Confirmed sources informed Kairo Newsthat the Gambia’s Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure who was involved in a car accident on Sunday, April 20, was hurriedly flown out of the country on Monday night. Bala Garba Jahumpa was involved in the accident in Upper River Region while he was on a country tour with President Yahya Jammeh.
Our sources said “Bala Garba has suffered fractures in his backbone which requires urgent overseas treatment. He is said to have left the country’s main referral hospital in Banjul to Dakar before proceeding to Spain for medical treatment.”
According to Kairo News sources in Upper River Region, the accident happened when Mr. Jahumpa’s vehicle ran over a bull that was crossing the highway while the presidential convoy was on its way to the Upper River Region. Many other senior officers, drivers and security personals are said to been receiving medical attention at Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul.
One Basse source however blamed the accident on over speeding on a small road full of potholes.
Most people wonder why President Jammeh’s yearly country tour has been marred by fatal deaths. It is either the touring vehicles run into waiting school children or the touring vehicles cause road accidents. This has left Gambians believing that the tour is a perfect ground for Mr. Jammeh’s sacrifices.
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Get well soon mate. A very likeable Gambian. Once the two of us started off at 7am in Janjanburreh and raced all the way to Basse (where I managed to catch up with him!). I left him there and continued on to Koina. Nice memory of The Gambia. I hope he makes a full recovery, inshallah.
Is because jammeh do not respect human,he is an idiot.
Balla’s father Garba favoured a negotiated algamation with Senegal rather than an independent Gambia. He was not a believer in independent Gambia.
And what is your considered opinion of Balla’s father’s “believe” Lafia?
Treacherous, Halake. He basically wanted Gambia to be sold to Senegal.
Thanks
Or, Lafia, he was a visionary ahead of his time? A Pan-Africanist who foresaw a Great Senegambia 20 years before Sir Dauda Jawara? Just another way of looking at it!
Sir Dawda insisted on an independent Gambia. That is what’s done it for me. He has the ‘can do mentality’ while Garba was inclined on having Gambia sold off.
I hope all involved in this accident are well and safe and I wish the injured a speedy recovery.
No doubt, Yaya Jammeh is a man who has shown that he believes in the mystical/super-natural, and so connections will be made between these accidents/deaths and sacrifices, but it is obvious that a number of factors, which have no mystical or super-natural bearing, are to blame for these never ending accidents of his motorcade…
Among these are the poor quality of the roads, poor safety and driving standards, poor organisation and management (of the motorcade/events), poor health and safety measures and poor and ineffective risk assessment/risk management measures (if any at all)..
If you are a teacher and was going to teach a lesson about poor driving and unsafe attitudes around vehicular traffic, Jammeh’s motorcade would be a fantastic “Teaching Aid”..
I don’t know why people don’t fear this motorcade as they do the Angel of Death because it is the “calling card” for the Angel to visit..
My attention is also drawn by the information that the Hon.Minister has been evacuation abroad for further treatment.
This makes me wonder whether,if faced with the same injuries, an ordinary APRC Militant would have been accorded the same privilege or be left to rot and die at the RVH or whatever they call it now.
I hope ordinary APRC supporters come.out of their intoxicated stupors
…and reflect on the realities of what could happen to them during these dangerous missions across the country…
Lafia…
If the Hon.Jahumpa’s wish for a union with Senegal was treacherous,how about Jawara’s signing over of our sovereignty to that country during the Senegambia Confederation..?
Let’s remember that the Act of Parliament that established the Confederation allocated the Office of the President of the Confederation to the holder of the Office of President of Senegal and that of Vice President to the holder of the Office of President of The Gambia…
It also empowers the President of the Confederation to declare a State of Emergency in the Confederation and take absolute control of all the resources of the confederation…
Give us your opinion on that..
Bax, my e-mail in-box alerted me to your presence – I thought I left you in the shallow end! As long as you came alone it is OK (ha ha). You say:-
“It also empowers the President of the Confederation to declare a State of Emergency in the Confederation and take absolute control of all the resources of the confederation…”
That indeed is partly why the Confederation was in the end seen as “unbalanced” and dissolved.
As a Pan-Africanist I would of course be for a Confederation, but it must be well-balanced to allay the fears of the junior partner. For me the State of Emergency Powers should NOT have been possible without a vote in BOTH parliaments.
What does the 2013 census say about the population of the Senegalese currently living in The Gambia? Over half a million? Three Quarters? Considering that many Gambians have family links in Senegal, it could be that well over HALF the Gambian population may be Senegambian. This fact could open up many scenarios, not least what can now the termed in political discourse “The Crimea Option”!
Over to Bax and Lafia!
Bax. Senegambia confederation like all bilateral and multi-lateral agreements was ratified by parliament which was elected through universal adult suffrage. This is what the constitution dictated at the time.
