February 2023
In Ethiopia’s Tigray, a horrific military cooperation: weaponized rape
Ethiopia’s reluctant admission and limited prosecution might almost look like justice if compared to another state actor in the conflict: Eritrea. By many accounts, Eritrean soldiers led the charge in weaponizing rape in the conflict in Tigray. Of the 13 survivors interviewed by CCIJ in this investigation, five said their rapists were Eritrean soldiers – compared to two who pointed to Ethiopian soldiers. Yet the former are accountable to neither the Ethiopian government nor the international community from which their country, often called “the North Korea of Africa,” is isolated. In this investigation by CCIJ, Lucy Kassa looks...
Explainer: Significance of UN World Braille Day
United Nations defines braille as a tactile representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols using six dots to represent each letter and number, and even musical, mathematical and scientific symbols. The observance of World Braille Day was officially recognised by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018. What is World Braille Day? World Braille Day is celebrated yearly on January 4, which is the birth anniversary of Louis Braille, the one who invented the communication device. In 2009, the World Blind Union celebrated the 200 th anniversary of Louis Braille’s birth. This, therefore, led to World Braille Day. The United Nations then made...
Explainer: Honouring Solo Sandeng’s sacrifice
The events of April 14 & 16, 2016, were a dark chapter in The Gambia’s history. Ebrima Solo Sandeng, an organising secretary of the opposition United Democratic Party, led a nonviolent protest, demanding electoral reforms and justice. This was a period when the dictatorship was at its peak. The Gambia's former dictator president, Yahya Jammeh, was holding on to power with an iron fist ahead of the December 2016 elections. The protestors received a hostile welcome from the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) officers. About 27 UDP members were arrested and taken to the PIU headquarters in Kanifing. Solo Sandeng was...
December 2022
Dubawa kickstarts fourth edition of the Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking and Research Fellowship
During the induction program, fellows would undergo a four-day intense virtual fact-checking training that would equip them with the required skills for the three-month fellowship.
October 2022
Factcheck: Barrow’s misleading comments on the Securiport deal
The contract signed between the gov’t and Securiport provides exemption for 2-year-olds and below. However, diplomatic passport holders have not been paying the levy.
Factcheck: President Barrow makes false claims in a VOA interview
Human rights and press freedom organisations have documented violations of freedom of expression, including the prevalence of anti-free speech laws, arrest and detention of political and civil society activists over speech-related issues, unlawful closure of media houses, and violent crimes against journalists with impunity.
September 2022
Inside the Securiprofit deal
In this investigation Malagen reveals how the introduction of $20 security levy at the airport has caused possible financial loss of at least D274m to the state. And the party has just started. It has just been three years, 11 more years to go. The contract granted to Securiport, a US-based company to provide aviation and immigration security was negotiated from the Office of the President. Despite public outcry, objection from travel and tourism industry, and strong opposition from even within the government, the Securiprofit deal was signed and implemented in apparent violation of laws on tax, procurement and public finance. Click...
Fact-check: has Gai Construction been paying tax in relation to the Banjul Rehabilitation Project?
While the addendum signed on October 11, 2019, nullified the credit facility, changes the currency of payment from USD to dalasis though the costings all remain in USD. That first addendum done in 2019 nullified the credit facility which carried the first tax exemption granted to the contractor. The authorities then include a similar tax exemption and duty waiver in the addendum.