By Mathew K Jallow In Africa, the tendency for totalitarian rule is as pervasive as change is dynamic. The two forces are locked in a constant struggle that continues to plunge many African countries into conflicts, with devastating consequences. Incredibly, a little over two decades since the end of Liberia and Sierra Leone’s bloody civil [...]

By Mathew K Jallow It’s a saga, much like a soap opera, with something of a fatalist plot. On the one hand, the cast of characters with loyalty to a cause, but who, time and again, have miserably failed the simple test of sound judgement and moral commitment. And on the other, an entrenched regime, [...]

By Mathew K Jallow From under the ground in Brikama, like a phoenix, it rises. Its aesthetic calmness evoked a sense of Messianic reverence. And, even in its tranquil demeanor, the echoes of Fr. Gomez’s serene voice transcended the tribal and religious divides, to reverberate in the hearts and minds of Gambians; everywhere. Unsurprisingly, Fr Edu [...]

By Mathew K Jallow The needless executions, in 2012, of twenty-six people, all of who were inmates at the scene of more than five hundred deaths, since 1994, Gambia’s notorious Mile 2 Central Prison, reinforced the belief that Yahya Jammeh had reached the peak of insanity. The startling executions, in 2012, preceded by five mass [...]

By Mathew K Jallow The anticipation was both joyous and widespread, but so also was the ambivalence and outright skepticism. If the recent proposal to establish term-limits, for the ECOWAS member states, was a hopeful sign, its failure was incomprehensible and emotionally devastating. After four decades in existence, hundreds of millions of dollars, thousands of [...]