In recent weeks, two Gambians who claim to be sports journalists based in Europe have launched an injust and malicious campaign against The Gambia Football Federation and the person of its President Lamin Kabba Bajo. Despite their desperate and failed attempts to influence the minds of genuine Gambians, the duo, Buba Jallow based in Sweden and Ousman B. Kinteh of England, have taken that vile campaign to Gambian online edition, the Freedom Newspaper.
In his latest article, where he claimed that William Abraham, Alhagie Sillah and Ebrima Manneh would challenge Mr. Bajo for the GFF Presidency next year, Buba Jallow claimed that he isn’t campaigning for any party but rather it is born out of his desire to ensure that the national federation for “once has its deserved leader”; this is implying that after 60 years of selfless service and hard work by many Gambians, the Federation is yet to get a credible leadership though the conclusion has contradicted his earlier assertion that through a poll he initiated, the majority of the stakeholders are prepared to return ex-President Seedy Kinteh to the job because he is a successful leader (sorry that we couldn’t use the exact quotation because of the undesirable grammar.)
OFFICIAL STATEMENT: This GFF leadership, since it came into office less than three years ago, it has turned out to be the most open minded in Gambian football and continues to accept constructive criticisms even though we have come under very unfair personal attacks from people who claim to be working for the interest of our national game. But at the same time majority of Gambians have acknowledged the good programs implemented by the GFF in its desire to ensure sustainable development from a bottom-top approach. One of those many people who developed an infatuation with the GFF were Buba Jallow and Ousman B. Kinteh who until few months ago were singing the praises of the GFF leadership under Lamin Kabba Bajo. Therefore, it is an irony that the same people have today turned out to be the biggest detractors in our quest to consolidate our gains.
It is however, not difficult to understand that their despicable actions are personal. Jallow recently wrote to the President of the GFF where he suggested to partner with us to be giving out monthly awards to players in our domestic league competitions in both the men and women categories. He claimed that the project would also involve Ousman B. Kinteh and Ndey Busso, a former GRTS reporter based in Birmingham, UK.
“It’s our honor to communicate with you for the first time and this is made possible because of [the] tendency to approach well-wishers of Gambian football. We (sic) totally impressed of (sic) the latest development of Gambian football and hopefully (sic) lot can be achieved. Our purpose of writing is we have a project that is non beneficiary but rather trying to encourage all players in the men’s league and women’s league with a duly deserved award every month. The award will be certified and followed with a cash prize to the best player of the month, the award is to give living tribute to Bari Bari [presumably, he wanted to write Biri Biri] while the player of the FA cup will be name after Fisco while the women’s league tournament will be named after Fatima Juwara (Jawara it should’ve read) to preserve his legacy with us,” Jallow wrote in the mail to Mr. Bajo.
“We counting with your approval, you kindly designate us with two members whom we will work with plus media personal (sic). We plan to reach coaches and fans to make sure our league is expose and well attended. We are sure that this is only of the surprises we have for Gambian football (sic). We won’t hesitate to take more ideas and suggestions,” he further wrote.
The GFF wonder what must have changed suddenly that resulted in one of the most short-lived infatuation by these morally devoid and bankrupt duo, less than five months later and as a result they describe us as the worst that could’ve happened to Gambian football. But equally, it is a vindication of our President’s decision to further scrutinize their proposal which was later turned down because they had similar proposal to the one that the Federation was on the verge of implementing if not for the events of last year’s political impasse, where a decision was taken to launch it in the new season rather than the middle of the campaign.
Jallow also claimed that a supposed Gambian football impasse has been ongoing for a long time and further alleged that stakeholders voted for someone but the previous government decided to install a person of their choice. This couldn’t be further from the truth and it would be a disservice for any reminder that Kabba and his team were legitimately elected in a democratic process without fear or favour, ill-will and affection, after the previous leadership was disbanded by FIFA for age cheating. The current leadership was the farthest from the previous regime than anyone for even though the ex-president had enticed both athletes and officials with financial and material gifts, Kabba and team were never even granted a single courtesy call to him and in most cases they couldn’t even fulfill their financial obligations when it comes to national team engagements. To be more specific, Mr. Bajo was one of the farthest from the ex-President in the last three years.
Even though journalists cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but getting the facts right is the cardinal principle of journalism. Independence, Fairness & Impartiality, Humanity, Accountability and Independence are also the foundation of ethical journalism and their usage should be encouraged and practiced by all people in the media. Therefore, we should always strive for accuracy, give all the relevant facts we have and ensure that they have been checked. When we cannot corroborate information we should say so.
