Scales Praises Education Secretary Faye!!!!

Dear Mr.Editor,

May I warmly applaud Madam Secretary of State for primary and secondary education The Rt. Hon.Ms.Fatou Lamin Faye for at last confirming that 'the overall investment in Education is beyond the States capacity?" May I also congratulate Ms.Kumba Conateh Nam for achieving an MBA and recognition from The Honourable Government of Taiwan as an outstanding student who is a great ambassador for The Gambia?

Taking this theme further, and highlighting several recent and sensible editorials in The Daily Observer concerning what amounts to the ingredients for Nation building, I would like to echo some of the sentiments highlighted.

As an accomplished businessman of some 40 years and an advisor to our own Regional Development Agency here in the U.K. I have previously recommended the need for well thought out policies {a business plan} attached to a workable and well thought out manifesto for setting out the road map to achieving the development goals of The Gambia.

The role of business creation and the required attachment of education and skill procurement are" relative partners" in achieving the ambitions of both the individual and the State. In fact one cannot be achieved without the support of the other.

The State is dependant on the personal commitment and entrepreneurial skill of the business mentor to further the profit making enterprise that can deliver a fair burden of taxation to Government, whose task is to distribute this wealth creation into public services.

No responsibility of Government is greater than its obligation to the education of the Nations children. In recognising that The Gambian Government cannot meet the total educational needs of all the Gambia's children, The Government makes a very considerable and helpful statement of truth in recognising this considerable problem.

The solution to this problem can therefore be interrogated and the method of its solution can be solved by the attached benefit. Africa has for too long been dependant on the goodwill of foster nations and individual donors to give relief to this problem. The President of The Gambia, has been very consistent in his belief that only Africans can resolve this problem through its own wealth creation and its self reliance on African resource and mutual

co-operation. It should be considered that The wealthy Western nations who make great play and advertisement of its  financial contributions to the African continent, never mention the other side of this situation. that It continues to plunder far more out of Africa that it puts in. The West is as guilty if not even more so than African nations who for 40 years of Independence have hardly been able to lift its separate nations from the bottom of the world league tables for National development. Moreover, Britain and America and their allies in Europe, have increasingly set more and more obstacles in Africa's way as it tightens and squeezes the Trade tariffs and immigration rules which in effect have increasingly isolated African ambition, as it places an effective quarantine around African shores.

The Many recent statements from The British government, serve only to confirm, that it intends to impose strict rules in favour of accruing only the very best skilled and most educationally gifted Africans for consideration to its entry rules into Britain. This shocking and progressive move will only serve to rape Africa of its most promising and prodigious talent. Try hard as Africa can towards self reliance and wealth creation through education, it will continue to be exploited by the false lure of riches in The West at the expense of the African's dream of freedom from poverty and a life that for many knows only economic hardship and denial of their basic human right to life.

Mr.Editor,whilst I applaud the many contributions from African journalists towards the African condition....I am becoming more open to the conclusion that the many appeals to Western leaders for help, only serve to devalue the truth of where the real problem emanates from and how the situation can be changed in the African's favour.

Tony Blair said, 'The West could solve Africa's problems if it had the mind to do so." "Africa is the scar on the conscience of mankind."

Tony Blair came and went....Britain takes more out of Africa than it puts in. We remain influential in almost every sphere of the African's daily life, yet we have failed to move the African's life one inch better than when we were in the colonial driving seat.

The truth is clear....Africa can only travel upwards amongst the nations of the world under its own steam and under its own determination to succeed. Africa in the mindset of The West is an expendable resource and an open cast mine that is exploited for the delight of the rich mans table. Moreover, the rich man of the West has built its national wealth on the back of the African for far too long. This greed for wealth beyond imagination is a degradation that is presently destroying mankind. The myth of skin colour and culture as a means to proliferate prejudice as the blindfold, is only an excuse for public sentiment towards the creation of International Human Rights Law. Yet where is Human Rights Law in the consciousness of Western or indeed Global governments. It is a picture on the wall that never sees the light of day. As the waters of the economic reservoir receed,the Global recession grows even darker, as  the scale of cheating and the  daily scams and scandals of false investments that has destroyed pensions for the life time labour of the working man is exposed.

Corruption on an unbelievable scale. All under the perfumed noses of Western governments. As I predicted....so many fingers pointing at others, when the finger should reverse towards ones own complicity and self aggrandizement.

