But, this piece is not a biography; it is just a well-deserved tribute meant to pay homage to one of us who embodies all that is good, nay all that is best in us.
Pap Saine is the Gambian editor and publisher of the independent newspaper, The Point.
1988 to 2004: I was media officer CAF.
In 2019 Black American Journalists association of the 50 states voted pap Saine Foreign Journalist of the year.
2021 in Dubai United Emirates Pap Saine received award from Business Executive Magazine of Ghana circulated in many parts of the world The most respected Africa"s CEO award.
In 2010, the International Press Institute named him a World Press Freedom Hero for his work.
In passing, on 16 December 1991, Pap Saine co-founded The Point along with Deyda Hydara and Babucarr Gaye; Deyda Hydara and Pap Saine had been friends since childhood.
Baboucarr Gaye resigned four months later but Deyda Hydara and Pap Saine ran the paper together for the next decade.
Pap Saine also worked, at the same time, as a Reuters correspondent for West Africa.
It can be recalled that, on 14 December 2004, The Gambia passed two (2) new media laws: ie: the Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill 2004, allowing prison terms for defamation and sedition; and the Newspaper (Amendment) Bill 2004, requiring newspaper owners to purchase expensive operating licenses, registering their homes as security or surety.
Deyda Hydara announced his intent to challenge these laws, but on 16 December, was assassinated by an unknown gunman while driving home from work in Banjul.
Hydara's murder has never been solved.
The following year, he was posthumously awarded the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.
Following Hydara's death, Saine continued to edit The Point, making it a daily in 2006.
The Point soon became the only independent newspaper in the Gambia.
On 2 February 2009, The Point editor, Pap Saine and reporter, Modou Sanyang, were arrested by Gambian police for suspicion of "publishing and spreading false information".
Sanyang was released with a warning, but Saine was formally charged.
According to the Media Foundation of West Africa, the arrests had been prompted by a Point story titled "Arrested Gambian Diplomat Sent to Mile 2", in which the paper reported that Lamini Sabi Sanyang, an arrested official from Gambia's US Embassy, had been transferred to Mile 2 Prison; Pap Saine was detained for refusing to reveal his source.
One week later, following another report on Gambia's US Embassy, Pap Saine was arrested again, interrogated at length, and given a second charge of "publishing and spreading false information".
On 24 February, authorities also accused Pap Saine of being Senegalese and having obtained a Gambian birth certificate through "false statements".
He faced separate trials for each set of charges, both on 12 March in Banjul.
Reporters Without Borders described the investigation of Saine as "hounding" and called on Kamalesh Sharma, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, to intervene.
On 9 April, the charges of "publishing and spreading false information" were formally dropped.
Journalist, Pap Saine was awarded the Johann Philipp Palm Award in 2006.
The award is named for a bookseller executed by Napoleon, and recognizes individuals who are "of outstanding prominence in the promotion of freedom of opinion and the press".
In sum, from 1988 to 2004, Pap Saine was media officer CAF 2021 in Dubai United Emirates.
He then received an award from the Business Executive Magazine of Ghana which is circulated in many parts of the world; indeed, the most respected Africa"s CEO award.
In 2010, Pap Saine was named a World Press Freedom Hero by the International Press Institute.
He is the third West African to have won the title, following Kenneth Best (Liberia) and Freedom Neruda (Côte d'Ivoire).
Pap Saine described the award as a morale-booster and "an inspiration for journalists who are fighting for freedom of the press and the interests of justice, democracy and human rights not only in the Gambia but in all of Africa".
In all truth and undeniably so, Pap Saine brightens every space that he occupies and is therefore so easy to admire and love.
A nice, kind, bubbly, sociable, debonair gentleman, the positive and charismatic human being, Pap Saine has always been and continues to be.
In fact, Pap Saine has set standards. As such, he never underestimates the importance of journalism and never accepts to be second best.
As a bona fide journalist by vocation and profession, he, indeed, has also seen and espoused the virtue and benefits of our Gambian people recognising, appreciating and living our diversity in oneness and uniqueness, as evinced in our National Anthem.
Finally, one thing certain about Pap Saine is that he never wavers in his belief in a better world and has never been shy about fighting for it.
As such, he will never ever modulate his beliefs in pursuit of professional advancement.
Even though the world had not always treated him kindly or fairly, but no one will ever see a trace of self-pity in Pap of the Saine type.
We indeed continue to admire this greatly.
So, Pap Saine, please continue to do your best in reliably serving your fellow Gambians, nay in your selfless service to humanity.
Please also continue to age well with continued dignity and in continued grace.
God bless !!! 🙏🏾 🙏🏾 🙏🏾
