Ever since the removal of The Gambian Ambassador to Washington Dodou Bammy Jagne, life has changed for the worst at The Gambian Mission in DC. Not only faced by leadership deficiency, the Embassy’s main website with the domain name http://www.gambiaembassy.us is also not operational.
Concerned travelers who contacted the Freedom Newspaper over the weekend, have accused officials of The Gambian Mission for ineptitude and lack of commitment to advance the welfare of Gambians and genuine travelers. The travelers said it was a shame on the side of the Gambian Mission to have their website grounded for such a long period of time. They called on the Ambassador to wake up from his slumber and find a lasting solution to the problem.
“ How can these folks in the DC, effectively represent our country when they cannot even take care of a website? This calls in the ineffectiveness of these individuals in their respective abilities to represent The Gambia in the United States. I doubt their sincerity and commitment in serving President Jammeh and The Gambian nation. Something has to be done to regularize the situation.” said one of the disgruntled travelers.
While the Gambian students in Taiwan are displeased with their representative in Taipei, the frustrated travelers said there is little hope that the said website might be fixed in the short term, citing the Embassy’s care free attitude towards clients. That Embassy officials are inaccessible and hardly returns messages left on their voicemail.
During the Weekend, some African Americans and Gambians alike contacted the Freedom Newspaper complaining about the absence of the Gambian Mission’s website on the worldwide web. Some of the concerned travelers said they were in desperate need of information regarding the pending Banjul International Roots Home Coming Festival, but the site was not operational. The travelers want information about visa processing fees, Gambian cultural issues among other things.
“ Hey your, what da heck is happening with The Gambian Mission website in DC? We have been trying to access their site, but the site is not working. We wanna visit Gambia this coming Spring, but site is offline. Do you have any clues bro? We are disappointed men.” one of the frustrated customers lamented.
Initially, many callers thought that The Gambian Mission’s website was hacked, but following a follow-up to the story, it was discovered that there was nothing of that nature. The site might as well be grounded for non payment of web hosting fees, according to unconfirmed reports. Another theory being circulated was the Embassy’s inability to hire a webmaster to facilitate the up and running of their site.
Maintaining a website in the United States, requires money and a dedicated web hosting company. Due to high web hosting fees, many publishers and private institutions are finding it extremely difficult to maintain their websites.
Web hosting companies normally allocate certain amount space to website owners and once they exhausted their allocated space, they have no choice but to put some money on the table to facilitate the continuation of the services provided. Failure of which, might result into the disabling of the operations of a particular website. Many sites are offline due to non payment of services, while some sites might be affected by technical problems.
Attempts to reach Embassy officials in DC, during the weekend for comments proved futile. The Ambassador and his staff were indisposed for comments at press time.
