{"id":4909,"date":"2014-03-09T22:40:16","date_gmt":"2014-03-09T22:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=4909"},"modified":"2014-03-10T07:24:05","modified_gmt":"2014-03-10T07:24:05","slug":"gambia-to-drop-english-as-official-language-for-a-local-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/03\/gambia-to-drop-english-as-official-language-for-a-local-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambia to drop English as official language for a local language"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_4910\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4910\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/weekend2n-1-web.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4910\" alt=\"Yahya Jammeh\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/weekend2n-1-web-300x199.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/weekend2n-1-web-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/weekend2n-1-web.jpg 635w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4910\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yahya Jammeh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Gambia\u2019s President Yahya Jammeh on Friday shocked many with a disclosure that the West African nation wants to implement a policy change that would shift the country\u2019s language from English to a local language.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe no longer subscribe to the belief that for you to be a government you should speak English language. We should speak our language,\u201d President Yahya Jammeh said during the swearing-in ceremony of Gambia\u2019s new Chief Justice that aired on state-run Gambia Television Services on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes months after the West African country announced it is withdrawing from the Commonwealth, a collection of 54 nations made up largely of former British colonies, saying it would \u201cnever be a member of any neo-colonial institution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The United Kingdom recently warned its citizens of rising anti-British rhetoric from the president, who last year accused the former colonial power and the United States of organizing coup attempts in the West African nation. The allegations were denied.<\/p>\n<p>Though a popular destination for British tourists, Gambia has also been criticized by the U.K. for human rights abuses, including when it executed nine death-row inmates by firing squad in August 2012. Rights groups such as Amnesty International have also criticized Jammeh\u2019s government for cracking down on dissent and targeting political opponents and sexual minorities for arrest and detention, among other alleged abuses.<\/p>\n<p>Gambia is at loggerheads with the European Union as the bloc threatens to suspend its aid if the country\u2019s human rights situation is not improved.<\/p>\n<p>Jammeh, who came to power in a military coup in 1994, said the U.K. has no \u201cmoral platform\u201d to talk about human rights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat brought the British to the Gambia in the first place-which was bigger than it is now -was trade in ivory because the Gambia had a lot of elephants,\u201d he said. \u201cThey wiped out all the elephants and ended up selling Africans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gambia is one of Africa\u2019s smallest and poorest countries with a population of about 1.8 million people.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Credit: uhurutimes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gambia\u2019s President Yahya Jammeh on Friday shocked many with a disclosure that the West African nation wants to implement a policy change that would shift the country\u2019s language from English to a local language. \u201cWe no longer subscribe to the belief that for you to be a government you should speak English language. We should [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[38,14],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gambia to drop English as official language for a local language  - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/03\/gambia-to-drop-english-as-official-language-for-a-local-language\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gambia to drop English as official language for a local language  - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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