Thursday, September 4, 2025
PACCL Launches Summer Classes with Focus on Leadership
Open to students, professionals, and lifelong learners, the programme combines academic rigor with practical insights, delivered by leading scholars and practitioners with both global and Pan-African expertise.
The first session, “Introduction to Leadership,” will be held online on Friday, September 5, 2025, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. UTC. Conducted in English, the lesson aims to help participants:
Understand the distinction between leadership and management.
Explore the qualities and styles of effective leaders.
Reflect on their personal leadership potential and areas for growth.
The session will be facilitated by Dr. Lang Fafa Dampha, a seasoned academic and leader with a distinguished career spanning Africa and Europe. Dr. Dampha previously lectured at the University of Paris II, Panthéon-Assas, and the University of Paris 8, Saint-Denis, before serving as Executive Secretary of the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) under the African Union from 2015 to 2025. He also led the African Union’s Centre for the Study and Research on Migration between 2021 and 2022.
Currently, Dr. Dampha is the Executive Director of PACCL and Managing Director of MadiKulaySano Trading and Services. Drawing on his extensive expertise in leadership, policy, languages, and Pan-African thought, he is expected to bring both theoretical depth and practical perspectives to the class.
The PACCL Summer Classes are part of the centre’s mission to nurture knowledge, cultural appreciation, and transformative leadership for Africa and the world.
African Echoes, Caribbean Futures: Reconnecting Through Culture and Language
By Dr.Lang Fafa Dampha
Part I: A Taste of Return – Culinary Bridges and a New Pan-African
Part I: A Taste of Return – Culinary Bridges and a New Pan-African
RODNEY BAY, St. Lucia — The rhythmic pounding of fufu drifts through the streets of this bustling coastal town. For some, the sound is a familiar reminder of home; for others, it is a newfound ritual. But for many, it now resonates far beyond the dinner table. It has become a heartbeat of cultural revival, signaling the Caribbean’s renewed effort to reconnect with Africa in language, enterprise, and shared vision.
In kitchens tucked behind verandas and in small family-run restaurants, food is no longer just sustenance. It is ceremony. Each pounded yam, each simmering pot of egusi or jollof rice, is a declaration: We remember. With every dish, Caribbean communities are reclaiming ancestral bonds strained by slavery, colonialism, and dependency.
This movement is not only about food, but about what the food represents: a revival of identity intertwined with global calls for reparative justice. The echo of the mortar and pestle is also the echo of Africa calling its diaspora home—and the Caribbean is answering, through music, policy, education, and enterprise.
A Doctor Who Cooks for a Cause
At the center of this cultural resurgence is Dr. Augustine Ogbu, a 29-year-old Nigerian-born physician turned restaurateur. His venture, Africana Chops, in Rodney Bay, is more than a bustling takeaway. It is a living bridge between Africa and the Caribbean, a space where heritage and healing converge over steaming bowls of egusi soup and fragrant jollof rice.
“Food is language. Food is identity. Food is memory. Every plate we serve is a story we’re reclaiming,” Dr. Ogbu says.
For many of his Caribbean patrons, the flavors at Africana Chops carry a spiritual familiarity, a sense of déjà vu that transcends centuries of displacement. His restaurant is not just feeding customers—it is nourishing a movement.
Culture as Currency
Africana Chops is also an economic project. By sourcing ingredients from both local and African suppliers, training young chefs in traditional techniques, and collaborating with cultural institutions, Dr. Ogbu is institutionalizing Pan-African exchange. His work demonstrates how cultural businesses can serve as engines of reparative justice and sustainable development.
The restaurant even embodies a kind of grassroots diplomacy. Informal cultural bridges, along with formal cooperation agreements between Nigeria and St. Lucia, illustrate how food, business, and culture can open new channels of political and economic partnership across the Atlantic.
Beyond Nostalgia, Toward Strategy
Dr. Ogbu’s story is part of a larger Caribbean transformation. From classrooms introducing African languages and histories, to entrepreneurs importing shea butter and Ankara fabrics, to musicians rapping in Twi, a new Pan-African consciousness is taking root.
Digital platforms are accelerating this revival. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube now serve as global commons for the diaspora—spaces where music, fashion, food, and language are exchanged in real time. Viral Afrobeats tracks, tutorials in Swahili or Yoruba, and stories of heritage journeys are reconnecting families separated for centuries.
