I am neither a small fry nor a frightened
teenage boy caught peeping the girls next door. I try to use my brain as intensively as possible
before uttering a word or making any decision. For, I always prefer to walk out of the battlefield
either like the legendary Vercingetorix, by losing with honour and pride, or like a tactical officer of
Julius Caesar's central command, by coming, seeing and conquering!

To sum up, I am a very tolerant person but if anyone takes my "Mr. Nice Guy" character for granted
and arrogantly brags about it, I will serve him/her extra hot pepper soup with atleast 100
kilogrammes of first grade spices from Zanzibar!

No hard feelings!

Bubacarr Sankanu

If We Make it About Ourselves
& not About Gambia, We'll Fail
..............................................By Sheriff��. June 13th, 2007

In April of 1964, Nelson Mandela along with 16 other members of the African National Congress,
stood trial for sabotage in what's now known as the Rivonia Trials. Facing a possible death
sentence for "crimes against the state", Mandela looked the Judge in the eye and uttered the
following words:

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African
people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against
black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free
society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if
needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Nearly two decades earlier, in India, Mahatma Ghandi led his people against the mighty British
colonial occupation. Through it all -- persecution, imprisonment, physical abuse, threats -- Ghandi
remained steadfastly committed to his ideals of truth, non-violence and independence for India. Not
only did he selflessly persevere for the betterment of his people -- all of them Hindu, Muslim,
Buddhist -- he even paid the ultimate price for his convictions when a disgruntled Hindu extremist
mowed him down.

During the struggle, Ghandi would engage in self-sacrifice by fasting long long
periods to leverage change of unjust British policy, as well as force unity among
different factions within his own people. Ghandi for instance forced a change
in unfair colonial policy towards "untouchables" by embarking on a six-day
fast in 1932. He adopted a similar measure to force Muslim and Hindu factions
of the anti-colonialism movement to unite as brothers in the struggle.

Two millennia prior, The Holy Prophet Mohammad, (PBU) having received the revelation from
Angel Gabriel, set out to spread the message to the wider world as instructed. One of the first
places he visited to spread the teachings was Taif, a town 50 mile southeast of Makkah. The people
there did not only reject the prophet's message of the Oneness of Allah, but they sent their children
to chase The Holy Prophet out of town, pelting him with rocks and other objects until he bled.

According to Islamic historians, the Prophet was treated so badly that an angel was sent with orders
to destroy the the town if the Holy Prophet so pleased. All the Prophet had to do was to give the
orders and the town would be obliterated; completely annihilated as punishment for their humiliating
treatment of the Prophet.

Remarkably, and with characteristic compassion, the Prophet, rather than choose the easy route of
vengefulness, not only desisted from giving the orders, but he offered prayers for the salvation of the
misguided people of Taif.

The last words of Jesus on the crucifix, according to Christian scholars, were, "Forgive them,
Father. For they know not what they do." "Them," referring to those who put him in his plight; the
villans who persecuted him and sought to harm him.

What is the common, running theme or moral in Mandela's, Ghandi's, Mohammad's and Jesus'
stories as narrated above? Selflessness and self-sacrifice.

Such is the history of every triumphant cause. The lesson to be learned from is that those who
advocate successful and enduring causes, did so by selling the principles and ideals, the vision; and
not themselves or their personhood.

As evident in each of the above stories, these extraordinary people would put their lives on the line
on any given day to advance the cause. Conversely, they would never seek to use the cause for
personal gains or self-aggrandizement. Hence each of their respective causes has not only been
remarkably successful, but has (and will) long outlived the individual mastermind who set the ball
rolling.

Try juxtaposing, if you will, those causes with the ones that have peen person-centered. Take
Nazism, Fascism, Maoism -- each of these celebrated "the leader" and how "great" he was. That is
why such movements fizzle and ultimately died with a flicker after the demise of the (lo and behold)
mortal founder.

Therein lies the explanation for the multitudes of failed African states today. Most, if not all, were ran
as fiefdoms of post-independent native leaders who elevated themselves above the state and used
it's resources -- human resources included -- as a means to an end. The end being political power
and personal gratification. Mabutu, Boughney, Bokassa, Salasie, Mugabe -- each of these leaders
has ran a largely person-centered dispensation to the detriment of the larger cause, which is the
welfare of the people. Consequently, when that person collapsed, as they inevitably would, the state
spiraled with him.

A while ago, one contributor to this site, Louis Friend, who has earned my respect through his sound
commentaries, rightly counseled professionalism in our discourse. I'd like to push that a notch
further.

The bigger challenge, as we discuss and debate the way forward for our beloved Gambia, is to push
the exchanges from a person-centered conversation towards a more idea and solution-centric
discourse.

