A few nights ago, I attended the annual Gambia Press Union (GPU) awards ceremony and stayed briefly before deciding to go home. Not that anyone cared that I left early; and I’ll get to the reason why I left but before that, let me commend the GPU for the very idea of recognizing and promoting excellence in their craft. I think the event was very well organized and planned. Congratulations to all the winners.
I arrived at the event late but the resplendence was palpable from the doorway. The speeches were short and mostly relevant even if all the cliched and unknown protocols were all observed and all the consular and diplomatic corps and distinguished ladies and gentlemen and honorables and non-honorables like me were all recognized. I have a bit of an idea about the difficulty of putting together such an event in The Gambia and what I saw at the GPU awards was quite impressive. Kudos to the organizers.
Upon arriving at the event, I was ushered to a table in the front closest to the stage and I found myself in the company of people who are far more important than me in the eyes of society. I would later find out that these were the dignitaries or the most important people of the important people. I only recognized Rohey Malick Lowe and Uncle Pap Saine among the group. Upon getting on Facebook and seeing pictures of the event, I realized that I was sitting close to the newly minted Seedy Njie, who shared a table with Rohey Malick Lowe and at least one member of the Deyda Hydara family. Gambia is truly a colonial space of ironies! Thankfully, I decided to leave when the first opportunity presented itself.
While I was there, various speakers thanked the people who helped sponsor the awards ceremony, and prominent among these individuals were Seedy Njie and Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay. These are two individuals who were important players in the APRC government that killed Deyda Hydara, tortured so many journalists, and exiled even many more. Not once have we heard or seen either of these two take responsibility for any of these murders and abuse of journalists. Yet, somehow, the GPU has no issue taking money from the people who were part and parcel of the government that killed and maimed their colleagues! People who to this day defend the murders and torture of their fellow journalists. The GPU welcomed the sentence of Bai Lowe but confoundingly, they see nothing wrong with not only accepting money from the leadership of the party that the Junglers were killing for, they find it proper to wine and dine with these murder and torture apologists who are on a charm offensive to launder their public image.
It was when I heard that two of the sponsors were these APRC murder and torture apologists that I decided to leave right when they said dinner was served. If one of the media’s roles is to hold those in power accountable, then the GPU should not be in the business of helping wash the image of people who cheered, supported, and defended the murder and torture of their fellow journalists. I understand that raising funds in this country can be difficult but an organization like the GPU must be discerning in where it gets funds from. When the fourth estate becomes a proxy for politicians and their friends, it taints the nobility of their work. Perhaps someone will help me understand how the GPU hails the prosecution of the Junglers and yet sees no wrong in wining and dining with unapologetic lynchpins of the party and government that the Junglers killed for.
