By Sise Sawaneh
With just days to go before Saturday’s Gambia Football Federation elections, two candidates Buba Bojang and Omar Danso on Friday announced an alliance that they said they believe will develop in a total merger with the possibility of presenting a single candidate to run against Lamin Kaba Bajo. They also promised to reveal their line-up of other executive members by Monday.
They were speaking at a press conference at the Serekunda East Park where they launched a joint manifesto promising to develop and standardise Gambian football by developing all areas from technical to women football as well as fight any possibility of age cheating.
Buba Bojang, one of the candidates painted a rather pathetic picture of the current state of Gambian football. But he said his campaign is determined to salvage the game as they are the ones who are in the game daily and knows how it feels to run clubs.
“We are ready and willing to promote Gambian football in all aspects because the hand that visits the mouth knows the problem of the belly; We are the ones involved in football, so we know how it takes to run our individual clubs and even the media knows that Gambian football is more or less about sacrifice and perhaps the little pleasure than we gain from it. But economically, running clubs is ruining a lot of individuals as they are dipping into their pockets to run football clubs with very little returns. This is one of the reasons why I commit my candidature and join the crusade and I believe together we can salvage our football.”
Bojang further stated that the alliance will be committed to implementing a totally professional approach to managing football as laid down in the strategic plan of the GFF presented at the recently held national football conference that shall be in line with the government’ sports policy and football strategic plan.
Omar Danso, the other candidate under the alliance said lamented the low turnout at national league games which he said is a great concern to the GFF, promising that his alliance will endeavour to ensure that national league games are keenly contested and well attended at all grounds by raising community awareness as to the relevance and importance to national league games.
“It is the desire of the alliance to raise the league to semi professional league in our quest to attract scouts for the marketing of young talented players,” Danso said.
Danso also lamented the unfortunate circumstance that led to the staining of The Gambia’s image for alleged age-cheating, vowing that his alliance will introduce a player’s passport at the age of 13 years to avert any such possibility.
Also addressing the gathering, former first vice president Buba Janneh said as far as he was concerned the alliance is a better option than “the other side”. He commended the two candidates in the alliance for “deciding to fight injustice first by condemning the illegal banning of the two other candidates instead of selfishly rejoicing over it. This injustice means nothing to the other side as long as it enhances their quest to win. If they can ignore those fundamental violations of the constitution by this time, what would they do if they get into office,” Janneh asked.
The former GFF No 2 then declared that as far as he was concerned the candidates under the alliance are more trustworthy and would safeguard the constitution better. He challenged the media to continue covering the process with fairness.
Another speaker Borri Darboe, a member of the former GFF executive, took issues with the Gambia For Gold Committee saying the Normalisation Committee should have stated work with that body which he alleged had handled millions dalasis and is yet to be audited.
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