Dear Sheriff,
It is 1300 hrs here in Brussels as I embark on the second leg of my long journey to another part of this great vast world on this Thursday, April, 10, 2025.
Hey, I just remembered that I promised to send you part 2 of the above series on two great icons of our Republic.
The Honourable Fafa Edrissa M’bai and I crossed paths around the time you ran The Standard while I served as National Budget Director at the Ministry of Finance. These were the halcyon days of our writing as you continued your essays started at the legendary Daily Observer and I followed suit with the epistolary genre at The Standard.
It was the feedback and encouragement of legends like Uncle Fafa and the late Sulayman Massaneh Ceesay that injected the adrenaline into my system to keep that wave going.
Almost by default, it was you that connected me with these great minds. I have to add that you were the one who also informed me that the Honourable Lawyer Darboe was also following our writings.
I had subsequently paid a visit to Fafa at his Pipeline residence where he graciously welcomed me into his library to discuss intellectual matters. The sheer richness of Fafa’s library was so inspiring.
Those late evening conversations would never end without a series of quotations from Fafa’s favorite lawyer of all time, the legendary Lord Denning
This late old sage shared a few of his priceless speeches and academic papers with me before he passed away; and from that treasure trove I take the following quote. When he delivered his “Tribute to His Lordship Justice EMANUEL OLAYINKA AYOOLA, CRG, Chief Justice Of The Gambia, 1983 – 1992” at a Farewell Dinner Hosted by The Gambia Bar Association in honour of Justice AYOOLA on 21 July 1992, Fafa stated this:
“The fundamental assistance that an advocate, a magistrate, or even a Judge needs is access to a good Law Library. Law Reports, Statutes and legal periodicals are the tools of our trade.”
Looking back at his legacy, the late Fafa Mbai did not only contribute to our law libraries, but he was a walking library himself while he lived here with us. As he passes, on he leaves behind the spirit and letter of this ‘Mbai Kunda library’ in his children (and spouse) who now serve our Republic as lawyers and Justices of the High Courts.
Fafa’s contribution to our canon of journals and his trail blazing work in customary law are both legendary.
And, my good friend, if you were to assume that Fafa’s legal pedigree is his only legacy, then you would make a big mistake. I recently found out that this great lawyer and sage was also among the ‘talibehs’ of one of the greatest Saints of our time.
I have always loved and respected Fafa but when I met him sitting in the sacred chambers of this great soul, my admiration for him rose much higher.
He was also building his own library of religious scriptures and he showed me some of his priceless collections in these sacred matters.
Fafa had also shared with me some papers he presented at Islamic conferences around the world and from one of those pieces, I end this part of our series with a quote demonstrating the old lawyer’s deep and comprehensive approach to the religion of Islam.
Here’s what he penned in the opening paragraphs of that paper; and with that quote I send prayers for the soul of Fafa Edrissa Mbai to be granted blissful repose in the loftiest palaces of Jannatul Firdaus:
“ISLAM is neither a mere creed, nor does it simply represent an edification of souls, or a refinement and training of human virtues. It is a harmonious whole that includes a just economic system, a well-balanced social organisation, codes of civil, criminal, and international law.”
Momodou Sabally
Special Adviser to the President of the Republic of The Gambia
Momodou Sabally
Special Adviser to the President of the Republic of The Gambia
