(Issue, Monday, August 22, 2016)
The
death of Mr Ebrima Cole, former Director of Gambia Information Department,
which houses the state-owned Gambia Daily Newspaper, sent shock waves of grief
to the country’s media fraternity. His recent passing followed the shocking
news of the passing of another iconic figure of Gambian broadcasting family,
George Christensen, proprietor of Radio One FM. At the time of writing this
tribute, when the Gambia media family is stilling mourning the loss of these
two fine gentleman with excellent broadcasting legendary, the Gambia woke up to
another devastating news of the death of a very successful broadcaster, Mr.
Kebba Dibba, former Director General of GRTS and Director of TV programs, a
post he held until his sudden passing a few days ago. At a time when the Gambia Media fraternity
has been plunged into deep grieving over the loss of some of its resourceful
members, we pray that their legacies continue to illuminate for posterity and
most importantly, for Allah in HIS infinite mercy to admit them all into the
highest Jannah-Firdausi, and all those who preceded them in inevitable death.
Remembering Ebrima Cole
I
worked directly under him from 1998-2001 as a Media Assistant hired directly by
the Public Service Commission after an interview headed by my former high
school principal Sam Njie of the St Augustine’s who became the commission’s
chairman upon retirement. Out of respect, the entire team at the Gambia Daily
at the time called him Mr. Cole and that team under his leadership comprised
Aja Lala Hydara, as Deputy Director, Alieu Sanyang as Editor in Chief, Njoku
Bah as layout artist, late Momodou Musa Seck and current Director of
Information Service, Aisha Davis as principal information officers, late
Momodou, Trawalley, Bunja Touray,
Babucarr Lowe, Mendy and my humble self as reporters, and Mr. Summers as
editorial consultant, just to name a few. I joined the group freshly from
Citizen FM radio under the tutelage of the late Babucarr Gaye, soon after the
first closure of the station in 1998. Mr. Cole was very supportive to all his
staff and made me feel very comfortable at the Gambia Daily as a new here with
a very different perspective. From the get go, it was very hard for me to
transition from being a member of a private media house that was constantly
making the Gambia government accountable
by constructively scrutinizing its policies and programs to being a conforming
member state-owned newspaper, which was habitually responsible for reporting on
government functions and also promoting its program and policy agenda. It was
through the constant mentorship I received from Mr. Cole and his dedicated news
affairs head, Mr. Alieu Sanyany that enable me fit very well but gradually in
my new career as journalist and reporter for the state newspaper.
Personal
memorable encounters
Out
of humility, Cole would call me into his office to mentor me willingly. He
repeatedly encouraged me to seek further education and consistently
acknowledged how impressive he was with my writings skills. I repeatedly told
him it was my premier mentor Babucarr Gaye who molded me, together with his new
editor Ebrima Sillah, at Citizen FM Radio and New Citizen Newspaper. I later pleasingly discovered that Cole and
Babucarr AKA Mbaye were very close friends and their impressive friendship
dated back at their time at radio Gambia and they never abandoned each other
since then. Admittedly, the in-house
training courses that Babucarr Gaye offered to his staff at Citizen FM and his
willingness to send his staff members to national media training programs were
profoundly beneficial. The Thomson Foundation Training in 1998 was such a
colossally rewarding training program in news writing that I personally
benefited from. I became fond of Mr. Cole and during one of our private
meetings in his office; he showed me a picture of his youthful days at Radio
Gambia as a young staff member before he rose through the ranks to become
Director of Broadcasting. The group picture to the best of my memory included
some iconic media personnel such as the late Babucarr Gaye and Pa Dixon Colley
and two others I struggled to remember now and accompanied by a cheerful and
reverberating laughter; he told me if I remembered anything about Radio Gambia
in the early 80s, recounting that he was among the best voices on the air waves
of Radio Gambia as news reader. I told him I was too young to remember those
days, but sounded names like Mariah Cal Valor, Jainaba Nyang, Peter Gomez,
Louis Thomasi, Amie Joof- Cole, who was his wife, Malick Jeng, Malick Jones,
Tom Bright and legendary commentators, Brother Bora Mboge and Saul Njie as my favorite broadcasters and
news readers. In that picture, Mr. Cole look charmingly handsome as a young
journalist and in what appeared like an afro hair style and dressed neatly in
his signature ambassador suit, you could tell he was a handsome and smartly
dress young man with great taste for fashion. Reflecting on his youthful age
and prime media time after handing me that memorable picture, he jokingly told
me he was the dream of every young girl then for marriage, but quickly reminded
me these were typical boyish temptations and seriously counseled me to be God
fearing and never forget that Allah will hold all of us to account on the day
of judgment. Cole’s leadership style was engrained in undaunted humility and he
interacted fittingly well with his team with measured humbleness without an
atom display of being a boss. We joked together and the Ataya vous at the daily
premises with the late day- time security man Ebrima Jarju at the barada were
never interrupted. His humility and
support positively impacted the Department drivers like Koto Ousman and the
late Bara Njie and messenger Nfansu Colley.
