The Standard Newspaper

However, in the state, corollary to these, is what is often termed “the fourth estate”, the media.  The role of this estate is all-pervasive and crucial in the advancement of any society in this modern world of ours. Although the relationship between the press and governments are naturally conflictual, journalists are not necessarily enemies of the rulers and the governments they lead.  

Governments should regard media practitioners as partners-in-development rather than as mischievous gadflies that must be neutralised at the slightest opportunity that presents itself. Journalists serve a very important role in society and they should be given the opportunity to ply their trade in an enabling environment. 

In any civilised and progressive society, the media creates public consciousness by collecting the views, attitudes and information towards certain issues. It is without doubt the best means to spread awareness. It is the media that creates and drives public opinion so that people have the right information to make informed choices and contribute optimally to issues of common concern.  

It is the media that could bring the people together to strive for the common good. It is not for naught that one of the leading political thinkers of the modern era and president of America, Thomas Jefferson in a letter to his friend, Edward Carrington, wrote: “The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.”

She is definitely a woman of stature who went through a lot in pursuit of a cause she believed in. However, I wonder how things would have been like for her if she were here in The Gambia today?.

I had also read the response from Mai Ahmed Fatty, who narrated his ordeal at the hands of the Special Branch Unit as a teenage student. To Mr Fatty, I think it is regrettable what you have experienced as a young person. Nonetheless, there is a saying that ‘what does not kill you, makes you stronger’. Looking back at your time as a lawyer – when I used to enjoy your arguments and defence tactics in court – and what you have become today, I believe these experience have made you who you are: smart, brave, intelligent, and so on.

So keep up the struggle. Bravo to you and Jainaba Bah. When certain levels of torture is administered on anyone, you can let go of the most treasured possession without a single hesitation, not to talk of the psychological effects that can equally make you shun the best of friends and even relatives. So recall the past but don’t hold on to them so dear. Let them go.

Sanna Keita

Faji Kunda

Democracy and human rights are just mere words

Dear editor,

I enjoyed reading the series from Jainaba Bah’s ‘Omerta’. It was insightful into the activism life of a lady who had so much courage to do and experience what she did.

In those days when I was a Gambia Senior Secondary School student, my friends and political science teacher, Alkali M Dibba always argues that democracy means government of the people, by the people and for the people. 

For human rights, I believe are moral principles that set out certain standards of human behaviour, and are regularly protected as legal rights in national and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because he or she is a human being. Human rights are thus conceived as applicable everywhere and egalitarian. The doctrine of human rights has been very powerful within international law, global and regional institutions, in the policies of states and in the activities of non-governmental organisations and has become a corner stone of public policy around the world.

As powerful and influential as it may be, democracy and human rights seemed very vulnerable and undermined not only in Africa now but in the West.

In The Gambia, there are many cases of unlawful detention. Today, security officers in our Tourism Development Areas are always harassing people who are not bumsters but ordinary citizens who go to the beach area to relax or exercise. People are being forcibly driven away from the beach. Is this what we call constitutional rights? We are being forcefully sent away by officials who are supposed to be protecting us and watching our backs as we work, party and sleep every day and night.

Of course we are all aware that the government generates a lot of foreign exchange from tourism, some say at least 40 per cent of our country’s economy or more. So it makes sense to want to give tourists freedom but we must never compromise our constitutional rights for the pleasure of the tourists.

To tackle this misapplication of democracy and human rights, all hands must be on deck if we are to leave no stone unturned in our pursuit for freedom, real democracy and immutable constitutional rights.  We MUST change democracy and human rights’ from mere words to something concrete, something we can all cheer about. 

Modou Manneh

Bakau Wasulung Kunda

Speaking on his sick bed to The Standard, Mr Mangasuba explained: “I have children and grandchildren. My age and failing health has left me worrying that I will not live to see justice despite the fact that series of judgments have been delivered in my favour over the past ten years in the said matter,” said the old man, wearing a T-shirt and a towel wrapped around his waist, his voice, hands and fingers shaking as he made effort to express his points.

He said the settlers refused to leave even though they were evicted by the Police Intervention Unit personnel on two occasions. According to the old man, the settlers claimed that they acquired the land legally. “They even went to court after I won the case, but the courts upheld my ownership. Despite this, they are refusing to leave. The principle of rule of law dictates that we turn to courts to settle disputes, something I have done already,” he explained.

