Speaking to The Point shortly after their close door meeting at his house in Banjul, Sulayman Samba, the chairman of the King Fahad Mosque Management Committee, who spoke on behalf of the Imam Ratib, said that the ambassador’s visit was a reciprocal gesture to the Imam.
He noted that the ambassador has been inviting them with the Imam Ratib to her residence on the occasions of the (Iftar) during the month of Ramadan where she extended hospitality to all of them.
“She thought it wise in her own wisdom to reciprocate that visit today,” he said. He added that the visit was of very significance to the Imam and the entire community.
He advanced that “it means to the Imam that his regular preach of peace in the Muslim community and the world at large is highly respected and shared interest with the government of the United States of America.”
He further explained that Her Excellency, Ambassador Cromer recognised that and used that as a stepping stone to promote and nurture peace, brotherhood and core existence within The Gambia.
“It is a shared common interest between the Imam and the ambassador as well as between The Gambia and the United States of America.”
Samba told The Point that “the ambassador was very nice in recalling the origin of her connections to the Gambian people when she served as a Peace Corp and was travelling and had to stop in the Gambian and in line with our regular traditions in extending hospitality to strangers, a Gambian invited her in his home. She remembered and valued that very much.”
“I took note of that; she has a shared value with us Gambians.”
He concluded by thanking Ambassador Cromer, her husband and the entire delegates for the goodwill visit.
