My Beef With Pa Malick Faye & Others

By Nanama Keita (nanama@africansportschannel.com)

With my bogus false information case hanging indefinitely in a Kangaroo court in Banjul, I write this piece to shed light on some burning issues that were subject of discussion within the journalist fraternity both within and outside the Gambia.  Before I proceed, however, I would like to comment on my cordial-turned-sour relationship with Pa Malick Faye of the Daily Observer who is also the chief architect of my trouble in Gambia.

I don’t know how and when Pa Malick Faye joined the Daily Observer but I can comfortably say that I played a key role in his ascension to the company’s top job in 2009 following the ceremonious exit of Neneh Macduall-Gaye. When I joined the Daily Observer in 2004 as a rookie reporter, I noticed that Pa Malick Faye and Chief Ebrima Manneh were among the few staff reporters with the rest serving as freelance reporters. But it didn’t take me long before I realized that unlike others, Pa Malick’s ‘staff status’ was merely due to his political affiliation rather than his journalistic skills – as his poor speaking and writing skills would later prove to me.

At the same time, most readers and even some insiders, including myself, were still skeptical of the assertion that the Observer, which was under Sheriff Bojang’s stewardship at the time, was a government controlled entity. People were skeptical simply because opposition articles were frequently featured on the front-page attacking the government. 

But the paper’s semi-independent stance in the eyes of the public was severely affronted with the coming Dr. Saja Taal as the new MD in 2005. When Dr. Taal took charge, he immediately banned all opposition stories on the Observer pages in his bid to keep his managerial post. It was during this time that it became clear that businessman Amadou Samba’s name at the bottom of the back page referring him as the proprietor was a mere cover-up as all instructions on the day-to-day running of the company were coming directly from the Office of the President.

The belief that the paper is not merely pro-government but purely government controlled  was even further confirmed when the then MD Dida Haleke - who had succeeded Dr. Taal as the new boss in 2007 - bravely removed Samba’s name from  the bottom page at one time as he tried to assert his authority as President Jammeh’s handpicked appointee.  Halake would later lose the battle not because Amadou Samba really owned the company, but because he had touched the untouchable who was and still remains one of President Jammeh’s close allies.

Coming back to Pa Malick’s ascension to Observer top job, it was Neneh Macduall-Gaye who put him in the position after a close consultation with the Senior Management Team (SMT) of the company, which I was the secretary. Following her sacking as Information Minister Neneh Macduall bounced back to replace out-of-favour Dida Halake as new Observer MD in 2008. But less than a year into her appointment, Neneh was named Gambia’s Ambassador to the United States.

Before taking up her new diplomatic assignment in the U.S., Neneh made it a point of duty to put in place certain mechanism that would ensure that every member of staff at Observer would be proud to be associated with the company financially.

Neneh later met with President Jammeh to discuss the future of company and succeeded in securing what would be the company’s new head office in Kanifing Industrial Area. The President bought the two-storey building for D5million from the defunct Quantum Associates but the structure was standing useless until when a green light was given for the Daily Observer to occupy it in 2009.

Neneh’s next move would be to decide on the new leadership of the company before she leaves finally. She had enquired from the members of the SMT and we all agreed that we should choose the new MD among ourselves rather than bringing in a complete new face. Open and generous as she was, Neneh agreed to our proposal before asking us to select the new leader.  This was the time Pa Malick started an intensive lobby and he had driven to my house in Bakau on several occasions to seek for my blessing. Pa Malick was aware that I was one of Neneh’s trusted friends at Observer having known her since my days as a student leader at the Gambia College and he knew that my support for his candidacy would be vital.

Weeks later I, Lamin Dibba, Kojo and Alagie Jobe agreed that we have Pa Malick Faye as the MD since he was one of the senior men among us age-wise. This was against the wishes of Neneh and Abdoulie John who had wanted Kemo Cham to lead due to Cham’s strict nature, trustworthiness and most importantly his academic abilities. But since we were the majority, Pa Malick was installed as new MD but under strict written rules that he must consult with the SMT at all times before making any major decision.  After we decided on the new leadership, the company was to move to its new location in Kanifing. A day before our relocation, I rang the then CDS Langtombong Tamba to request for a military truck to enable us transport our office equipments from the Bakau office to Kanifing. As my close friend both on personal and professional terms, Tamba - who was out of the country at the time - directed me to one Major Omar Mbye – whom he instructed over his roaming cell phone – to get me a military truck and some men the following day to transport our equipments.

When we finally settled in the new Kanifing office with new MD in charge, it didn’t take too long before Pa Malick showed his true colour. Without going into details that led to the unceremonious exit of both Abdoulie John and Kemo Cham as innocent victims of Pa Malick Faye’s hypocrisy, it was apparent that a wrong man was put in the wrong place.