The retired automotive engineer and former chief engineer of the defunct Public Works Department (PWD), and Gambia Public Transport Corporation (GPTC) said he acquired the land with proper documentation from the relevant authorities over 25 years ago. He said he began losing his land after a new alkalo was appointed who partitioned the said land into several parcels and resold it to different settlers.

 “I set out on a legal battle that took me over ten years, from the lower to the higher courts of the land. All the courts have delivered judgments in my favour, yet the trespassers refused to vacate my land,” he lamented.

He said the last of the judgments came after the presiding judge travelled to the site to see first-hand, after hearing all sides of the arguments in the court. “He had asked that I show him the boundaries of my land. After close examination, he pointed out that, “even the blind will know that this land belongs to the old man”. The judge was of the opinion that the occupants colluded with ‘conspirators’ to take advantage of my non-literacy and old-age and rob me of my land. And I always maintain that although I cannot read what is written on paper, I can at any time be able to identify the boundaries of my land in question,” he stated.

Author: Sanna Camara

There are five different species of parasite that cause malaria in humans; Plasmodium falciparum is the most deadly. The WHO estimates that there are 207 million malaria cases each year, leading to around 627,000 deaths. An epidemic of chikungunya – a viral disease carried by daytime-biting mosquitoes – is currently raging in the Caribbean. There are more than 5,900 suspected cases affecting almost half the islands, and even French Guiana on the mainland.

Although we might want to wipe them out, removing mosquitoes could have a disastrous effect on an ecosystem; their larvae process detritus in the water where they breed and adult mosquitoes carry out the useful job of pollination. They are also a nutritious food source for creatures like the mosquitofish – which snack on up to a hundred mosquito larvae every day.

And although malaria is the most well-known, there are plenty of other nasty conditions which they spread. Here are five of the lesser known – and downright horrible – diseases that mosquitoes can give you.

Yellow fever

One for football fans to be aware of if they are travelling to the World Cup in Brazil this summer, yellow fever is caused by a virus which affects around 200,000 people every year, with most cases in sub-Saharan Africa. Cuban doctor and scientist Carlos Finlay suspected back in 1881 that it was transmitted by mosquitoes – but it wasn’t until 20 years later that his theory was confirmed.

Subsequent mosquito controls helped the resumption of work on the Panama Canal – where one in 10 men had previously died of yellow fever. Once a person is infected the fever appears after a few days. After initially seeming to recover, around 15% of patients enter a second toxic phase which has a 50% mortality rate.

Then the characteristic yellow jaundice develops on the skin and in the whites of the eyes because of liver damage. A Spanish name for the disease – vomito negro or black vomit – arises from the dark vomit seen if the gut starts to bleed. Fortunately, there is a vaccine which is recommended for anyone travelling to Brazil for the World Cup.

Dengue

Half the world’s population is now at risk of contracting dengue which causes fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain and a rash. Forty years ago there was no dengue in Brazil. In the first six months of 2013 there were 1.6 million cases, with six thousand new cases every day in Rio de Janeiro, putting huge pressure on health services.

There is no vaccine or any specific medicine to treat dengue – treatment is “supportive” including rest, plenty of fluids and trying to reduce the fever using paracetamol. Severe dengue – which used to be known as dengue hemorrhagic fever – can be lethal. Unlike the Anopheles mosquito which spreads malaria and feasts at night Aedes is active during the day. Dr Philip McCall is a dengue expert from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

“They begin to bite soon after sunrise but by 10:00 the biting goes down – it’s too hot. They start again around 16:00 or 17:00 until sunset and are not active by night.” British doctor Ayan Panja contracted the more severe form on holiday in Malaysia in his 20s. “I honestly thought I was going to die after having these symptoms for a couple of days. Thankfully I was admitted to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur where I was transfused with platelets.”

Platelets are needed to help the blood to clot. Dengue stops the bone marrow from making them – so bleeding is another major complication of severe dengue. So has it put Dr Panja off travelling to exotic climes? “It’s made me more aware of the condition and I am now even more cautious about avoiding mosquito bites.”

Chikungunya

It might sound like a name for some tasty street food but chikungunya is an unpleasant disease which causes a high fever and joint pain. “It’s debilitating. [People suffering] can’t work and they have to stay at home in bed with joint pain,” said Prof Johan Giusecke, chief scientist at the European Centre for Disease Control in Sweden. Chikungunya was first described during an outbreak in Tanzania in 1952. The name comes from a word in the Kimakonde language meaning “to become contorted”.

