Reliable
sources informed this paper that Ebraima Manneh, a seasoned diplomat and an
accomplished civil servant, has been appointed Gambia’s ambassador-designate to
the United States of America.
Mr
Manneh, better known as Ebou Manneh, will replace Sheikh Omar Faye in the U.S.
When
contacted, Manneh who was until a couple of years ago the senior administrative
secretary of the United Democratic Party, confirmed the story.
He
was born in Banjul and studied at Gambia High School, University of Dakar, and
the New Zealand University of Otago. He
had served in many ministries and government departments.
He
is a former Head of Chancery and Consul in the Gambian Embassies in Dakar and
Brussels, where he took part in the early negotiations on the establishment of
the ACP.
He
was also the Head of Mission of the African Groundnut Council at the United
Nations in Geneva, and later became the director of the council’s European
office in Brussels.
He
was the deputy executive secretary of the Senegalo-Gambia Permanent Secretariat
up to its dissolution in 1987, and then he returned to the civil service
serving as permanent secretary, respectively, in the ministries of Health,
Labour and Social Welfare; Women’s Affairs; Natural Resources and the
Environment, and finally in the Information and Tourism ministry from where,
like most of his colleagues, he was unceremoniously removed by the military
Junta in 1994.
Mr
Manneh is not a stranger to the United States. He studied management at Lincoln
University in Pennsylvania, and was until the election of President Barrow,
living in exile in Raleigh, North Carolina, for four years.
During
this time, apart from his regular participation in various diaspora activities,
he, as an outstanding writer, created and published a blog on Facebook, followed by some ten
thousand friends, providing regular running commentaries and images on the
political events taking place in this country,
from the time of the now famous Fass Ngagga Choi standoff, the events
leading to the assassination of Solo Sandeng to whom he was a mentor, the arrest and eventual imprisonment of Ousainou
Darboe and his colleagues, to the
election of President Adama Barrow.
Mr
Manneh has been involved also in community activities; he was a board member of
The Association of NGOs (TANGO), Secretary General of Gambia Scout Council, and
Secretary General of the Pipeline Mosque.
The
late co-founder of The Point, Deyda Hydara, was Mr Manneh’s close colleague on
the NGO front – African Integration Network, based in Dakar, of which Mr Manneh
was Chairman, Worldview International Foundation, and Lions Club of Banjul, of
which Deyda was his Vice President up to his tragic death.
It
is our belief that Mr. Manneh, with his rich experience both international and
local, and his close relations with the
Diaspora groups in US and beyond, there is no doubt that he will as Ambassador, build bridges with the
Gambians in US, to the satisfaction of all those who know his talents. We wish
him well.