Governments, too, are taking notice. Caribbean leaders have begun discussing direct air and sea links with Africa, joint investment agreements, and even shared digital currencies to reduce reliance on colonial-era financial systems. These are not symbolic gestures—they are strategic moves toward economic independence and deeper integration.
A Shared Destiny
The strength of this movement lies in its many forms. It can be heard in the drum rhythms a grandmother teaches her grandchildren, and seen in climate summits between Barbados and Nigeria. It is alive in Accra’s festivals and Port of Spain’s spoken-word circles.
This is not nostalgia—it is resistance. It is an unlearning of colonial myths of fragmentation and inferiority, and a reassertion of a buried truth: the descendants of Africa, wherever they are, share a destiny.
Through language, trade, music, and solidarity, the diaspora is not only healing historical wounds. It is also designing a future defined on its own terms.
To be continued in Part II: From Cultural Pride to Economic Repair – How Pan-African Identity Is Fueling New Models of Trade, Innovation, and Justice.
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
A Party on the Brink – UDP’s Flagbearer Selection and the Looming Implosion
At the heart of this political storm is the veteran politician and founding father of the party, Lawyer Ousainou Darboe. A man revered by many as the “Mandela” of Gambian politics, Darboe’s legacy is undeniable. He has been the face of the UDP through thick and thin, enduring persecution, imprisonment, and electoral defeats. But the hard truth remains — he has contested five presidential elections and lost all. Now, once again, Darboe has submitted his application to lead the party into the 2026 elections, setting off a chain reaction that reveals the growing dysfunction within the UDP.
Darboe’s re-emergence as a contender has triggered resignations and forced withdrawals among other aspirants, not because they believe he is the best candidate to lead the country, but out of reverence for his legacy — a glaring case of political godfatherism that flies in the face of meritocratic leadership. Among those who stepped aside is Brikama Area Council Chairman Yankuba Darboe, a rising political figure whose withdrawal is reportedly rooted in his loyalty to the "old man," rather than in political strategy or electoral calculation.
But the real twist came with the late and controversial entry of Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda, who had previously vowed not to contest against Ousainou Darboe. His eleventh-hour U-turn has thrown the party into chaos, opening deep wounds within the UDP that may never heal. Bensouda, backed by what observers now term the “mafia wing” of the party — comprising wealthy contractors, political opportunists, and alleged influence-buyers — is aggressively campaigning behind the scenes. Reports of vote-buying, co-opting UDP parliamentarians, and offering shady contracts in exchange for loyalty are rampant.
This development has sharply divided the UDP into warring camps. The Yankuba Darboe camp, still loyal to the elder statesman, has launched verbal assaults on Talib’s perceived betrayal. Meanwhile, Talib’s supporters have not held back, flooding social media and political discourse with insults, innuendo, and character assassinations. What was once a united political family is now a house of verbal war, with online warriors trading blows daily and offline surrogates spreading discord at every level of the party.
Observers warn that the UDP is edging dangerously close to self-destruction. If Talib is selected, Yankuba Darboe has publicly declared he will leave the party. There are whispers of defections and parallel party formations, should either side lose the flagbearer contest. Even more worrying is the complete erosion of ideological unity — now replaced by personal interests, financial muscle, and blind loyalty.
The UDP leadership must now confront a bitter truth: they have failed to build a sustainable political institution beyond the personality of Ousainou Darboe. A political party that cannot transition beyond its founder without descending into chaos is not a democratic institution but a cult of personality.
For the ordinary UDP supporter and for Gambian democracy at large, the current spectacle is deeply disheartening. A credible opposition is vital for any functioning democracy. But right now, the UDP is offering Gambians a circus of egos, not a serious alternative to governance.
In the end, whether Darboe, Talib, or a third figure wins the flagbearer race, the real loss is institutional cohesion. The damage has been done, and whichever way this contest ends, breakaways are now inevitable. The UDP has entered its most dangerous phase — and unless sanity prevails, 2026 may not just mark the next election — it may mark the end of the United Democratic Party as we know it.
Let the UDP be reminded: leadership must be earned, not inherited; and loyalty to country must come before loyalty to any man.
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Talib Bensouda As the UDP Flagbearer for 2026 Is No Threat To NPP
A Response to Political Marketing Disguised
As Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda officially declares his ambition to become the UDP Flagbearer for the 2026 Presidential Elections, we must not allow eloquent speeches and curated press statements to blur the hard truths. For nine years, Bensouda has held the reins of the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) — and if leadership is measured by impact, then his record deserves real, unsentimental scrutiny.