It would be more constructive and beneficial for us to discuss real, serious-minded issues affecting
our country and recommend practical solutions than to trade in insults and delve on individuals.

It is self-delusional to think that we could heighten our own self-esteem by belittling or silencing
those we may not agree with. It helps us all to make this intellectual exercise more about the nobler
cause of Gambia's advancement, and less about hollow egoistic showmanship. Let's leave the latter
to the adolescent boys at the "Warga-Warga" playground.

Sheriff
North Carolina

.........GAMBIA
...AFTER JAMMEH
..............................................By Madi Ceesay ..........................June 12th, 2007

I had never wanted the join the trivial cycle of debates between Bubacarr
Sankanu and Mathew K Jallow. But now I have .Why? Because in Mr.
Sankanu's recent article defaming the elder Mathew, he concluded by posing
the everybody-knows-the-answer kind of childish questions, that even the
adolescents in the Gambia know the answers to.

Of all the eight questions (even though they could have been intelligently
summarized, in to two) the first two struck me most. However, I must say that I am not one of the
"one of you" you had referred to.

You asked: "what kind of leader do you want after Jammeh?" If students in the Gambia had
been getting these forms of questions in their grade twelve final exams, the West African
Examinations Council (WAEC) would have found if extremely difficult to count the number of
distinctions students would score. This is one of the easiest questions that can be answered by any
honest Gambian, literate and illiterate, as long as one has the love for the country at heart.

My answer to your question is: after Jammeh we want a leader who respects the rule of law; a
leader who puts Gambia first and himself last; a leader who considers extra-judicial murders a
capital crime; a leader who does not severe bilateral/multilateral ties with peaceful neighbors just to
befriend global tyrants and terrorists; a leader who does not sell bags of rice(Gambia's staple food)
thrice cheaper in his home village than the rest of the country; a leader who possesses a good sense
of judgment; a leader who considers the opposition as a government-in-waiting and not enemies; a
leader who does not play the tribal card to concretize his firm grab on absolute power; a leader who
does not enrich himself at the expense of the Gambia; a leader who does not consider disagreement
with him on pertinent national issues as hatred and unpatriotic; a leader who does not turn our
smiling coast in to a laughing stock by making lunatic medical claims of curing HIV/AIDS; a leader
who believes and acknowledges The Gambia belongs to Gambians and not his tribe and political
party loyalists� and the list goes on and on.

Next, you asked: "what kind of Gambia should our Third Republic be? Do we need a new
constitution?" Our Third Republic should be one that Babucarr Sankanu and Mathew K Jallow
can co-exist peacefully as arch political rivals without either having to plan for the other's
assassination. In brevity, a third republic where the rule of law and the respect for people's and
human rights prevail. Period!

Yes, we do need a new constitution: a civilian not a military one. A new constitution that does not
vest absolute power on the public official we call our president. A constitution that guarantees
checks and balances and that all three arms of government operate separately and independently.
We honestly need a constitution that treats all Gambians on the homeland and abroad with equality
irrespective of political, religious, social, (and if you like) economic affiliations.

I think it is important that we Gambians in the Diaspora engage in healthy political debates with the
ultimate aim of restoring democracy and the rule of law to achieve political peace and economic
prosperity for our Gambia. We need to discuss ways and means of undoing the severe damages that
had been (and continues to be) inflicted on the beautiful country of ours by thirteen years of
Jammeh's misrule. We better put to a halt the endless character assassination, tribal and medieval
mode of discourse. It is not (and has never been) helpful anywhere in the world.

On a final note let us try to be architects (in any capacity) of a Gambia that we all can return to
some day without having to expect the unjust receptions accorded to the likes of Sheriff Bojang jr
and Fatou Jaw Manneh, who have committed no crime at all.

Madi Ceesay
New York

Another HIV Patient Dead under
President Jammeh's HIV treatment
By Our Banjul Correspondent: Put together by Demba Baldeh Seattle, WA ......June 11th, 2007

Gainako has reliably been informed by our Banjul correspondence that another HIV/AIDS patient
by the name of Ansumana Dampha has died while under active treatment by the President of the
republic of the Gambia. Ansumana, who is the second patient to die while being treated by the
President; was laid to rest by his family; friends, relatives and neighbors.

The burial ceremony for the decease was very emotional as many people were seen with skeptical
faces when the relatives of the decease sang praises to the President for treating their love one until
his untimely death. The praise singing were seen to be a good gesture to the President as no one
dear challenge his treatment of their love ones.

In passing it is also important to mention that the decease patient like many others was taken off the
anti-retroviral medicine that the HIV patients were taking for treatment prior to joining the Jammeh
camp for local treatment.

