Questions and more about the allegations of conflicts of interests in The Gambia’s TRRC

10 January 2019 By Dr. Omar Janneh A study asked some individuals if gifts/kickbacks could sway their attitudes and behaviours and those of their peers. While about 60% answered that gifts did not affect their work, only 16% believed other individuals were similarly unaffected. This appears to suggest that

The PPP 2018 Congress: when will the dust settle on the once dominant party of The Gambia?

6 January 2019 By Dr. Omar Janneh After some 19 years of hiatus, the National Executive of the PPP convened its first congress on December 28 to 30, 2018. On 30th December 2018, the Congress delegates attempted to elect the Party’s next Secretary General and Party Leader. The two

Dispiriting levels of incompetence, cluelessness and lack of vision are hallmarks of two years of the Barrow government - revisited

1 January 2019 By Dr. Omar Janneh  In general, 22 years of living under a brutal dictatorial regime has given us ample time to know the kind of change we have longed for in The Gambia. In 2016, we removed the dictator and replaced him with a “Coalition President” who

Every little helps - we must scrutinise the government’s policies and motivations for doing anything

8 December 2018 By Dr. Omar Janneh S/he is probably me or any one of us. Those who know him/her well would say that s/he has hopes, dreams, aspirations and of course contradictions. They also know that s/he is quite inconsistent and that like some of

Free lunch may be an inducement to get what you want some day

4 December 2018 By Dr. Omar Janneh My Fellow Gambians, Please let us not allow anyone to fool us that this type of government-enabled migration is no different to people voluntarily migrating to another country for greener pastures. Let’s not listen to those self-serving individuals in the

It is time to tilt the politics away from a Barrow government

30 November 2018 By Dr. Omar Janneh A leader must lead for good reasons, s/he must be selfless and so must know the spirit of sacrifice and positive legacy. Let us be clear, this does not mean what s/he contributed towards national assembly elections or what s/he

Excuses for doing nothing: The Barrow government’s love for commission of inquiries

30 November 2018 By Dr. Omar Janneh The Surahata Janneh Commission, Faraba Banta Commission, and the TRRC may end up tripping over themselves, making them absolutely worthless to the state, but they are and may continue to become worthy money-making ventures to the individuals employed to run them. They

Does the Barrow household need a movement and a foundation?

7 September 2018 By Dr. Omar Janneh In my view, President Barrow does not need a foundation and or a movement, and to have both must cause unacceptable and unnecessary flow of distractions. President Barrow already has a foundation which I will call “Building a Just and Prosperous Gambia Foundation”

The case for holding The Gambia’s presidential elections in 2019

14 October 2018 By Dr. Omar Janneh On many platforms, Mr. Ousainou Darboe was heard of making the point that President Adama Barrow should lead for 5 years because that is what the Constitution says. Indeed that is what the Constitution says, but I do not believe that the Coalition

The invisible bank of President Barrow

6 September 2018 By Dr. Omar Janneh In the forward to The Gambia National Development Plan (2018-21), President Adama Barrow challenged us to do a lot of things, among which was to hold his government to account for their actions. Below is small section of what he said: “I

On the Appointment of Mr. Essa M Faal as the Gambia's lead counsel to The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission

6 September 2018 By Dr. Omar Janneh The appointment of Mr Essa M Faal as the lead counsel to The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission is welcome. From what was reported as well as from private research, Mr. Faal is a very good choice for the assignment. He

The dithering government

4 September 2018 By Dr. Omar Janneh Any government that seems to set up a Commission or Investigation Panel upon encountering any storm and waits for the recommendations of the Commissioners or the Investigators to be published before it can act may be described as indecisive and irresponsible. Commissions and