Fully aware that my monthly salary was not enough and transport fare was
a perennial problem for me, Cole happily offered me free ride to my abode in
Bundung at the close of work each day.
His car was fully loaded with staff members and at his instruction, each
got dropped off at a convenient location of their choice close to their homes.
As a pious Muslim, Cole never comprised the appointed daily prayer times and no
matter how busy he was, he would still find time to dutifully perform his
prayer during office hours. He would even ask some of us if we have prayed
Salatul Duhr, which usually finds most offices still open in The Gambia
My
National Assembly
deployment as reporter
By
way of professionally executing his mandate as the Director of Information
Services, Mr Cole would ensure that I gave fair and balanced reporting on
proceedings of the national assembly for publication on the Gambia Daily. At the time, we had few but very strong
opposition members in parliament who were characteristic newsmakers and the
impressive parliamentarians included Uncle Seedia Jatta, PDOIS Wuli Member,
Kemeseng Jemmeh, UDP Jarra member as minority leader, Hamat Bah, NRP leader,
Seedy Amang Kanyi, Omar Kebba Mass as very effective contributors during
parliamentary debates. On the government side were the late Tamsir Jallow as
majority leader, Neteh Baldeh, Fabakary Tombong Jatta- the incumbent APRC
majority leader who was member for Serra Kunda East at the time. Parliamentary
debates and Question and Answer sessions with Secretaries of States - now
Ministers during those days were very juicy, witty and attention-grabbing as
recorded rebroadcast over Citizen FM radio would later show. It was a most during those days for National
Newspaper headlines on the pages of The Point, Independent, Daily Observer and
Foroyaa newspapers to carry hot National Assembly news.
Cairo
Study Tour and Move to the IEC
In
1999, I gained a fellowship award from the United Nations Fund for Population
Affairs (UNFPA) to undergo a Higher Diploma Course in Population and
Development studies at Cairo Demographic Center in Egypt. Completely funded by
UNFPA and attended by 21 participants from various countries, the study tour
provided me a life-time experience and contributed positively to my early
professional and academic advancement. Once I happily broke the news of the
award to Mr. Cole, he sincerely guided me through the requisite bureaucratic
processes I needed to go through to acquire government study leave with full
salary payment. He offered me a true avuncular advice and guidance and prayed
for my safe return home. In 2001, I was offered a job at the Independent
Electoral Commission (IEC) as Assistant, Training, Information and Public
Affairs Officer to work under the direct supervision of Said Usuf as the
Commission’s Communications Director at the time with Gabriel Roberts at the
helm as Chairman. I made Mr Cole my reference when I put in my application and
with alacrity, he vouched excellently well for me. He was never an impediment
to my personal career growth and in my earlier effort in search for better
employment opportunities. He simply told me that ‘Mr Sabally, you deserve to
grow and you have the competence to excel’ and offered me his unalloyed
congratulations when I was hired for the job. Even after leaving the Gambia
Daily, I regularly visited the office to see former colleagues and kindhearted
Mr Cole any time I went to Banjul for official errands, a trend that continued
before leaving the country in 2001.
As
I eulogize and mourn the late Ebrima Cole, who was undoubtedly an epitome of
humility and professionalism, we must all continue to remember our fallen
iconic media personnel. The list is not exhaustive, but it includes: George
Christensen, Kebba Dibba, Ismaila Manneh, Samba Sabally, Deyda Hydara, Omar
Barrow, AA Barry, Musa Camara, and Alhaj Mansor Njie.
We
must also pray for the living media luminaries for Allah to give them long life
and excellent health and the list encompasses retirees, active and
non-active members like Uncle Suwaibou
Konateh, Pap Saine, Alieu Sagnia, Bora Mboge, Demba A. Jawo, aunty Jainaba
Nyang, Musa Manneh, aunty Sabel Badjan, aunty Yamai Jack, Aja Lala Hydara,
Sereign Faye, Peter Gomez, Malick Jeng, Abdoulie Gassama, Sarjo Barrow, Hassan
Njie, Musa Saidykhan, Ebrima Sillah, Minister Sheriff Bojang, Sam Sarr, Modou
Joof, Malick Jones and many others.
Lamin Sabally remembers his late former boss
