By Olimatou Coker
Sports Minister Bakary Badjie has told youth communities across the country during his nationwide town hall meetings that car drifting is not a recognised sport in The Gambia and is in fact illegal.
The minister was responding to suggestions at one of the town hall meetings where some youths suggested legalising it and recognising it as a sport.
According to the minister, car drifting is disorderly and violent and only brings chaos and destruction and as such it has not been legalised in any shape or form.
“ If young people go into somebody’s vehicle and then spin it around in communities, causing accidents, do you expect government to just sit down and watch or worst still consider that a sport?”, he asked.
He admitted that sometime ago some people came to them suggesting that car drifting be allowed at GCCI Trade Fair grounds with security presence but ”as a ministry we couldn’t do that because car drifting itself is not yet a recognised sport.”
Minister Badjie said a sport has to be legally recognised first before you can talk of providing facility for it to be played. We are even having challenges with putting up structures for the recognised sports, not to talk about car drifting,” he said.
He said all those prosecuted or jailed over the act have caused harm or injuries to members of the public, citing the case of one Abdourahman of Abuko who sustained injuries as a victim of car drifting.
In fact car drifting is not even popular among law abiding citizens. It is only a minority that is doing it and disturbing the majority,” he said.
The town hall interface in all regions brought together youth leaders, government officials and stakeholders to deliberate on six key thematic areas, youth employment, skills and entrepreneurship, youth leadership, participation and governance; sports development and infrastructure, inclusion covering gender, disability and rural youth, health, wellbeing and sports for development, and partnership and innovation.