You are picking on PDOIS’s perverse argument which is not borne by law but an ideology must people detested in Gambia. No wonder PDOIS is the 3 percent it is and will always be. In a democracy, elected officials are allowed to make decisions on behalf of those who elected them hence, the reason for having elections . Garba Jahumpa was trecheous in wanting to sell of Gambia. No wonder in rural Gambia.
And by the way, the Senegambia conferedation did not transfer sovereignty to any nation. It was a bilateral agreement that limits sovereignty of both Gambia and Senegal in areas of mutual interest. None of the states were abolished as a result and all countries were recognised internationally as independent sovereign states.
Halake, the power to declare a state of emergency in The Gambia was vested in the president of the republic, and it was sir Dawda who exercised this power in 1981. The exercise of this power was supervised by an elected gambian parliament and allegations of excesses reviewed by the constituted courts of the republic of The Gambia.
The intervention of Senegalese troops in1981 was also done at the request of the democratically elected president and government of the Republic of The Gambia. Most of the work was actually carried out by H.E Assan Musa Camara, the then Vice President and H.E BB Darboe, the then Ambassador in Dakar.
Thanks
The office of the president and Vice President were meant to be rotational under the confederation agreement and when Diouf refused to cede to sir dawda’s request for this agreement to be implemented as it was gambian’s turn to assume presidency, the arrangement broke down for good.
Bax always get things wrong.
Well explained Lafia. Yes, the Presidency being “rotational” did make perfect sense too. Has our PDOIS Bro Bax followed his Master into Purdah? Over to him!
Hahaha…I dozed ofof”sbit over there my in law..You are absolutely right on the Senegambia interconnection and it will do both people a lot of good if we can form some kind of balanced union.
Lafia…Let’s put PDOIS argument aside for a bit..
Sovereignty of any people is not determined by who recognised it but whether the people are in ownership and control of their country..
If a foreign head of state has powers to seize the ownership of a country and control all aspects of life of the people, that country has lost its sovereignty, regardless of whether others still recognise it as a sovereign state or not…
Take Iraq as an example…After the fall of Saddam, Bush appointed Paul Bremmer to be the de factor ruler of Iraq…He, as a rep of Mr Bush, controlled all aspects of the lives (and resources) of the Iraqi people.. Though Iraq has never lost its recognition as a sovereign, independent state during this period, no one with an iota of intelligence and common sense, would call Iraq a sovereign state under those circumstances…except those,in whose interest it was,to subjugate Iraq…
If President Joof had exercised his powers and declared a state of emergency during the Confederation, Gambia would have lost her sovereignty, regardless of who recognised our “independence and sovereignty”..
If you see that as PDOIS ideology, then tell us your understanding of ” sovereignty “…
You seem to suggest that because the confederation agreement was ratified by Parliament, the people’s reps, it was alright and in line with democratic rule…
I won’t cite cases where Parliaments have ratified and passed laws that criminalise individuals on the bases of their religion, colour or political beliefs, but if that is your argument, I hope I will never see you criticise our Parliament’s actions to allow Jammeh to engage in business or their passing into law, all those draconian media laws…That’s “democracy” too, isn’t it?
Bax, you never get your facts right. President Diouf never had any power or right to declare a state of emergency over The Gambia. This was exclusively for sir Dawda and exercised as such by sir Dawda. Under the confederation pact, President Diouf was merely obliged to assist with troops are resources if requested by the elected president and govt of The Gambia and this is exactly what happened in 1981.
There is no parallel between what occurred in Gambia in 1981 and what was happening in Iraq. Senegalese troops were in The Gambia at the invitation of the democratically elected government of The Gambia. Iraq on the other hand was actually occupied.
I can’t stand PDOIS knobs like you who just manufacture stuff in their skulls or easily get excited by the wishful ideologies propounded by some scruffy looking PDOIS ideologues.
A government is run according to the dictates of the constitution which by the way, was the supreme law and was approved by the people in a referandum. So when you talk about a democratic deficit in the face of this fact, it becomes obvious that you are deluded like all other PDOIS fanatics. The Senegambia confederation had passed the constitutional test when it was ratified by the peoples’ very own elected parliament.
Thanks
I have the feeling that I have encountered you before under a different user name.Your style cannot escape me…
Let’s make somethings clear.
(1) The 1981 coup preceded the Confederation. Infact, one could say that it was the catalyst for it…So events preceding the 1981 coup are irrelevant,as far as,the Confederation Agreements/Protocols are concerned..
That Jawara invoked Defence Agreements signed with Senegal before 1981 are not relevant to the Act that established the Confederation…
(2) Senegal and The Gambia were in a union (Senegambia Confederation) which did not stop each head of state from fulfilling his responsibilities in his country, according to their constitutions…I did not say otherwise.
