Gabriel John Roberts was born in 1926 in Bathurst (Banjul). He studied in Great Britain, obtaining a Master’s Degree and a Post-graduate Diploma in Education. A renowned educationist, he rose to the position of Director of Education. He was once the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (I.E.C.). He has published several plays, including Mandingerio Outwitted (published in the Ndaanan Literary Magazine), A Coup is Planned (published in the Ndaanan Literary Magazine), and the Trials of Busumbala.
Election Day - 1951
After a career spent mainly in teaching, Gabriel Roberts continued in other sectors of activity. He now heads the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), which is not an easy task, given the stakes of the elections, be they legislative or presidential. However, what is less known is that this interest in elections is ancient. The proof: the poem Election Day, recalling the vote of 25 October 1951, published in five parts in the Gambia Echo newspaper as follows: Part I (29 verses in three stanzas) on 12 November 1951; Part II (49 verses) on 19 November 1951; Part III (31 verses in three stanzas) on 26 November 1951; Part IV (42 verses in five stanzas) on 3 December 1951; and Part V (39 verses in a single stanza) on 10 December 1951
The background is recalled. In the 1951 elections, two Gambian 'unofficial' members were to be elected for the first time, representing Bathurst and the Kombo people in the Legislative Council - these two elected persons were to sit alongside the Gambian 'unofficial' members appointed by the Governor and alongside the ex officio members, all British. The years 1951 and 1952 are very important in the contemporary history of The Gambia, as it was during this period that the first political parties were formed: in February 1951, Reverend J.C. Faye founded the Democratic Party; in May 1951, the Gambian National Assembly was formed; and in May 1952, the Gambian National Assembly was formed. Faye founded the Democratic Party; in January 1952, Garba Jahumpa merged the Bathurst Muslim Youth Association and Muslim organisations to create the Muslim Congress. As for P.S. Njie, he created the United Party shortly after the elections. The situation of the three men was not the same: Garba Jahumpa and J.C. Faye had already been appointed members of the Legislative Council: the former since 1942, and the latter since 1947 - while P.S. Njie had returned to The Gambia in 1948 after completing his law studies. It is easy to understand that in the elections of 25 October 1950, J.C. Faye and Garba Jahumpa were elected. P.S. Njie had to wait until 1954 to make his real entry into the political arena.
Gabriel Roberts' poem describes the stormy atmosphere before the election, the feverish waiting for the results in the Bathurst City Council chamber on election night, and the proclamation of the two winners: 'First place, John Colley Faye the Great has won! / Hurrah! Nine hundred and five people seem to raise". Then: 'The second place, the voice came once more / Ibrima Garbar-Jahumpa did win / He said: eight twenty eight votes did so declare'. The rest of the poem paints at length the celebration, through the city, of the supporters of the two elected.
Gabriel Roberts' poetry refers to literature (Shakespeare's Caesar and Macbeth, Dr. Jekylls and Mr. Hydes), to Greco-Latin mythology (Pluto, Neptune) and above all to the religious register that covers the whole poem. "Election Day" is an interesting document to get an idea of the context of this period and the way Gambians lived this event.
The Trial of Bussumbala - 1971
In the history of Gambian theatre (a history that has yet to be written), Gabriel Roberts' play The Trial of Busumbala is an important landmark because, for the first time, a Gambian
theatrical work gained external recognition of quality: the play was performed on the BBC on 2 August 1970 and was published in 1971 with eight other radio plays by Heinemann (Nine African Plays for Radio). Gabriel Roberts was 44 years old at the time his play received this literary recognition, but he was already known locally for his dramatic talents and for his educational skills.
The play deals with justice, education, radio, politics and the language issue. The action takes place in 1962 (before Independence) in the courtroom: listeners follow the twists and turns of a trial. Maxwell Armitage, Principal of Armitage School, Georgetown, and also a Member of the House of Representatives, filed a complaint against Marafan Busumbala for stealing his Telefunken radio, which he had bought in September 1961. The theft took place on 31 January 1962 between 11.30 a.m. and midnight. Although at first glance the plaintiff's rightful claim seems obvious, it becomes clear that Maxwell Armitage was abusing his radio: he played it so loudly that it bothered all his neighbours, who had complained to him without success. The defence produced two witnesses: the first, Mohammadou Casterbridgia, would not swear on the Bible or the Koran, but on his honour, and spoke poor English - which was a reason for the prosecution to devalue his testimony. The second, Sambang Sambou, is a school teacher. His testimony will show that on the evening of the robbery, he was in the school library at the same time as the principal - the latter had left his house, without locking it, and leaving his radio playing at full volume music from Handel's Messiah which could be heard even in the library, although it was quite far from the principal's house! The prosecution, in order to discredit and challenge Sambou's testimony, will point out that he had been an unsuccessful candidate in the last elections for the party opposed to the principal's and that, moreover, he is a theatre actor and, as such, can feign situations and feelings. The defence will show that it has not been proven that Busumbala stole the radio set, the number of which does not correspond to that given by the trader who sold it to Maxwell Armitage.