1. Proven Leadership? Or Decorative Politics?
Twice elected does not mean twice effective. Beyond the flower buckets at Westfield Junction — symbols of cosmetic urbanism — what tangible development can Mayor Bensouda truly boast of?
Serekunda continues to flood every rainy season, with no effective drainage or water management strategy.
Markets reek of uncollected garbage, unregulated sanitation, and health hazards.
Feeder roads and neighborhood streets are left impassable during rains, turning daily commutes into survival missions.
This is not a legacy of transformation. It's a resume of inaction.
2. Accountability & Integrity? Let’s Look Again.
Team Bensouda brags about integrity — yet the Local Government Commission of Inquiry uncovered clear patterns of mismanagement, abuse of office, and irregular procurement practices at the KMC under his leadership.
Evading legal consequences doesn't mean being clean — it only means the system is still maturing. Gambians aren’t naïve anymore. The days of hiding behind soft PR are over.
3. Development-Oriented? Or Optics-Obsessed?
Waste management and urban renewal may sound impressive — but how many communities in the Kanifing Municipality actually feel the impact?
Ask Bundung. Ask Ebo Town. Ask London Corner. They live with garbage, crumbling roads, and poor drainage. The flashy headlines never make it to their doorsteps.
The so-called development under Bensouda is piecemeal, selective, and mostly designed for photo ops, not long-term change.
A Candidate Controlled by Shadows
Mayor Bensouda’s campaign is not about vision. It's about veneer. He is surrounded by political amateurs, backed by self-seekers, and controlled by backroom mafias who see him as an easy puppet.
He is not leading a movement — he’s fronting for people who are too afraid or too unqualified to show their faces.
The Real Solution? It’s Not UDP or Talib Bensouda.
Both Talib Bensouda and the UDP offer no solutions for Gambia’s future. They represent a recycled opposition with no fresh ideas, no national vision, and no grassroots record of delivery.
The only real solution is the continued leadership of President Adama Barrow and the NPP Government.
In just nine years, President Barrow has transformed The Gambia in ways that are undeniable:
Massive infrastructure development: Roads, bridges, ports, and energy systems expanding across the country.
Modernized agriculture: Mechanized farming inputs and nationwide distribution networks boosting food security.
National electricity coverage: From towns to rural communities, light is reaching where darkness once ruled.
Education & healthcare investments: New schools, upgraded hospitals, and access to quality services.
Digital governance & taxation systems: Increasing transparency and efficiency in public finance.
These are not promises. They are visible, measurable, and ongoing realities — the kind of development The Gambia needs.
Conclusion
Leadership is not about lofty speeches or decorative projects. It’s about nation-building — brick by brick, policy by policy, village by village.
Mayor Talib Bensouda has failed to transform the Kanifing Municipality — how then can he be trusted to transform a nation?
The Gambia cannot gamble its future on controlled candidates or recycled parties. The momentum for progress is already underway — and it is President Barrow and the NPP who are delivering it.
Let’s build on real achievements — not PR experiments.
By Yaya Dampha.
NPP Diaspora Coordinator
Sweden
Friday, August 29, 2025
Major Secka Completes UK Defence Academy Workshop
By JarraNews Staff Writer
Shrivenham, United Kingdom – August 28, 2025 – Major Abdoulie Secka of the Gambia Armed Forces has successfully completed a Joint Doctrine Development Workshop at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in Shrivenham.
The intensive programme, organised by the UK Ministry of Defence and delivered by the Integrated Warfare Centre, brought together participants from both NATO and non-NATO countries. The training focused on the United Kingdom’s joint doctrine development process at strategic and operational levels, combining lectures, practical exercises, and modules on effective writing for doctrine formulation.
Gambia’s High Commissioner to the UK, Her Excellency Dr. Fatou Bensouda, praised Major Secka’s dedication and urged him to remain steadfast in service to the nation. Deputy Head of Mission, Mr. Suntou Touray, also underscored the importance of continuous training, describing the Gambia Armed and Security Forces as a reliable institution tasked with safeguarding national security. He noted that since 2017, the force has embarked on a series of reforms and capacity-building initiatives designed to modernize the army.
Reflecting on his experience, Major Secka expressed gratitude for the opportunity to train in England. He said the knowledge and skills gained will play a vital role in strengthening the operational effectiveness and doctrinal development of the Gambia Armed Forces.
Thursday, August 28, 2025
Editorial: Hypocrisy Has No Place in the Gambia Police Force
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