‘Deyda a legend,’ says Standard Editor Lamin Cham

Deyda Hydara was a great inspiration to me. Actually, I knew his voice first before meeting him in person. He was the golden voice behind many commercial adverts on the then Radio Syd. I remember the most memorable ones were the Berec Battery, N and N, Jaltron, and of his midnight course, his Rancontre programme.

Later, when I became a journalist, I met him in person in 1992 in Banjul and our paths crossed again and again. There, he was tutoring and preparing us at many workshops organized for us, then young journalists by the Press Union where he was a pillar.

 He often said journalism in The Gambia would change for the better.

The day he was killed, I was covering a ceremony at July 22 Square when the shocking news came.  I was amazed how people as far as London could hear the news, before most people here in The Gambia. I rushed to the RVH mortuary where I found Demba Jawo, who had just flown in from Zambia and brother Pap Saine, who almost collapsed in grief. It was a very sad day that still has a lasting effect on me.

I think as journalists, we should ensure that his memory and legacy lives on. As for what happened to him, well time and God will take care of that. I feel he is alive in our hearts, because he cannot be forgotten, both for what he had done for press freedom and the circumstances he died.

Lamin Cham, Managing Editor, The Standard.