The Mighty Has Fallen. Death Of The Daily Observer

Arthur Vanderbilt once said that "taxes are the lifeblood of government and no taxpayer should be permitted to escape the payment of his just share of the burden of contributing thereto." A lot of people are weighing in the closure of #DailyObserver. This newspaper has been in existence for over 20 yrs. I understand press freedom and the protection of dissenting views and voices. However, the closure of the paper was neither political nor journalistic. Gambia is a country of laws and the responsibility and onus of paying taxes lies with the tax payer not the enforcer. Observer operated outside the confines of the law by disregarding  a statutory obligation of paying taxes. The arrogance and bravado of this paper stopped them from negotiating a payment plan to offset their staggering liability. Therefore the closure is not only justified but legally prescribed by law. For the infomation of our readership, the GRA will not abruptly halt the operations of the newspaper without due notice. Secondly, the paper is not by no means in a position to offset its tax liabilities in the medium term considering the fact that their future revenue streams can't sustain the paying out their outstanding liabilities. A business has a right to live and a right to die and unfortunately, the Daily Observer chose death. May theybrest in peace. Legal compliance supersedes the press freedom rights of the observer or any other company. Ignorance has never been an excuse of breaking the law.

Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. It is folly for the Managing Director of the Defunct Daily Observer to blame the enforcer (GRA) for non payment of taxes by a corporate body (Daily Observer). Such a statement borders between corporate irresponsibility and wilful deceit. The only thing that's constant are death and taxes. OBSERVER chose not to pay their taxes and now they are dead. #RIP defunct newspaper once called Daily Observer. Oh by the way, DR Owl said that 100 days for the thief, 1 day for the Master yard.

GAMBIA' S INTERNATIONAL GATEWAY HURDLE

The word MGI in the Gambia is synonymous to broad day robbery and mystery.  This company's  existence was somehow virtual and indifferent to the Gambian way of life during Jammeh's regime.  A company that has been parasitic in terms of looting the public coffers and short changing Gambians in terms of pricing Gambia out of range as it relates to call termination rates inbound to destination #GM220. Driving past the bustling roundabout of Brusubi on my way home and coming across a tent with MGI Paraphernalia displaying their benevolence to poor Gambians during the holy month of Ramadan makes me feel irate for it reminds me of the sucker Gambia has chose to be in front of a despicable parasite who cares less about our wellbeing or prosperity. Am sure by now, my readership are curious as per who MGI are. Well MGI is a TELECOMMUNICATION voice gateway provider who terminates inbound international traffic on behalf of the Gambia. This company's existence has for long been shrouded in mystery as the stakeholders in the market ( Qcell, Africell, Comium and the general public) were not privy with the terms and conditions of their contractual obligations with the contracting party (Gamtel). After the fall of Jammeh, the cat has been let off the bag and the general public and telecom operators were made abreast of the plunderous arrangement entered by the state with MGI. 

We have all been patient hoping that the government will draw down the curtains on this exploitative relationship with MGI. This arrange has placed the operators, government of the Gambia and the general public in a disadvantaged position that called for immediate remedial action for the following reasons;
1. The government of the Gambia has a fiduciary responsibility to assure that revenue accrued to government ends in government coffers inorder to finance government fiscal operations.
2. The operators invested heavily in the telecommunication sector with explicit guarantees from government to operate in the country unfettered. Well this promissory accord by government have been violated thereby causing financial harm to operators and to a point it affects capital reinvestment in the sector by operators.
3. The Gambians telecommunication service users have been taken to the cleaners by MGI for charging a prohibitive termination rate that puts the subscribers at a disadvantaged economically and in terms of quality of service delivered. Callers into destination Gambia were either blocked from accessing Gambia due to high termination rates or their calls were high jacked by illegal terminators who saw a lucrative opportunity to steal inbound calls to the Gambia.
Based on the above, the stakeholders of the telecommunication sector wanted government to sever commercial ties with MGI for the interest of the greater good. The general public patiently waited for 6 months for a definitive resolution of this broad day robbery by MGI. To date, the government of the day is either pussy footing or dragging the termination of the MGI contract for reasons best known to them. We the general public are hereby reminding government of their responsibility to protect the public's interest by terminating this atrocious arrangement with MGI. Failure to do so within a reason time frame will lead to dire  consequences that may pitch government against the very people they vowed to serve. I am of the view that the operators are now at liberty to arrange for their own termination links in order to deliver an efficient service to their esteem subscribers. They unlike government are duty bound to serve their subscribers effectively and the laws governing our telecommunication sector permit them to operate gateways in furtherance of their business operations. This arrangement is guaranteed by the MOU signed by the ACE Consortium and the government. Something has to give in and it should be the riddance of MGI in our telecommunication sector. The million dollar question that begs for an answer is whose interest is this government serving by prolonging the robbery orchestrated by a vile and heartless company like MGI? You be the judge but #DeesTake on the issue is simple and resolute. We must have #ZeroTolerance for economic exploiters. We welcome bona fide investors in Gambia not parasitic corporates who prey on our vulnerabilities to milk us dry.

DATA WAR IN GAMBIAN TELECOMMUNICATION- WHO IS THE KING OF DATA?

