Jefferson Waterman International (DC Lobbying Firm) taking Jammeh and his incompetent APRC Government for a ride

Bi- annually, Le Big Blog will be bringing you a bi-annual report of all the lobbying activities U.S firms are engaged in on the behalf of The Republic of The Gambia.  These reports are all public knowledge and available through fara.gov.

FARA: The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is an act of the US Congress to make detailed reporting of U.S Firms and their foreign clients available to the public with the hope that by disclosing their client list and providing a detailed report of their activities on the behalf of their clients, U.S firms will shy away from representing useless governments like the one we have back home. 

Of course, congress' strategy has not been as effective as they hoped simply because firms like J.W.I and The B.G.R group also known in Washington, DC as "DESPOTS R US" do not mix any of their business dealings with ethics.  

Jackson McDonald
Some will say they don't blame J.W.I trying to make money off Gambia because the primary reason to establish a business is to make money. I agree, but my issue is with their current CEO, Jackson McDonald, who was once the American Ambassador in Gambia.  As the old saying goes, Jackson McDonald ought to know better. While some on K-Street can argue and blame their greed on simply doing business or even blame ignorance when caught with their pants down, the same cannot be said for Amb. McDonald.  He spent years in Gambia authoring Jammeh's gross Human Rights abuses for the State Department, and as America's former top guy in The Gambia, Jackson McDonald is much more in-sync with the daily hardships of Gambians than most on this side of the Atlantic; thus making his attempt to extort Gambians (by entering in a $4million contract with Jammeh) unacceptable.    

Anyway, Mr. McDonald will just have to deal with me updating his Wikipedia page. I've updated it 4x since January and either him or someone who deeply cares about his reputation deleted my updates every single time. Thank God the internet is an open forum, so I'll keep the delete button on his keyboard active for a long time. 

The Contract
On the positive side, FARA is here to stay and it is our responsibility as Gambians to make sure that we are helping FARA accomplish exactly what it intends to accomplish for the benefit of our country.  

Governments come and go, but the people stay to pay the bills useless governments incurred on their behalf. In this case, J.W.I has not done any of the job Jammeh hired them to do.  They are grossly overcharging Gambians and not delivering. So far, we've paid them $800, 000.00 and the only thing we have to show for is a godaddy website that cost nothing more than $100.00. If you are going to be generous and add labor cost for the website developer, it shouldn't amount to anything more than $500.00. In fact, I've seen way more sophisticated websites built for only $40.00.  Just take a look at their nonsense website and tell me if it's worth the $22,000.00 they are charging Gambians. 

The Bi Annual Report
Below is Gambia's first bi-annual report from Jefferson Waterman International.  I've gone through it with a fine-tooth comb and extracted what I think is relevant to Gambians. I compared Gambia and Ivory Coast (another client of J.W.I) to highlight that J.W.I are indeed taking Jammeh for a ride. The comparison takes into account the first 6 months of activities taken on the behalf of both countries after contract was signed.  

	Gambia	Cote D’Ivoire
GDP Per Capita	$ 505.76	$1,194.56
Website	www.thegambianway.com	www.onwardtogether.org
Facebook	None	www.facebook.com/onwardtogether
Twitter	None	www.twitter.com/onwardtogether
$ Received during reporting period	$800,000.00	$0.00
Out of Pocket Expenses Reimbursement	Travel: $58,611.55 Meals: $856.07 Media Research: $0.00 Website Dev.: $21,732.95 FARA: $305 Total: $81,505.12	Travel: $304.77 Meals: 523.80 Media Research: $85.24 Website Dev.: 3,148.50 FARA: $305.00 Total: $23.662.31
Activities Performed on behalf of foreign principle	Created a Website for The Republic of Gambia L Firm performed no other activities on the behalf of the Republic of The Gambia	ü  Reporting orally and writing on all administration actions of concern or interest – 30 parties contacted   ü  Assist in setting up meeting between ivory Coast and U.S Government Officials and member of the private sector    ü  Assist in coordination of Cote D’Ivoire’s participation in academic community events   ü  Maintained online English Language resources & Social media campaigns on the behalf of Cote D’Ivoire   ü  Arranged press interviews for ivory Coast government officials   ü  Assisted in the development of policy reforms that improve governance, economic freedom and social investments to improve country’s scores on the Millennium Challenge Corporation indicators   ü  Assisted the foreign principal in obtaining access to MCC and other U.S Government departments and individuals to inform them of country’s reform efforts ü  Website Creation

Equality and Justice for All?