Pa Malick started to make his own decisions that would cost the company hundreds of thousands of dalasis. Apart from flirting with different ladies including our marketing manager, Amie Manka, at the expense of the company’s fund, Faye also started a complete new and luxurious life style which included the purchase of a new private Cherokee Jeep as well as a transfer from family residence in Lamin Village to a rented luxury apartment at Yarambamba Estate in Brusubi. Less than one year into his stint, the company started taking overdraft to pay staff salary. I can still recall the first month the company’s cashier, Fenteh Baldeh, brought me an overdraft form to sign before we could pay salaries.  I nearly shed tears knowing that we were having more than one million dalasis in our accounts when Neneh Macduall was leaving.

At this stage it was apparent that Pa Malick was living above his earning powers, hence he was eating into the company’s coffers. Despite being the Observer MD, I was earning pretty more than Pa Malick at the time. As the Daily Observer Deputy Editor-in-Chief and head of sports desk, I was also teaching full-time as a qualified HTC holder at Latrikunda Upper Basic School following a three-year Higher Teachers’ Certificate course at Gambia College. I was also filing articles for some international news agencies including Africa Media Online. My net salary from these three assignments was well over D17, 000 a month – almost D2, 000 more than Pa Malick’s allotted D15, 000 monthly salary. Yet this man was living beyond the status of a state minister.

Coming to those who were talking trash when I left the Gambia, I want to remind them that they didn’t know what they were saying. When my problem first started at the Daily Observer in May/June 2011, the local media were well aware of it yet nobody had the audacity to report about it until when the matter reached the court. I was first arrested and detained at the NIA headquarters in Banjul during the start of my problem under the order of the NIA Operations Director Lewis Gomez. I was only released on bail after my sister deposited her passport and signed a D500, 000 bail bond. I was also forced to deposit my ID card and passport, though I only submitted a valid but wrong passport while I kept my real passport with me.

After my release on bail I was reporting to the NIA headquarters three times a week for the whole of June. In fact at one point I decided I can’t stand the tri-weekly report anymore and I told one of the NIA investigating officers, Lamin Saidykhan, to come and get me in my house if he wished since I was tired of the up-and- down movement. Surprisingly, the local media were aware of this yet nobody wrote about it. I later learnt that Saikou Ceesay of the Daily News, who would later serve as my surety after my second arrest, had attempted to investigate the story but he threw in the towel after Pa Malick threatened him during his fact-finding mission to Observer that he would report him to the NIA if he attempts to write the story.

The first and only article on my bitter encounter with the NIA was published on the Standard Newspaper after Sheriff Bojang was wrongfully called in for questioning on the account that I had mentioned his name when I was confronted with the Freedom publications. I called it ‘wrongful’ because this was all part of Pa Malick’s larger plan to involve the only guy who was standing with me during this difficult moment as a colleague.

Because of the involvement of the NIA who were also so keen to fabricate evidence in linking me with Freedom Newspaper, I was forced to write to the President’s Office to protest the treatment I was undergoing more so when I knew that I was innocent. Thinking that I was going to get justice after petitioning the President’s Office as a concerned citizen, I didn’t realize that the President’s Office was already briefed by GRTS Momodou Sanyang who claimed that I had been leaking information to Freedom Newspaper. Sanyang’s main motive was that he might also go down with Pa Malick Faye if the claims of the financial malpractice reported on Freedom Newspaper were to be investigated and found to be true since he was also part and parcel of the deal.

Also, I was never a friend of Mr. Sanyang simply because I had once refused to sign a cheque belonging to him on the ground that the payment was not genuine. Sanyang had requested for his five months board allowance at a go when there had never been any board meeting. I refused to sign the cheque much to the surprise of the accountant who had warned me that I could be in trouble for refusing to endorse the bogus cheque.

Therefore instead of looking into my protest, the President’s Office instructed the Police to slap me with a false information charge on the account that I was indeed leaking information to Freedom Newspaper and that the Observer management was right to fire me. When I was arrested, charged and detained by the Police this time around, it was the GPU who stuck its neck to secure my release on court bail, though only a handful of GPU members would remain true to my course.

While the court proceedings were in progress I was frequently being monitored and followed. In fact I was forced by the GPU president Emil Touray to lodge a complaint with the Kairaba Police Station after I received threatening text messages from an unknown numbers. I was earlier reluctant to lodge a complaint with the police simply because I was now considered as an enemy of the state hence the police would not endeavor to investigate my claims. During this troubling moment which spanned well over three months, I had – though expectedly - lost virtually everyone that used to call me a friend. People stopped calling me on my mobile fearing that my line had been bugged by the NIA.

With this continuous intimidations and my likelihood to be sent to jail for my perceived affiliation with Freedom Newspaper, I didn’t fail to act when I was opportune to secure a US visa to attend a UN fellowship program which I had applied secretly during the course of my problem. Knowing that it was my only chance to escape the government’s goons, I decided to take to my heels but not without risking the wrath of some people some of whom went to an extend of writing to the UN headquarters in New York alerting them that I was a notorious criminal who had jumped bail while facing criminal charges in Banjul. Others immediately wrote to Media Foundation for West Africa in Ghana telling them that I had fled the country purposely to seek a political asylum.

