After years of unfulfilled promises in an attempt to improve the facilities of the dilapidated Bakau Mini-stadium by the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), members of Bakau Zonal Sports Committee at the weekend met at the Bakau Community Centre at Cape Point in an attempt to find an amicable solution to the constant dilapidation of the Bakau Mini-stadium.
The committee used the occasion to express concern over the awful condition of the mini-stadium, which is at a “bad state”.
Nine representatives of 20 clubs in Bakau were in attendance to listen to football authorities as speaker after speaker did explain the reason behind the committee’s failure to improve the facilities of Bakau’s only mini-stadium.
First to speak to the audience was Bakary B. Darboe, 2nd vice president of Bakau Zonal Sports Committee (BZSC), who told the gathering that the meeting was designed to find an amicable solution to what pundits described as the miserable and deplorable condition of the Bakau Mini-stadium, which remains the only unimproved mini-stadiums throughout the country.
Abdoulie Hada Bangura, president of the BZSC, said the status of the Bakau Mini-stadium “is sad for any football centre and difficult” for one to bear.
”It is against this condition that the committee wrote a letter of assistance to the Gambian leader and within a week or two, we were called to answer to the President who assigned the vice president to meet us as we raised our concern regarding the mini -stadium,” says Bangura who is still struggling to come to terms with the present condition of the stadium.
He added that at the meeting with Her Excellency Dr Aja Isatlou Njie-Saidy at the state house, it was promised that the message was going to be communicated to President Jammeh by the Major of KMC Yankuba Colley and within a week, something positive would come out of the committee’s concern but up to date, noting has been done except the continued dilapidation of the stadium, now being used as a gateway for animals.
The secretary general of the BZSC, Masaneh Jammeh, who spoke at length on the issue of the stadium, said the rationale behind the further dilapidation of the stadium “is due to the fact that promises made to work on the stadium are yet” to be materialised .
SG Jammeh also registered his dissatisfaction about the low turnout of club representatives (nine out of twenty clubs) taking part in what officials referred to as a fruitful discussion on the way forward in rescuing the soul of the Bakau Mini-stadium.
He also voiced out his frustration over the several unfulfilled promises made by Mayor Yankuba Colley pertaining improving the facilities at the Bakau Mini-stadium. He said had it not been for the fragile excuses, the condition of the Bakau Mini-stadium would be much more different from what it is at the moment.
Two councillors of Bakau, namely Alagie Adama Bahoum of Bakau Newtown and his colleague Ousman Rambo Jatta of Bakau, were both present at the meeting to shed light on the issue. They assured the people of Bakau that the project involving the maintenance of the Bakau Mini-stadium had already been approved and that “work will start soon”.
The two councillors promised to work closely to ensure the Bakau Mini-stadium is upgraded as soon as possible.
“President Jammeh has a big heart for the people of Bakau but I believe there are selfish people around him who do not want to see the progress of Bakau, but let me also advise you (the committee) to look for option B in case the first option is not bringing the desired result,” says Rambo.
The BZSC is entrusted with the responsibility of running the affairs of football in Bakau, at least before the expiry date of the executives’ term of office. Part of their mandate is to improve the standards of the stadium’s facilities and football in particular, when they began their term in office last year.
Of recent, however, only little trust is given to the committee by club representatives, as a result of the condition of the Bakau Mini-stadium.
It remains to be seen whether the unfulfilled promises will continue or action will be taken.