“Racism is still alive, they just concealing it” – Kanye West (Never let me down)

There is no doubt that there still exists a huge racial disparity between blacks and whites in all aspects of life in the U.S. Take a look at any social issue and you will find that Blacks are being handed the short end of the stick. The Zimmerman not guilty verdict just further highlights why African Americans continue to be disenfranchised with America's criminal justice system.

On the Zimmerman/Martin case, I personally had no doubt that George Zimmerman was going to walk scott free. The reason is simple; the State of Florida initially had no appetite to investigate or try George Zimmerman for murdering the unarmed Trayvon Martin. When the case was first brought in front of the Sanford police, the police chief deemed it appropriate to tell the parents of Trayvon Martin that there was no “probable cause” to charge George Zimmerman for killing their son.  Right off the bat, the police Chief had pre-determined that George Zimmerman, who followed Trayvon Martin, accosted, and then shot him to death, was innocent.

Reasonable Americans with the help of civil rights groups however refused to accept the Police Chief’s excuse and rallied to get millions of signatures and Governor Rick Scott was petitioned to try the case.  Under immense pressure, the governor had no choice and appointed a “special prosecutor” to investigate & take the case to court.

The Trial

Watching the court proceedings in the last month has been painful.  The prosecutors were just not good enough to prove that George Zimmerman was guilty beyond reasonable doubt.  In fact, even as a layman, I found myself cringing at the many missed opportunities the prosecutors had to challenge Zimmerman Lawyers.  Every time the defense got up, it felt like Trayvon Martin and not George Zimmerman was on trial, while the incompetent prosecutors just sat there and played defense the entire time. If one did not have any background of the case, you’d think Trayvon Martin was being tried for battery and aggravated assault.

Given the prosecution’s performance, there was only one possible outcome – a not guilty verdict.

“Fired up? Ready to go?”

Anyway, all hope is not lost because from every bad experience comes an opportune moment to make things right. America with all its freedoms has still not been saved from racism. The time has come for us to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, stop complaining and organize to mount a strong campaign to again fight these new Jim Crow laws; state by state.  Cases such as the Trayvon Martin case should be the basis on which we get involved in politics.

We must seek to change these unjust public policies that are hindering the progress of our people by participating in local and state elections. The leaders and activists within our community must continue to educate our people that the politics that affect them the most are the ones that are being decided in state and local elections.  These are the jurisdictions where the Stand Your Ground laws (now in 21 states) are being made.

Our community leaders must continue to use these moments of injustices to fuel the energies of our people and help us organize to take on these laws head on.  We must put forth the same energy, dedication and focus we showcased when we wanted to elect Obama. Unfortunately for us, the current POTUS speaks for the people but continues to serve the powerful.

To our advantage, the demographics in the U.S are changing fast in the favor of minorities.  The U.S census bureau is forecasting that within a generation (by 2043), whites will become a minority in the U.S.  And this revelation is scaring the hell out of those who favor the new Jim Crow laws, and they will continue to pursue such laws in order to protect the upper hand they are currently holding against Blacks and Hispanics. We must therefore get organized and act fast in order to swing the changing demographics in our favor.

Anyway, before anything, we ourselves must find self-worth to change our circumstances. If we want to break this vicious cycle of injustice against Blacks in America, We must first and foremost educate our people to do better. It is no longer acceptable that we constantly remain enraged when a white man shoots a black man, but then turn a blind eye when our brothers go around the city of Baltimore and shoot 40 people (killing 16) in one single week.

We owe it to ourselves to show the same disgust (as we’ve done in the TM/GZ case) whenever a black man is unjustly killed, regardless of who the killer is.

We must and can do better!