“Most people experience a rather short high fever, really feel sick, and then after a week or so it’s over,” according to Giusecke. “But there have been chikungunya cases where the joint pain lasts for weeks or where chronic arthritis has resulted from the infection. “Although not usually fatal, the condition can contribute to cause of death in frail or old people.”

Last November the first case of chikungunya contracted in the Americas was reported on the island of St Martin in the Caribbean. Far from its usual home of Africa, South East Asia and the Asian subcontinent, the infection has so far been responsible for four deaths. There is now a fear that chikungunya will spread to North America as the mosquitoes that can carry the virus have been found in Southern Florida and on the Texan coast.

Since 2005, there have been 1.9 million cases in India, Indonesia, Thailand, the Maldives and Burma also known as Myanmar, according to the World Health Organisation. There is currently no cure or vaccine and experts advise that the best way to stop it is to avoid being bitten in the first place. The good news? Once you’ve been infected you are immune and you don’t have to suffer again.

La Crosse encephalitis

This mosquito-borne virus is named after La Crosse, in Wisconsin, USA, the city where it was discovered in 1963. Although quite rare – only 80 to 100 cases are reported in the US every year, mostly in children – those infected can expect to experience fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and lethargy. The most severe cases can lead to seizures, coma and paralysis.

To boost its numbers the virus moves between mosquitoes and small animals like chipmunks and squirrels – but humans cannot catch the virus from these animals.

Filariasis

First described by Hindu and Persian doctors more than 2,500 years ago the parasitic worm Wuchereria bancrofti is also spread by mosquitoes. In severe cases it can cause lymphatic filariasis or elephantiasis. The larvae can take up to a year to develop into adult worms and once in the human lymphatic system, the skin and underlying tissues thicken, especially in the legs, arms, breasts and genitals.

This profoundly disfiguring and stigmatising disease was the first to be identified as spread by mosquitoes – thanks to a Scot, Patrick Manson, who experimented in China on his sleeping gardener, who was infected with filariasis. Early treatment can be very effective but the drugs used have no effect on the adult worms.

And how best to beat mosquitoes?

The key to reducing the high toll of mosquito-borne diseases is to understand how the insects behave. As well as insecticides other methods of controlling mosquito numbers can include odour traps, creating genetically modified infertile mosquitoes and even using tiny predatory crustaceans to eat the larvae. Prof Hilary Ranson is leading the fight against mosquitoes, at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

“We need to use an evidence base to then target the breeding sites with things we know will work,” she said. She says that one approach may exploit the fragile dynamic between the mosquito, the virus and the human. “When the insect bites an infected person the parasite takes about 10 days to develop in its body.

“The mosquito only has a lifespan of about three weeks so it needs to pick up the pathogen early in its life to pass it on. So anything which reduces the daily survival rate will be effective.” Dr Philip McCall’s aim is to work out which is the best way to eradicate the mosquitoes using insecticides.

Outdoor “fogging”- driving round creating a fine mist of insecticide – is a very visible control method, but is often ineffective. Indoor residual spraying – where insecticide solution is sprayed onto the inside walls of dwellings to repel or kill mosquitoes – is much more effective and strikes at them where they like to hang out.

“We are collaborating with optical engineers to use sophisticated cameras to track individual mosquitoes over time, to look at how they move around in a three dimensional space, where their most favoured sites of resting are.” So thinking like a mosquito could help scientists to control them – by knowing their enemy.

Dr McCall’s advice the liberal use of the insecticide Deet. “It is still the gold standard – concentrations of 40%-50% are fine. You can spray it on to your clothes but do watch plastic – I’ve melted a watch and the handle of a Swiss army penknife. Mosquitoes also don’t like a breeze so keeping the air conditioning on or a fan aimed at your body will help.”

By Lizzie Crouch and Paula McGrath 

Health check, BBC World Service

He claimed to be aware that almost all African migrants who died in the waters of the Mediterranean or the deserts do seek similar spiritual protections. Yet, he placed his faith in mystics, looking on the bright side. 

