More Condolences for Journalist Babucarr Gaye
Dear Editor:
I wish to add my voice to thousands of people the world over to extend my sincere condolences to the bereaved family of Baboucarr Gaye, a seasoned journalist, press freedom advocate and media trainer.
The untimely death of Mr. Gaye has shocked me to the bone. His death is a great loss to the country and the journalism fraternity as a whole. I am among the Gambian journalists to benefit from Gaye's sea of knowledge, guidance and vast wealth of experience. He coached me on both newspaper and radio journalism.
All those who worked with Baboucarr soon realize that he was highly principled, courageous and accurate in newsgathering, reporting and presentation. What impressed me most about him was his tireless contribution to the professional development of many Gambian journalists without distinction whatsoever. He was a very straightforward and frank journalist who did not mince words to tell the truth, no matter whose ox was gored. Baboucarr is gone but his great works will always remain with us.
Sincerely,
By Musa SaidyKhan (Gambian journalist).
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Dear Editor:
I wish to register my sadness over the demise of Baboucarr Gaye, veteran Gambian journalist and proprietor of the Citizen Newspaper and Citizen FM Radio Station. Had the Almighty God decreed that my beloved mum was still around, she would have also have joined the thousands of Gambians who mourned the passing away of Baboucarr Gaye. However, fate had it that she departed this world almost five years earlier than Baboucarr to whom she was a great fan and a well-wisher. Although my mum had never met Baboucarr Gaye in person, she considered him as someone who was really committed and dedicated to informing conventional illiterates like her about all the reports and stories in the Print media (newspapers). Prior to the advent of Citizen FM radio, my mum was aware only of very limited local stories relative to what was carried in our local newspapers from people like me among others of her children through the summarized translations of the main stories in the newspapers that we sometimes provided her usually upon returning from work. With Baboucarr Gaye’s Citizen FM pioneering daily radio schedule of translating the papers reports into the local languages, people like my mum, who didn’t have the benefit of being formally educated, became more aware of more happenings around them. The change was to such an extent that sometimes when for some reason or the other I could not access a newspaper at work, she would summarize to me their contents. She evidently became more informed and it seems that the Government of the day did not like this new form of empowerment and freedom bestowed upon those who could not read in the English language by Baboucarr Gaye and his team. As you might imagine, my mum felt so disempowered and deprived when the Government closed down Citizen FM. She expressed her disappointment over the closure of Citizen FM, hoped and prayed that the radio would eventually be allowed to operate. At least, that was not to be the case during her lifetime and that of Baboucarr Gaye, a great Gambian. I speak for my late mum and for myself. Rest in peace until we meet again.
Sincerely,
Babucarr Jallow.