The old adage cash is king is getting very synonymous with the prevailing trend in the Gambian telecommunication sphere. Data is now poised to be the next thing in telecommunications and Gambia is not left out in the fray. Subscribers of telecommunications services are constantly  increasing their demand for data services for their pressing wants and needs of accessing 0TC applications such as IMO, WhatsApp, Viber and other Social media applications. Consequently the network operators are positioning themselves to cater for the growing demands of the sector. The data business is currently shared by Africell, Qcell and Gamcel. There is quite a lot of noise as per who the data market leader is. Well the jury is out and statistics can’t be massaged nor twisted to tell a story that is otherwise not the case. The Public Regulator, PURA has published a Report for Q1 2017 KPI’s that can ascertain trends in terms of service delivery, technical roll out and updated network topology on both the 2G and 3G networks. This report is independent as it automatically collect data from live transactions executed on the various networks. For all intent and purpose, my emphasis will be on the 3G networks as all data transmission is channelled through that medium. The map below clearly depicts the current status of the 3G national topology as at end April 2017.

3G networks are prevalent all over the country but based on the PURA report of April 2017, Africel by far have more cells deployed than any other operator. This move by Africel is a deliberate tactical decision towards consolidation of its market dominant position. Africel has 736 cells, Qcell has 592 cells and Gamcel has 152 cells. The data war is for real. Pricing and marketing gimmicks alone will not ensure dominant position in the market. The relevant Capital expenditure is whats going to bankroll the data supremacy of the competition and Africel has over the past 12 months put in considerable capital expenditure to boost both transmission and data capacity of their network. Based on the foregoing, the jury is out and the data provided by PURA indicates that the data war for the time being belongs to Africel albeit that they are yet to launch a 4G neteork unlike Qcell. Based on the data provided by PURA, the Qcell LTE network is yet to make a dent on Africel’s data pie This can be explained by a possible lag effect on the introduction of a new technology by Qcell which is yet to filter down to its subscribers or the current rollout of LTE sites are so insignificant to the overall size of their network. For example if the current LTE coverage is less than 6% of their overall network the benefits of the new technology will not be felt. For the period under review, Qcell registered a negative growth -.72% in its data business whilst both Gamcel and Africel registered positive growth of 19.81% and 22.35% respectively.

As an analyst of the sector, I am baffled by the data returns from PURA as I was of the view that Qcell enjoyed a comfortable data lead in the market considering their marketing efforts. I can safely say that the jury is out unless this growth trend is tamed. Africel is undoubtedly the king of data in this war of megabytes and data bundles. Curiousity begs to inquire why is Africel a market leader? This will be addressed in subsequent posts after satisfying myself with more industry data but I can safely say that the reason for Africel having a dominant market position has more to do with its commercial strategy than its technological position. Data bundling and packaging reasonable voice tariffs sets the competition apart. Data is forming a significant portion of the subscriber's ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) and it will soon constitute 60% of overall revenue. In conclusion, our perception can often distort the reality on the ground

Reality Slowly Setting In As Cooler Heads Prevailed

Hindsight and after thought are always 20/20. The aftermath of the Kanilai protest cum riots has taught the nation an expensive lesson of national security and cohesiveness. The Gambia though diverse enjoy a social fabric woven with an intricate yarn. Tribalism, religious intolerance have never been a Gambian problem. These ills have been amplified over the past two decades by an ill intentioned social despot whose personal interest of political survival collided with our interest of national unity. Jammeh is a product of a tolerant Gambia who helped raised a child from the fringes of our social mix to the most powerful person in this country. His ungratefulness polarised the views of some amongs his midst to alienate themselves from mainstream Gambia. The problem of Kanila is neither a Jola problem nor a Foni problem. It was an incident fanned and flame by the Butcher of Kanilai to destabilise the country. Therfore the people who subscribed to his philosophy are either reactionaries indoctrinated by Jammeh or short sighted Gambians who do not subscribe to our national ideals. I want to see the perpetrators of the Kanilai riots be brought before a court to face the consequences of their actions. No other group of Gambians understand first hand the ill effects of insurgency  and belligerent acts as the people of Foni for they reside under the nose of the MFDC. Therefore, I expect them to be the first to denounce such attrocities.

The role of government is to effectively communicate with its citizens and manage their expectations. Listening to  the video tapes coming out of Kanilai, I noticed a glaring disconnect between some elements in Foni and the Gambian reality. The  only way to bridge this divide is to effectively communicate with the people of Foni and it starts with a presidential visit and dialogue. All citizens of our beautiful nation are equally important and relevant in our developmental aspirations. Therefore no Jola is insignificant nor trivial in our national life. Our common enemy is their disgraced kleptocratic son Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh has brought disrepute to a noble group of people. We should remind those elements fermenting discord that their loyalty lies to country not individuals. The ECOMIG CONTINGENT  is here to stay and we all need to find a mutually beneficial arrangement to coexist with them. Jammeh's wish of exposing the security vulnerability of this country to his scornful wishes will never be realised. The time has come for all Gambians to march to the promise land of prosperity ensemble. No one will be left behind. I am that Jola lady as my sisters name sake was Fatou Woula Badjie, I am that Mandinka as my cousin Numu Darboe hails from Niani. I am that Manjago as my aunt Jainaba Fourmose Gomez was one. I am that Fula as my grandmother Fatou Bah was one. I am Gambia because my diversity is my strenght. My interest is to usher a new dawn. A dawn premised on social equity, justice and  opportunity for all. God bless the land of Maba Jahou and  Kunta Kinteh. We can thrive if we see ourselves as Gambians. The wollofs of old would have said   " Ganaaw aiyee di jamaa". My condolences to the family of #HarunaJatta and his death deserves an inquest because all lives matter. For the Gambia I remain ever true