In the end, the jury acquitted Busumbala but with reservations (if new convincing evidence could be gathered against him, the trial would be reopened) and, while returning his radio to Maxwell Armitage, asked him to use it sparingly and not to impose on his neighbours music and news they did not want when they were seeking peace and quiet. Everything would end normally and fairly if Mohammadou Casterbridgia had not caused a disturbance because he had misunderstood the English language...
Gabriel Roberts' play opened the doors of the theatre in Gambia more than 30 years ago. It is up to literary historians to show which authors and which plays followed Gabriel Roberts' path.
The Goosieganderan Myth - 1988
When Gabriel Roberts published his first novel, The Goosieganderan Myth, with Vantage Press in 1988, he was no stranger to literary circles. The teacher had already made a name for himself as a playwright with the Ndaanan magazine, of which he was a founding member. Two of his plays have been performed on the BBC and one of them, The Trail of Busumbala, has been published. The play The Coup is planned (1972) was the first version of the novel.
Gabriel Roberts' novel is presented in the form of a myth, as the title indicates. A myth seeks to shed light on reality, but it is not a historical truth: it is a story that expresses a human truth because it tries to make people understand, in pictorial form, their behaviour. No one would dare to say that Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe tell the story of the British. However, everyone agrees that these great texts of English literature help us to understand the motives behind human actions. And that is how The Goosieganderan Myth should be read.
The novel features two neighbouring countries, Gandera and Goosiera, which are very different in size: one is small and the other, much larger, encircles the former. Their once united peoples were divided by the 'Langish' and the 'Grench' (i.e. the English and the French), but they dream again of becoming one to become the Goosiegandera (just like Senegal and Gambia, whose plan for Senegambia failed in 1988). Reuniting can be achieved in several ways: either the two partners mutually agree out of friendship to form a kind of couple or one simply wants to devour the other. This is the problem. And this is why, although linked to the Senegambian adventure, Gabriel Roberts' book goes beyond this single event and illustrates all the cases of the same kind, past or future. Hence also the image of the gander and the goose introduced in the title.
The hero of the novel, Major General Kaba, speaks in the first person and it is he who unravels for us the knots of a plot in which he and his country are the victims. This senior officer is the loyal servant of the Head of the Goosiera, President Lady Sabrina. The latter has a real affection for Dynamique, the President of the Gandera. Lady Sabrina entrusts Kaba with the command of the Bambotown garrison, where he goes with his niece, Saffie, a beautiful young woman. Despite the apparent understanding, the intentions of some of the military leaders of the two countries are quite different, as Kaba will learn to his cost.
Gabriel Roberts' book opens up a reflection on the idea of nationhood and on the relationship between neighbouring states.
The Saviour of Goosiera
Gabriel Roberts has written a play about Gambia - here called "Goosiera" as in his novel "Goosieganderan Myth" - which is not really historically accurate but is interesting because of its symbolic character. He takes the story of Kunta Kinteh in Alex Haley's Roots and transforms it. The aim is to show that the descendants of former slaves were able to free themselves and take control of their destiny. The play is divided into seven scenes and has a fairly large stage set-up with music, dance, etc. Here is the outline of the action.
Table 1: We are in Juffureh for the baptism of Dawda and Mariama's son: instead of being called Dawda, he will be called Kunta according to the premonitory dream that the child's mother and the village Imam had separately. The latter prophesies that the child will be the saviour of Goosiera, a country that will have to suffer a lot in the years to come. We also learn that one of the villagers, Seyfo Touray, was seen in the company of a white man, who had left for America, but who announced that he would return later.
Table 2: 13 years later, at the time of the initiation of 12 boys. Kunta is recognised by his peers as the best of them.
Table 3: Seyfo Touray is in the company of slavers who have returned to Juffureh. Young men and women try to escape but are captured; Kunta is one of them. Kunta is one of them. Chained up, put in the hold of the slavers' boat, he arrives in America where he is sold to a white man. Table 4: 25 years later. Dawda has been dead for 40 days and Mariama is very distressed. Samba, who had been taken with Kunta to Georgia, arrives. After twenty years of slavery, they both escaped and were able to flee to England where they were adopted by Wilberforce, the famous MP for Liverpol, a great champion of anti-slavery. While Samba returned, Kunta stayed behind to study and become a judge and a lawyer. Samba assures us that he will return and he has asked that a lawsuit be brought before the Cadi against Seyfo. Seyfo, despite his denials, is condemned and locked up on James Island.
Table 5: Years later. Led by a white man, the Goosiera soldiers return from a six-year foreign war (World War II). At a political meeting, the people are encouraged to free themselves from imperialism and become independent.
Table 6: In Britain, Kunta is part of the delegation that decides on the country's independence, set for 18 February.
Table 7: Kunta Kinteh is democratically elected as the first president of the Goosiera It is easy to see that it is not possible to match the length of an individual's real life with what we are told about Kunta in this play, but that is not the point. The author's aim is to exalt the national consciousness and to draw attention to the path that leads, through suffering, to taking control of one's own destiny. It also tells the story of former slaves who, after returning to Africa, led their host countries to independence, as was the case for the Aku in Sierra Leone and the Gambia.
