Lawyer Mai Fatty Deserves Freedom Award- Says Sulayman Sarr

By Sulayman Sarr, Sweden

I’m a Gambian living in Sweden. Please allow me to kindly Congratulate Lawyer Mai Fatty on this auspicious award, and to further praise your Editorial Board for your vision and courage all these years. Despite persistent attempts by Public Enemy Yaya Jammeh to shut you down, brave Gambians rally to your side, and we shall continue to do so. Always remember that you are not alone.

Now on to Lawyer Fatty. I attended High School with this Great Gambian, and he was our School Head Boy. Prior to that he was the School journalist for many years who provided daily national and international news on the Notice board. I can fully recall that a lot of of us would gather daily around this board during break to be informed of global events as they unfold. TV wasn’t then available, and most students from poor homes couldn’t afford a simple radio or the time to listen to important events around the world. Mr. Fatty was our most important link to the world, and through his writings, hundreds of students learnt so much. Yaya Jammeh was also a student by this time, but at a different high school.

Lawyer Fatty was always very approachable and back then he had a tremendous charisma that made a lot of us felt very confident in his presence. He was also the pride of our high school when it comes to inter-high school debate or quiz championship. A natural orator with clear leadership qualities was his obvious traits, and a guy who did not have the word "tribe" in his vocabulary.

When he became Head Boy, he fought for our rights against the administration of Principal Shiekh Jeng, confronting issues such as the high cost of fees and books, lack of school buses, poor education policy, insufficient facilities and the right of students to form a union. He did all of these with great peril to his academic pursuits and freedom, and finally he was arrested by the NIA (then NSS) and locked in cells at Banjul Police Station. He refused to give up on his principles just to get his freedom, and remained tortured for days at a very tender age. I recall that our then French Teacher Mr Bala Sillah was the one who tried to calm students when we attempted to burn down the Police Station to free him.

Mr. Sillah eventually had long meeting the authorities and our Hero was released. After his release, they stripped him of authority, and when we wanted to strike and destroy the school, he gave an inspiring speech that settled our spirits, and he averted serious crises in our interest. A different person would have instigated us to make chaos so that he could be returned to his position. Mr. Fatty didn’t give up on his fight for students, he continued until he became the Vice President of the National Union of Gambian Students, representing and advocating our rights at international meetings.

Though I was two classes below him, he was inevitably the best role model for overwhelming number of students, and when he left, his legacy is yet to be broken.

About a year ago, my brother was unlawfully arrested at Mansa konko and kept in cells for over a week. No one could secure his release, and none of the lawyers my family contacted were willing to travel through the rough terrain to fight for his release, or their fees were so high that my family couldn’t afford it. Luckily when I called home, I knew about it, and asked my old Dad to travel to the Kombos and seek out Lawyer Fatty, and to get his number for me. Two days later, Mr. Fatty had traveled to Mansa Konko, filed emergency papers in court, fought for my brother and secured his release. He didn’t ask for any payment, or his hotel bill at Mansa Konko. When I finally spoke to him on the phone to remind him of me in our school days, he couldn’t remember me, and I know he was the public person whom we all knew, and he couldn’t remember us all.

However, he took the case and fought it without fees, and when I asked for his fees, he told me that he took the case on grounds of principle, and that he hoped I could also help another Gambian in trouble or need. I was so moved that I couldn’t continue the conversation. Here is a true Gambian serving his people quietly, willing to risk a great deal for his people and without boasting about it. When I spoke to another prominent Gambian exiled here in Sweden, he confirmed that without Mr. Fatty at his trial, probably he would have been dead by now. Thank you Mr. Fatty for saving lives, and for defending the poor, the weak and human rights in The Gambia. He is my Man of the Decade, and we pray for his speedy recovery.

Thank you for giving me the space.

Sulayman Sarr
Sweden