Opinions

Aren't we but theological misfits Obnoxious to the powers that be Filling the Pharisees with rage Denying that our God dwell apart We died to death itself, many moons ago Survived the aftermath of dear life ...........

“To speak of the struggle….simply does not work here. Instead, we used a simple language….we had to avoid giving the peasants the impression that we were strangers who had come to teach them lessons. We placed ourselves in the situation of someone who has come to learn and slowly the villagers discovered by themselves… that there is exploitation.” Amilcar Cabral (Revolutionary Leadership and People's War).....

Dear editor, Allow me space in your paper to share my thoughts on the ongoing GCCI trade fair, and the recent press briefing that the chamber organised to talk about the state of the fair. First of all, the purchasing power of the Gambian public has been suffering from the ongoing economic hardship that we all know. That is no secret. If traders are complaining about low or lack of sales at the trade fair when they paid where lot of money to have stalls and exhibit their goods, I think the GCCI should admit that, and use the experience to strategise on how to better manage the fair next time...

“Modernity holds out lifestyle options centered on the self, and on the lower, agitated possibilities of the human condition. Every word of every magazine now breathes the message of the ego: explore yourself, free yourself, be yourself. Buy a Porsche to express your identity; dress in a cacharel suit to make a statement about yourself; be seen in the right places....

Dumo Sarho was arrested on that fateful October morning. He was first taken to the Serrekunda Police Station, where the Special Branch team picked up Nicholas Kujabi who said he was going to a naming ceremony. According to Dumo, Nicholas had nothing to do with the arrest but his remarks were much unwarranted. May his soul rest in peace!...

At 8pm on 31st December 2013, the state broadcaster GRTS television announced that President Yahya Jammeh has ordered the reopening of The Standard newspaper. On March 10th, the Bakau-based daily resumed publications. Over the weekend our reporters sampled some public opinion on the newspapers....

Dear editor, I was very perturbed, extremely flabbergasted and provoked beyond all human endurance, when I read in the Wednesday 12th March 2014 publication of your newspaper, a highly defamatory letter to the editor, with the caption:- “RE: TRIBUTE TO ARCHBISHOP DR. JOHNSON”, which was written by one “Sitaba Darboe of Bakoteh”, who fallaciously claims to know me “…for long time”. For a start, I do not know any “Sitaba Darboe” in my entire life....

The rise of the darkest form of irrationalism coupled with blind dogma, and intolerant fundamentalism is now defining the landscape of a region, once known for its great mystical and tolerant theological scholars. West Africa has become in very recent times a bastion for the breed of a burnt-out type of Islam. A dogmatic, literalist and anthropomorphic theology, which found its following within the ranks and file of the extremist Salafi movement. It's a movement that's characterised by mostly young people, who in the beginning are very sober minded but gradually get tainted with the deep and darker beliefs of a movement that abhors anything innovative and creative within the realms of the religion....

Introduction It was in the wee hours of an early October month. The year was 1983. I had three, counting four months earlier written my last high school paper for the West African Exams Council (WAEC). I was 19 years old. I would turn 20 by the end of the same month. Two years earlier we've had our first episode of losing our innocence as a nation....

Dear editor, In reaction to your 'Perspective' column on the July 30 attempted coup d'etat, I wish to state that the uncaptioned photo is very indeed interesting. I want to believe, and with good reason, that the scene was the Yundum airport in 1978 when Guinean president Ahmed Sekou Toure visited The Gambia for the first time.....

Dear editor, I read with keen interest your editorial of Wednesday, March 12. I cannot agree with you more. You wrote: “The overuse of plastic bags has become a cause of concern to many, not just environmentalists. They are used for everything, everywhere. At the shops, at shopping malls, at supermarkets, at the village markets even at funerals for disbursing cans of soft carbonated drinks and biscuits, not to talk about plastic sachets for low-end 'NAAN' drinks....

“May we live to see many days, may this environment be stable and may this day be a blessed one by virtue of the Lord of Makkah and Madinah and by virtue of our righteous ancestors.. '' And thus the prayers continue on, seeking blessings and grace for one another....