The Gambia is one of the smallest countries in Africa that with a number of natural resources. Over the years, tourism has been the main source of revenue for the country with about 2 million population. During the times of former President Yahya Jammeh, people were made to experience various abuses that led to death and incarceration in most cases.  In 2016, President Jammeh was not returned as elected president. He was ousted through ballots that returned Adama Barrow as the first President under a new political party. At last, Gambians partially free after Yahya Jammeh’s exit, a report stated two years after Jammeh was forced into exile.

In 2019, the country established the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) through an Act to ascertain damages done to the people and democratic governance processes during the 22 years rule of President Jammeh. A few months after the Commission was constituted many developed doubts in the Commission’s ability and capability to unearth the truth and reconcile a number of citizens Jammeh’s administration has denied justice, rights to life and association.

As the Commission continues searching for the right approaches for unearthing and presenting the truth and reconciliation mechanism to the concerned stakeholders, a new report sponsored by the McArthur Foundation says inclusive approach is imperative.

“The Commission should focus on building transparency and accountability in the issuance of reparations; that community reconciliation efforts remain to the fore; and that regular engagement with citizens, media and civil society about its mandate, in local languages across print and social media, is sustained so that Gambians take on the mantle of ensuring its recommendations are adopted by government.

But before it can reach any conclusions the Commission must remain focused on the important work it has been doing, listening to, and documenting, the experience of Gambians. This will ensure that it is able to make recommendations that best reflect those experiences, which most Gambians support and that can be used to help push their country in a new direction.

Awareness not just of the work of the TRRC but its mandate – and the limits of that mandate – is important to communicate to Gambians. Continued sensitisation efforts by the TRRC in partnership with media organisations and civil society groups, in local languages, should focus on explaining to people in advance how the recommendation process will work, so that citizens can work with the Commission to push the government to enact them.

Community level reconciliation efforts should continue to be a key focus of the TRRC’s work in its final few months. Identifying community reconciliation champions who can then support the Commission’s work in other regions of the country will further improve Gambians’ sense of ownership of the process. This could include adapting and drawing lessons from the Palava Hut and Fambul Tok approaches used in Liberia and Sierra Leone.”

The report further hints that “Monetary compensation is important, but the TRRC should also consider restitution of properties including land seized by the former regime. Create a Victims Support Fund tracker that will allow citizens to see how funds are being dispersed in a transparent and accountable way, but that still ensures individuals’ privacy is retained. Privately, the TRRC and development partners should apply pressure on the Ministry of Justice to release more funds to support the payment of reparations. The TRRC should establish and communicate clear guidance on how the reparations fund will operate.”

Last week started on a rather bad note for the US president, Donald Trump. Series of events turned out against his wishes to compound the controversies surrounding his already troubled-filled presidency and bid for reelection.

On Monday last week, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment on the rights of the LGBTQ people to be treated without discrimination at work.

The Trump administration had in August 2017 filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that gay workers are not protected by federal civil rights laws, as it has argued previously about transgender people. The brief was based on the argument that the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin, does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation: Which means that gay and transgender people can be discriminated against at work because “the ordinary meaning of sex is biologically male or female, not sexual orientation.”

However, the Supreme Court interpreted the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to include sexual orientation – thus making it illegal for transgender or gay people to be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.

“An employer who fired an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and disguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids,” Supreme Court’s Neil Gorsuch, wrote for the verdict.

It was a blow that Trump had no choice than to accept. He said it is “a very powerful” decision and “we live with” it.

“They’ve ruled and we live with their decision. That’s what it’s all about, we live with the decision of the Supreme Court,” he said at the White House roundtable on senior citizen issues.

As if that’s not enough, on Thursday, the Supreme Court delivered yet another blow to Trump’s administration’ quest to end an Obama-era program meant to protect individuals brought to the US illegally as children called DREAMers from deportation.

The program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), has protected over 700,000 individuals from immigration clampdown. But in his campaign to purge the US of illegal immigrants, Trump has vowed to dismantle the program, and has gone to court to lawfully fulfill his aim.

In his ruling, the Supreme Court faulted the process of the cancellation of DACA, calling it illegal. In a 5-4 vote that decided the ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts said: “We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies. The wisdom of those decisions is none of our concern. Here we address only whether the Administration complied with the procedural requirements in the law that insists on ‘a reasoned explanation for its action.’”

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, had in 2017 declared DACA illegal and unconstitutional without given detailed reason, or justification even when there are many dispositive concerns to address. It’s based on this that the case was ruled against the Trump administration but didn’t rule out future attempts to end the program.

Trump said his administration will submit enhanced papers shortly to fulfill the Supreme Court request.

“The Supreme Court asked us to resubmit on DACA, nothing was lost or won… we will be submitting enhanced papers shortly in order to properly fulfill the Supreme Court’s ruling & request,” he tweeted on Friday.

Although the Trump administration has a shot at a favorable ruling, it may take months or years. The November presidential election is far from certain for Trump and will surely change everything if he loses.

But that’s not all that Trump has to worry about. On Saturday, the US District Court Judge, Royce Lamberth ruled that the Justice Department’s request to stop the former national security adviser, John Bolton, from releasing his memoir about Trump is not attainable. Lamberth said the book had already been “printed, bound and shipped across the country,” so the damage has already been done.

“While Bolton’s unilateral conduct raises grave national security concerns, the government has not established that an injunction is an appropriate remedy. The damage is done,” he said.

Though the defendant Bolton won, the judge scolded him so much for gambling with the US national security and private information that Trump claimed victory.

He tweeted: “BIG COURT WIN against Bolton. Obviously, with the book already given out and leaked to many people and the media, nothing the highly respected Judge could have done about stopping it… BUT, strong & powerful statements & rulings on MONEY & on BREAKING CLASSIFICATION were made… …Bolton broke the law and has been called out and rebuked for so doing, with a really big price to pay. He likes dropping bombs on people, and killing them. Now he will have bombs dropped on him.”

Judge Lamberth warned Bolton that he could face criminal charges for divulging classified information and private conversations. Thus, Trump seems he can’t wait to sue Bolton.

But that will not reverse the damage the book may have caused. Trump’s reelection bid is proportionately being weighed in the pages of Bolton’s book, and the knowledge therein, may end his Washington career.

On Saturday, Trump’s rally In Tulsa, Oklahoma suffered a serious audience deficiency that questions the enthusiasm of his supporters. The Bank Oklahoma Center with a capacity of up to 19,199 seats was graced by 6,200 people only, a very poor start to his reelection campaign that signals dwindling support that may eventually advance to worse.

Trump boasted in a tweet last week that nearly one million people have signed up for his rally. But TikTok teenagers said they had signed up in large numbers for tickets with no intention of attending, which is a big blow to Trump’s campaign that had enjoyed the support of young people.

The current demonstrations in the United States and around the world, triggered by the death of George Floyd in the hands of the police and spurred a campaign against racial injustice seems to have impacted how people look at Trump’s leadership. It is believed that America has never been divided as it is now, all thanks to the hates stoked by Trump’s divisive leadership that many people are now working hard to change.