It could be recalled that the President cum doctor declared several months ago that he has found a
cure for the deadly HIV virus that causes AIDS. Since his declaration, more than 80 Gambians have
been receiving active treatment by the President with the help of the country's Secretary of State for
Health Dr. Tamsir Mbow. It is also reported that the President's close brother Ansumana Jammeh
also administers treatment in the absent of the President.

Contrary to the President's open commitment that he was going to treat the patients for 10 days and
cure them of the virus, no patient is yet to be released from the camp more than six months later.
The President has also not presented any evidence of cure for any of the patients he has been
treating. As recently as a week ago, President Jammeh was once again seen on Al Jazeera TV
interview where he continues to proclaim that his treatments are working.

The few tests that were being carried out to test the viral load of patients at the initial stages of the
treatment have either seized or are secretly kept out of public knowledge. It was through those tests
that the public was able to scrutinize the results of the President's treatment. Now that those results
are no longer available for public consumption, there is complete darkness as to the progress or lack
thereof of the patients' well being.

In another development, it has been reported that Mr. Lamin Ceesay the President of Santa Yallah
Support Society and the first Gambian to put a human face to the HIV virus was seriously sick and
hospitalized at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH). Mr. Ceesay also openly advocated
on television, radio, and on live educational forums the need to educate Gambians of the threat of
the HIV virus that causes Aids. He was reportedly pretty healthy and was highly successful in
changing the minds of many Gambians to acknowledge the true threat of the HIV virus. Mr. Ceesay
being the President and head of Santa Yallah support society refused to abandon his public
awareness campaign and treatment to join the President's phony HIV treatment.

As a result of his refusal to endorse the President's cure, Mr. Ceesay has recently been a victim of
smear campaign by government officials in an effort to taint him as someone suffering from
Tuberculoses infection. Dr. Mbow and others are believed to be putting pressure for hospital
officials to send Mr. Ceesay for a Tuberculoses treatment camp to keep him away from the public
arena.

Many critics of the Jammeh treatment voiced out their concerns that the President's move will
jeopardize the funding support from the World Bank, and the UNDP Aids program designed to
help patients who cannot afford the treatment of the disease. The treatment as feared has started to
block funding from these agencies as they have no confidence in the leadership appointed by the
President to administer these programs.

The National Aids Secretariats had two significant projects with the World Bank namely HIV/AIDS
Rapid Response Project (HARRP) which faced out in December 2006, and Global Health Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GHFTAM). Since the commencement of the President's
treatment, this very important project has not received any funding from the World Bank. One
would assume that such much-needed important global projects to help the Gambian people should
be endorsed by any government. The lack of funding is being attributed to the President's move to
commence treatment and his expulsion of top UN officials from the Gambia.

Finally, Santa Yallah society one of the most visible branches of the National Aids Secretariats in the
fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Gambia appears to be the most affected amongst all
other subgroups. The society's annual Candle light memorial held on May 20, 2007 saw significant
drop in attendance from public sector officials, community base organization and diplomats who
used to grace the occasion in a colorful manner. This year's memorial ceremony for those who died
from the disease was not well attended mainly due to the President's controversial treatment.

Some members of the media, including GRTS who usually cover the occasion with a panel
discussion refused to honor Santa Yallah's invitation in fear of reprisal from the President and his
team. These are just some of the most significant developments affecting the collective effort from all
angles to help educate the public on the threat of the deadly HIV/AIDS epidemic said our reporter.
No one knows where this unfortunate situation is going to lead to opined our reporter on the group.
It is hoped that the new Director of the National Aids Secretariats Mr. Alieu Jammeh will restore
some confidence in the system for the international funding agencies to allow more funds for the
continuation of the treatment programs.

Editors note: while many news outlets appears to be silence on the effect of the President's HIV
treatment. Gainako has made special commitment to continue to monitor the progress of our
brothers and sisters under the dangerous treatment of President Jammeh. It is indeed tragic for an
entire nation and its most vulnerable citizens (the sick) to be subjected to such baseless treatment.
We will continue to report everything on this treatment until the President's false treatment is
exposed to the whole world.

This is something personal to Gainako and it is our conviction that no human being should be
subjected to such inhumane treatment without right to privacy and dignity. We challenge the
President and his team to release Patients that have been treated, if infact they have been treated.
We challenge them to invite international investigators to conduct test and determine the progress of
the patients being treated. We further ask the President why it is taking so long to complete any
treatment as he promised? Would you have the moral audacity to reveal the test you conducted to
the public for scrutiny? No matter how long it takes, Gainako will report every movement in the
treatment camp.

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