The thread that ties the Human species together is not fostered by the governments of The World. The ties that bind us are social and in many ways cultural. The respect of humanity for humanity is the only shining beacon in the struggle for a fair deal for all citizens of the world no matter of their religion, or belief or cultural diversity. The silent majority that comprises 99% of the world’s human inhabitants, are growing sick and tired of the personal ticket to wealth that reflects the passage of its elected representatives into the protection of governments that exploit and pillage for personal gain. Are we witnessing the death of capitalism or the death of human aspiration that has traded on hope and struggle leading to today's reality of growing despair?

If America is the shining role model for the worlds recovery from economic pneumonia, where is the confidence to be found. Is it at Guantanamo Bay, or its retraction from torture only to continue with rendition. Somehow the Laws and The honourable Constitutions of world governments are only a distant apparition of a once noble History.

So many representatives at The United Nations cannot sleep with a clear conscience these days. Most have some transgression to hide..All have some complicity to argue against.

The world has been gifted with an opportunity for reflection on where it has come from and where it wants to go. I doubt this generation of irresponsibility will see the growth that is necessary from the experience of what our children will endure as its consequence.

The investment must therefore transfer from our own depleted ambitions scattered to the four ill winds of economic despair, into the education of our children, so that they may learn from our generations mistakes, which are wide ranging and many.

     "Suffer the little children to come unto me"

                                                                                                          I remain Michael..U.K.

 ....................................................................

….As Magistrate Vows To Withdraw From The Case If…..

Lawyer Hawa Sisay Sabally Asked Court To Dismiss Prosecution's Application To File Additional Charges

By Staff Writer Bolong Jammeh, Banjul

The trial of the embattled Point Newspaper Editor Pap Saine is talking an ugly route as the Prosecution Wednesday announces to file an additional charges against the Point boss. Police prosecutor Inspector Fadera announces his intention to file what he calls substitution charges against Saine, whose citizenship as a Gambian is being challenged by the state. But presiding magistrate Sainabou Wadda Ceesay threatens to transfer the case to another court, citing her uncompromising stance against unnecessary adjournments. The magistrate said her court do not condone unnecessary adjournments and therefore advised the prosecution to make up their mind before she would rescue herself from the controversial case.

Due to the state’s determination to strip off Pap Saine his Gambian birth right and possible imprisonment on false news publication, the embattled journalist has engaged the services of former Gambian Attorney General and Minister of Justice Awa Sisay Sabally. Madam Sabally announces her representation for the embattled journalist at Wednesday's hearing at the Kanifing magistrates court.

In her address, Lawyer  Sabally, objected  the prosecution's application adding that the false publication was emphatically stated in both count 1 and 2  respectively. She told the court gallery that false publication in the criminal code of 2004 was amended by 2005 amendment act. She gracefully urged the court to object the prosecution application for the substitution of the charges.

At this juncture, prosecution Fadera applied for an adjournment to look for authority. The case is slated to resume on Wednesday 11th March for reply from the prosecution.

In a similar development Sainabou Wadda Ceesay who is currently presiding over Pap Saine case told the court that she is likely to transfer the case to another Magistrate on the basis that she did not like to adjourn criminal case before her.

In another development, the Point Newspaper reported that Pap Saine has been charged with obtaining passport through false pretence. Below is the story.

…………………………………………………..

Mr Pap Saine, co-publisher and managing editor of The Point Newspaper, has been charged with another criminal offence.

Mr Saine was yesterday arraigned at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court, before Magistrate Lamin George, charged with obtaining registration by false pretence and obtaining a passport by false declaration all contrary to the laws of The Gambia. He vehemently denied the charges.

Count 1, Mr Saine is charged with obtaining registration by false pretence contrary to section 295 of criminal code cap 10 volume III laws of The Gambia. The alleged offence revealed that Pap Saine sometime in the year 1994 in the city of Banjul knowing to be non-citizen of The Gambia unlawfully procured and obtained a Gambian birth certificate No CLP 289 by false pretence thereby committed an offence.

On count 2, Mr Saine is charged with obtaining a passport by false declaration contrary to section 31(h) of the Immigration Act cap 16.02. The alleged offence stated that Pap Saine on or about the 21st May 2007 at the immigration headquarters in the city of Banjul by false declaration obtained a Gambian passport No PC 183902 for himself thereby committed an offence.

Meanwhile he was granted court bail not withstanding objections raised by the prosecution. The bail conditions are that he should furnish the court with two Gambian sureties in the sum of D10, 000 each. He should also report to the police every Friday.

The case was at length adjourned until 11th March 2009.

In a separate case, Mr Pap Saine is expected to appear today at the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court where he is currently standing trail on a charge of false publication and broadcasting, a charge he denies.

Author: Modou Sanyang

Source: Picture: Mr. Pap Saine