When I learnt of all these, I concluded that the little sweet words and smiles I had been getting from some of these so-called friends during my problem in Gambia were nothing but fake. They were shocked to learn that I was in a safe place after witnessing four months of pure injustice.

I know very well that when I leave the country, my surety – Saikou Ceesay – was going to be held accountable. But I also know that Ceesay would not be kept in detention so long my bail bond is settled. Therefore when I left Banjul unnoticed, I immediately contacted Saikou Ceesay to tell him that I would settle the bail bond before he is confronted by the authorities. Before my exit, I had deposited a post-dated GTBank cheque for D80, 000 with a colleague so that she would withdraw the cash and hand it over to the GPU after I had left Banjul. I didn’t cash the money myself because I didn’t want to raise unnecessary alarm on my plan to flee the country.

But due to the media frenzy that greeted my exit, the person that was suppose to withdraw this money was afraid to cash the cheque fearing that my bank account was under the eagle eyes of the authorities. Was I surprise that she was afraid? Hell no! In Gambia everybody lives in state of fear and nobody wants to be seen or associated with someone who is in trouble with the state.

And I was shocked as much as anyone else when I later learnt of the arrest of Saikou Ceesay, albeit I still didn’t forget that it would have been worst if I had stayed in the country. When Ceesay was released following the payment of the bail bond by the GPU, I called Ceesay immediately and thanked him for his sacrifice on my behalf before seeking for his forgiveness. I only have peace of mind when he informed me that he didn’t regret what he did for me and that he has nothing against me. I shall ever be grateful to Mr. Ceesay and by extension some devoted members of the GPU for standing with me when everyone else had abandoned me.

Prior to Ceesay’s arrest, Sheriff Bojang and Ahmed Alota were briefly questioned by the Police with regards to my exit simply because Pa Malick Faye had misinformed the Police that the duo had helped me escape. Pa Malick got this information from nowhere but the Gambia Press Union office which has been infiltrated with government informers. Some even went to an extend of claiming that I had travelled to the U.S. on behalf of the Standard Newspaper in a move that was purely meant to put Sheriff Bojang in trouble.

To those so-called journalists who were busy spreading the false information that I left the country to seek political asylum, let me remind them that I was not a desperate journalist when I was in Gambia as opposed to what many think of Gambian journalists. With two full-time jobs that earned me well over D17, 000 (seventeen thousand dalasis) a month, I was holding a key to a personal vehicle and had lived happily with my family in a reasonably comfortable residence. With all these, coupled with the privilege of being with my family, including my three-year-old daughter, why on earth would I force my way into a foreign land if it was not really necessary for my safety.

I am not those join-the-lists who are only in the trade for their pocket. I have a strong passion for this profession and how I wish those evils had not interrupted my career when I loved it most. As the saying goes, the lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did, and while I would not brag about being the best journalist, I could comfortably say that I was among the best sports writers in the country, who had travelled far and wide including a trip to the continent's premier FIFA World Cup finals, and I had always held public officials accountable to the masses.

To do this job, and to do it to your best ability, you must be ready to have enemies and I was willing to have as much as I can so long I serve in the best interest of the general public who were my main targets. At Daily Observer I had treated everyone with respect irrespective of their designations, and I had always strived to ensure that everyone in that office got the right share they deserved for working for that company. I had rejected several attempts by Pa Malick to get my own salary increase simply because it was not across the board. Though, I am not saying that I was the perfect saint in that office for everyone has his own shortcomings and I was not an exception.

To those who claimed that I should have stayed and fight my case in courts rather than leaving in the middle of the proceedings, may be they forget hundreds of Gambians that are languishing at the dilapidated Mile II prison yet some of them don’t even know why they are there. I was determined to fight my case and that’s why I stayed that long to defend myself but all I got in return was nothing but mistreatment and selective prosecution.  Besides, I didn’t kill neither did I rub anybody. My only crime was petitioning the President’s Office to protest against injustice that was meted out on me, and I consider this as my constitutional right. And while there were many other false information cases in the courts at the time, why was my own case treated with ‘special interest’ by the authorities as if I had committed treason?

Finally, I would like to seize this opportunity to once again thank the Gambia Press Union and journalist Saikou Ceesay in particular for their selfless sacrifice in my course. It does sometimes take boldness to make hard decisions. If only decisions could be black and white, or a voice from the sky could yell at you and tell you what to do! It's never pleasant to cause hurt to others, but that's part of the human condition, I guess. Sometimes, after considering all of the possibilities and avenues, it's just a leap of faith. And those leaps can be hard sometimes.