Jawara could declare a State of emergency in The Gambia, just as Joof could do the same in Senegal and the other will not be affected…But Joof could declare a State of emergency in the entity called Senegambia Confederation, which would affect both countries…And as in any state of emergency, executive decrees (emanating from the presidency),instead of the constitution, become the tools of governance..
(3) The Act that established the Senegambia Confederation did not create a “Rotational Presidency”…
The idea for rotation was put forward by the Gambian authorities for discussions and Amendments of the Confederation Protocols but the union broke up dramatically before those discussions could be completed…
When you mentioned the ratification of the Confederation Agreements,by our Parliament,as being in line with the practice of democracy, did you consider any “democratic defects”.?
Isn’t it hypocritical to consider one Parliament’s actions as in line with democratic practice, whilst considering another’s actions as “defects”, even though both were under immense pressures to ratify the act/pass the laws..?
Explain what you understand from the word “Sovereignty “…I only mentioned Iraq to show that recognition by others, that a state is sovereign and independent, does not determine sovereignty or independence, as you seem.to suggest earlier..
Leave PDOIS out of this..I have told you a million times that I am.not a PDOIS Member.
-This is good Bantaba stuff brothers – just the Bakau or Latrikunda Big Tree missing! That said, I must gently chide Lafia on this comment: “scruffy looking PDOIS ideologues”!!! Halifa’s AFRO is certainly very well kept – and his Kaftan is very smart (By the way, I have NEVER seen him wearing trousers!). Sorry for the interruption – please resume the fascinating discussion.
Lafia…
You cannot “eat” your cake and “have” it at the same time…
The only qualification you gave for the adoption of the Confederation Agreements being in line with democratic practice, is that it was passed by our Parliament.
That is why I stated that “if that was your argument, then I hope I will never see you criticising the actions of our current/previous 2nd Republic Parliament to allow Jammeh to engage in business or the passing of draconian Media Laws..” These were also passed by Parliament.
Now, you are talking about democratic deficits…
Tell us then,as far as the acts of ratifying and passing laws are concerned, what democratic deficits afflicts the 2nd Republic Parliament that the 1st Republic Parliament escaped..?
And whilst you are at it, do not forget to tell us what you understand to be “Sovereignty” that is different from PDOIS ideology…
I need to come again..How did I miss this one..?
Quote….”Under the confederation pact, President Diouf was merely obliged to assist with troops are resources if requested by the elected president and govt of The Gambia and this is exactly what happened in 1981.”
My brother, you need to reconsider this statement above..
Jawara could not have relied on the “Confederation Pact” because it did not exist. The Confederation and what established it only came into being after Jawara was reinstated.
What Jawara invoked to get Senegal to intervene and reinstate him, was the Mutual Defence Agreement that the two countries signed well before 1981..
While you are at it Bax, what is wrong with WOLLOF as a National Language for the whole of the Senegambia Basin? Cheikh Anta Diop thought it was a good idea. And most Gambians already speak Wollof anyway. The Great Franzt Fanon’s arguments in the chapters on language in Black Skins, White Masks are formidable – but both West African and West Indian Creole (and Nigerian English) show that the “colonial languages” can be appropriate and indegene-ized. My argument is that ENGLISH – the International Language – can remain the language of “business and government”, but the local National Language can be the language of culture and tradition. I think this was the solution accepted in the 1960s and 1970s.
Swahili was thus elevated in Eastern Africa to a National Language – and we ALL learnt it at school while we also spoke our various Mother-Tongues and ALL learnt English.
In Senegambia region virtually EVERYONE already speaks WOLLOF anyway – even in the border areas of Mali and Guinea. So it would make an excellent African Lingua Franca.
My in-law, I think the best thing to happen in East Africa,towards regional integration,was the adoption of Swahili as a common regional language, and it is well over due, that other regions follow suit…
Every generation of African Leaders have expressed the desire for regional and continental integration,but integration is inconceivable without a common language…The benefits of common languages are indescribable and it is a dilemma that almost a quarter century after “Self Government”, most Africans within the same regions, can’t even understand each other, because Western education (French & English) is still inaccessible to many..
In my view, all regions of Africa (North, West, East, South & maybe Central) should have regional languages, which all should endeavour to learn to speak and understand…This could then be the basis for language experts to develop a continental language for all..
This is no doubt very ambitious, but civilization would not have been where it is today, if man lacked ambition to understand and “tap” nature…And Africans must show ambition and imagination, if we are to turn our continent around and give our peoples a life worth living…
As for the Senegambian basin, Wollof is definitely a contender for the position of regional language…So too is Mandinka, Creole (English version), and even my native Fula (Fulani)..Both Mandinka and Wollof, as well as Fula,have been developed into written languages, and so would perfectly suit the purpose..
I do hope that I will live to see the day that our region adopts a common language…