Youth & Sports Minister launches Gambia for Gold SMS Campaign

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Sheriff Gomez, has launched the Gambia for Gold SMS Campaign, to generate financial resources for Gambia's football teams ahead of the qualification series for the 2012 Nations and 2014 World Cups.

Minister Gomez, a key figure behind the initiative of Gambia for Gold, described the day as significant in the country's efforts to facilitate financial resources for Gambian national teams.

"Every Gambian should be aware of the fact that we have set ourselves a big target and therefore we should all contribute tirelessly to raising the needed funds for our participation to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations and 2014 World Cup," said the youth and sport minister.

"Today's occasion," the minister added, "is one of the occasions aimed at taking a giant step towards ensuring that enough funds is raised to help our teams reach where we want them to reach. Let us engage our mobile phones to dial or send a text to 2222 to support Gambia for Gold," Gomez stated.

Speaking at length on a wide range of issues towards improving sports in the country, Minister Gomez thanked the GSM operators of The Gambia for accepting Gambia for Gold partnership, saying their involvement would make a huge difference towards achieving Gambia for Gold.

Alhagie Cham, Minister of Information, said he was happy to be associated with the initiative. "It is a collective responsibility for every Gambian to work closely in a bid to generating funds for Gambia for Gold - it's our time 2012, 2014," he said.

Cham also joined fellow ministers to thank the GSM companies for accepting the initiative, saying: "It is one way of contributing to sports development."

Daddy Gai, a representative from Comium, described the initiative as laudable, saying it will help the country in its efforts at raising the needed funds to fully equip the national teams.

He also spoke of Comium's readiness to supporting the course and challenged all Gambians, including those in the Diaspora, to embrace and support the initiative.

The other representatives from Africell, Gamcel and QCell were Mustapha Ceesay, Ebrima Hydara and Mbye Bittaye, respectively. They expressed profound gratitude to be part of what they called a wonderful partnership and thanked the initiators for their "foresight in putting up such a formidable initiative".

They also promised that they would involve their subscribers in the promotion of Gambia for Gold.

It would be recalled that Gambia for Gold was launched by the country's vice president on behalf of the Gambian leader. The fundraising initiative, whose activities have started in earnest with the launch of its campaign, is expected to raise about D32 million for all the categories of the Gambian national teams.