“Insha Allah [By God’s grace] I will be ensured a safe passage to Europe,” he said. “We’re only waiting for someone to inform us when to leave. As we say, it’s either Barcelona or Barzakh [Barcelona or death].”   

Growing up, the young Gambian desired to pursue a career in banking. However, he had been unable to grab a job three years after finishing a two-year college education. 

As hopes of realising his childhood dream remained dashed here, he was looking forward to reviving them elsewhere. In his view, the West promises that, and he would get somewhere in Europe, somehow. 

“My parents have done for me everything they should,” he said, getting a bit emotional. “Now it’s my time to give back. They’re old and can no longer afford my bills. And I have younger ones to take care.”

Mesmerised by the deliverables of people who had been to Europe and built big houses and drive fancy cars, not even the risks associated with the path he could afford to take to get to Europe – the back way –  deterred him. 

“I know the back-way journey to Europe is risky and people are dying there but many others had made it and are doing well now. I pray I don’t die; that I make it. I have friends who tried it and they’re doing fine. They’ve married, built houses and I am not able to do that. I was smarter than some of them while we were all here.”

Bakary is not alone in this predicament. His story reflects the story of millions of young Africans who, for so many reasons – economic, political and social – continue to risk life and limb by braving deadly routes to Europe for uncertain prospects in Europe. 

African governments have over the years received millions of dollars from migrant-recipient countries like Spain, mainly to strengthen naval security to stop boats from leaving. Yet the journey continues. 

However, in the face of persistent huge losses of the lives in recent times, the plight of young African immigrants has since fallen on Africa’s human rights agenda.

On October 3rd of last year, a migrant boat capsized in the deadly waters of the Mediterranean. The migrants, comprising nationalities of different African countries, took off from North Africa and were bound for Italy. 

More than 300 of them died. A week later, 27 more lives perished as another migrant boat capsized. More and more young people are nonetheless willing and ready to get onboard. But human rights activists on the continent are no longer looking the other way.

“These young people are fully aware of the risks and the fact that they undertake it is a clear indication of their misery and desperation,” says the outgoing commissioner for the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Madam Catherine Dupe Atoki.

The Nigerian-born head of the human rights organ of the African Union is not known to ruffle feathers. But as she steps down in November last year during the 54th session of the ACHPRS here in Banjul, she pulled no punches. 

Right in the face of government officials from across the continent, she said: “Millions of Africans continue to wallow in abject poverty, economic and social marginalisation and political oppression with attendant impunity for violators. It is this characteristic indignity that has forced many young people from the continent on perilous journeys looking for greener pastures elsewhere.”

In her view, the failure of African governments to provide to their citizens the basic necessities of life, not the greed of young African people, or the lack of capacity for true altruism of the European governments towards Africans, is responsible for the mass exits and resultant deaths. 

Rhetorically, she quizzes: “Could these youth embark on such a perilous journey if they had food to eat, clean water to drink, adequate shelter, or other necessities of life that governments should provide? Or had jobs and not harassed and intimidated for their beliefs, and to express their opinions freely?  

“In short, if they could realise their dreams in a conducive environment free of want and fear, the answer would certainly be in the negative. The plight of these young people should be a scar on the conscience of any government for pushing its youth to such perilous journey in search for basic living standards which the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights enjoins State parties to provide.” 

Commissioner Atoki’s indictment of African government appears to be greeted well within the community of human rights defenders in Africa. 

“When you see these young people, you tend to ask: Are they mad or hopeless?” says Mr Abdou Toure, a human rights activist from Senegal. 

“I want to believe that they are not mad. They are hopeless. And when people are hopeless they resort to desperate measures. How many young Africans have lost their lives already? For the past several years, we’ve been blaming our young people for their plight. Now, as governments, we should look inward and accept that we have failed them.”

Now, with the prompting of the African human rights commission, even African governments like that of The Gambia, seem to be adjusting their trousers.    

“Our citizens must enjoy their rights in Africa and not feel obliged to embark on perilous trips while searching for better lives on other continents,” The Gambia’s minister for Justice has said. 

Minister Mama Fatima Singhateh added: “Just in the last quarter of 2013, the Mediterranean Ocean [sic] has become a cemetery for our beloved brothers and sisters and children. In this context and on behalf of the Gambia government, I call on African leaders to … continue promoting peace and security throughout the continent so that Africans enjoy the beauty and riches of our beloved continent.”

Author: Saikou Jammeh