By Baba Galleh Jallow
April 1st, 2025 marked the one-year anniversary of Pa Barra Saine’s passing. It marked exactly one year when, hearing news of this great man’s passing, the idea of doing a series on the great elders of Chaku Bantang hit my mind. A lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge since I shared the first in the series on 1st December, 2024. I pray that God continues to bless Pa Barra Saine’s soul and the souls of all the departed elders and citizens of our beloved Chaku Bantang.
As I wrote about my late best friend Musa Jobe and other great mechanics of Chaku Bantang, I couldn’t help thinking about the drivers whose cars they repaired. In the first part of the series, I mentioned some drivers of the Saine clan – Pa Mamud Saine, Pa Ablie Njillan, Pa Kebba Ndumbeh, and Kebba Saine, all of blessed memory. One driver that escaped my mind from this group was Ali Saine, who was like a big brother to me. Ali Saine was a tall, medium-built man who was highly regarded by everyone who knew him. He was a fine gentleman and a much-admired driver who plied the Farafenni-Kaur route with his Peugeot 404 mini truck (4 cent mbarr in French, as we used to call these cars). Ali Saine was notable for his neat appearance and his businesslike attitude. I don’t know if he is still alive. If he is, may Allah preserve and grant him good health and a long life.
From a very early age when I was around 9 or 10 years old, I remember a driver called Pa Landing Sonko, who lived with his family in the compound directly opposite ours in Farafenni Wharf Town. Pa Landing Sonko was the driver of a big truck that transported bags of groundnuts from the seccos (groundnut depots) in Farafenni to the riverside village of Balingho for onward shipment to Banjul. Pa Landing Sonko used to park his fully loaded truck at our compound gate and later drove down to Balingho. He was a short, well-built, light-skinned elder with a broad, kindly face and a moustache. I remember on one or two occasions climbing on top of the groundnut bags and going with Pa Landing Sonko to Ballingho where labourers uploaded the truck. He was always kind and never got angry or chided me for following him. May Allah bless his soul in eternity.
I also knew a tractor driver called Minteh Ba. Pa Minteh Ba’s compound was about 50 metres west of Chief Kebba Jammeh’s compound. A short, well-built man, Pa Minteh Ba worked for the Public Works Department (PWD). He liked to wear a felt hat and often came to buy fish from the market. Pa Minteh Ba was a very friendly elder and could be seen broadly smiling and laughing as he chatted with people. I don’t know if Pa Minteh Ba is still alive. If he is, may Allah preserve and grant him good health and a long life.
At one point, and for a long time, the main Farafenni car park was located right next to Chaku Bantang Cinema and opposite the main market. Among the drivers I knew at that garage was a man I highly admired for his neatness and driving skills. I simply knew him as MaSanneh. He was a young, tall, slightly built driver who drove a white, seven-passenger Peugeot saloon car that plied the Farafenni Bamba Tenda route. MaSanneh was reputed to take great care of his car and to be unfailingly polite to his passengers.
I learned driving at the hands of my agemate and driver Basiru Joof, who is still alive. Bas Joof was the apprentice of a driver called Ali Mbye, who drove a small Renault 4 beetle. Ali Mbye was a fairly tall, slim man who also plied the Farafenni-Bamba Tenda and Farafenni-Keur Ayib routes. Sometimes, he would leave the car with Bas Joof. During such times, I would give some money to Bas Joof and we would go to the southern outskirts of Chaku Bantang, on the road to Jigimarr village. There, he taught me how to drive. Ali Mbye’s younger brother Sa Gaye was also a taxi driver.
There was another driver called Musa Marra who was also very well known and respected for his neatness and professionalism. Musa Marra, a short man of medium build, used to drive a four-passenger Peugeot car and also plied the Farafenni Bamba Tenda route. He was a man of few words, but was always neatly dressed and polite.
Another very popular driver in Chaku Bantang was Boy Njie. Boy Njie was the elder brother of Professor Matarr Njie of the UTG, and my agemate Lamin Njie and sister Awa Njie. He was a well-built, dark-skinned man of medium height with a very expansive and friendly personality. He was a very close friend of my dad and liked to tease him and myself whenever he saw one of us. Much like Gra Ebou Joof, Boy Njie often had his ears pulled by Pa Mamadou Jallow. Unfortunately, Boy Njie passed away at a relatively young age many years ago. May Allah bless his soul in eternity.
Njobo Nyang was another popular driver who was very close to my dad. A short, well-built man, Njobo Nyang, who is still alive, was also notable for his seriousness and professionalism. He, alongside Musa Marra, Boy Njie, MaSanneh, Ali Mbye and Sa Gaye, used to ferry my father’s fish from Bamba Tenda to Farafenni market. Sometimes he hired them to take him to Salikenni and Kerewan during the night to buy big ladyfish and baracuda. It appeared that my father’s favorite driver was Burama Marika, who is still alive. Burama became my father’s driver and they got so close that he named his son after my dad. The boy, Jallow Marika, is now a grown up in Chaku Bantang and often got in touch with me.
Another popular driver in Chaku Bantang was my big brother and friend Sainey Sabally, now a prominent leader in the UDP. Sainey is a giant of a man who is also very gentle and friendly. He was known to be a very rough driver and there were so many stories of his exploits overtaking other drivers on the Farafenni-Kerewan highway which in those days was not tarred. We used to hear of races between Sainey Sabally, Lang Kinteh and drivers like Abdou Marong as they tried to prove who drove fastest among them. Even though he is much older than me, I used to tease Sainey Sabally by calling him ndokey (Mandinka for little brother), at which he would burst out laughing and call me mo kuntang! (headless / foolish person)
Thinking of these great drivers reminds me of two men whose title was chef de garage, some kind of supervisors of the loading processes for cars. Each chef-de-garage always had a pen and paper on which he wrote the registration numbers of the cars as they came in and ticked them off as they loaded and drove off. Without the chef-de-garage, there would have been lots of disagreements and fighting among drivers over who came first and who should load first. By writing down the registration numbers of the cars as they came into the car park and ticking them off as they left, the chef de garage did a great service to the Chaku community.
One chef de garage I remember from a very early age was called Madi. Pa Madi was a short, slightly built, physically challenged man who walked with the help of crutches. But he was an iron man who commanded a lot of respect and was known for his no-nonsense attitude. May Allah bless his soul in eternity. Another chef de garage I remember from my childhood days was called Majenu. Majenu was a retired driver who became a chef de garage. He was a man of medium build and medium height with a very friendly but serious disposition. Like Madi, he was highly respected in the Farafenni community. Majenu also passed away many years ago. May God bless the souls of all the great drivers of Chaku Bantang who have passed away and preserve and bless those still alive with good health and long lives.
Dr Baba Galleh Jallow was a Gambian journalist now an academic. He studied and lectured at Fourah Bay College, Rutgers University, University of California, Davis, Creighton University, La Salle University and Harvard University. He served as executive secretary of The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission.
