Ex-justice minister Joof, others submit details for nominations with IEC

The nomination for presidential candidate in Gambia’s December 4 election has started on Saturday with the submission of nomination papers by Joseph Henry Joof, a one-time justice minister under ex-president Yahya Jammeh. The controversial figure passed a bill in 2000 indemnifying soldiers who shot student protesters. “I will win these elections. I am very optimistic. Gambia needs a new breed of politicians…,” Joof told journalists after submitting his nominations at the Election House. Joof will be an independent candidate if his nomination gets a pass from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). In April 2000, hundreds of Gambian students took to the street...

November 2, 2021Current Affairs, Election Hub
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Gambia’s first ‘raster’ presidential hopeful files for nomination

Bankole Yao Jojo Ahadzie, 43, has made history on Sunday by becoming the first rasterman to file for nomination as a presidential candidate in Gambia. Gambians head to the polls on December 4, a crowded race that show 22 people declaring interest in the country’s top job. Banky, as he is commonly called, has been a staff of the Medical Research Council (MRC) since the 2000. He studied internet engineering in the United Kingdom. The rasterman is seen by many observers as one of the underdogs in the coming elections. However, he is hailed for his simplicity and kindness by associates. He...

October 31, 2021Current Affairs, Election Hub
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Dr Banja Denies Corruption Charges

Dr Bamba Banja, a former permanent secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries, has denied three counts of corruption charges brought against him at the High Court on Wednesday. Dr Banja faces charges bordering on economic crimes and official corruption. He pleaded not guilty on all counts. The former permanent secretary, who appeared before Justice Bakre, was remanded pending his formal bail application which his lawyer promised to file on October 15. The case is adjourned to October 20. Dr Banja was accused of collecting bribes from officials of a Chinese fish meal company, Golden Lead. Golden Lead operates Gambia’s biggest fish meal factory...

October 14, 2021Current Affairs, Investigations
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‘Decoding’ COVID-19: Gambia’s success in tracking mutations of the virus

By December last year, The Gambia has uploaded 430 sequenced genomes of COVID-19 on the global database compiled by GISAID Initiative, ranking 6th in the world for percentage of positive samples sequenced, according to a Washington Post article. By the beginning of March 2021, the country had sequenced 1000 genomes or 20% of its positive samples, said Abdul Karim Sesay, a Genomics Lab Manager at Medical Research Council at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the Gambia. 

April 22, 2021Current Affairs, Indepth Reporting
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