Interview With Pa Sanjally Bojang 

FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda) 
INTERVIEW
March 7, 2007 
Posted to the web March 7, 2007 

By With Suwaibou Touray

  FOUNDER OF THE PPP (EXCERPTS) 
  Before proceeding, we must first of all know the history behind the formation of the PPP which can help us to analyse where we went wrong and the possible ways forward. Let us follow the narration of Pa Sanjally Bojang, the father and founder of the party in 1959. 
  Mr. Sanjally Bojang alias Pa Sanjally was born in Brikama in the Western Division. He has worked for the Board of Health in Banjul during the colonial period during which he felt that the provincial people were being discriminated on the basis of their language and or provencialness. 
  Out of personal experience and conviction, he initiated an organisation which eventually led to the formation of a national Political Party which ushered the Gambia into its independence existence. But before Pa Sanjally's death, he spoke to this Foroyaa reporter at his residence in Kembuje on the formation of the PPP, its triumphs, his expectations and final disappointments with their leader. This interview with Mr. Bojang will explain a lot about the Gambia 's first faltering steps in our political system while we struggle to build a democratic dispensation worthy of emulation. Pa Sanjally definitely deserves to be in our historical records as the first illiterate person to form a political party in the Gambia . 
  THE SOCIAL REALITY IN BANJUL BEFORE INDEPENDENCE 
  The Political Party which led the Gambia to constitutional rule after independence was the PPP (the Protectorate People's Party) why the protectorate people only? The people who found this party in 1959 were mainly illiterate Mandinka personalities based in Banjul and or working in Banjul who felt at the time that the colonial system favoured the colony people who were mainly Wollof and Aku speaking peoples. During the colonial period, many protectorate people became suspicious of the mission schools because of the fear that they may convert their children to Christianity since most of the schools were run by the missionaries. 
  The colonial government was initially only interested in educating the children of their most loyal partners, the protectorate chiefs. This was why Aku's and Wollofs originating from the colony happened to be the people who occupied Civil Service jobs and in so doing were seen to have benefited from the "tubab," colonialists. 
  As a result, people in the protectorate be they Wollof, Mandinka, Jola or Fula who were illiterate and who were outside of Banjul could only seek for labourers' jobs in Banjul . 
  According to the Foroyaa issue No. 22/9/," even people who spoke up-country Wollof, had the same problem of integration in Banjul " people at the time did look down on such people as dafts. This was the social reality which only matured people could have understood, and the failure to understand this was what had led to the sectionalist sentiments of people who felt that they were being discriminated." 
  As you can see all the parties that vied for political leadership after franchise is extended to the provinces, only one claimed to have come from the provinces, that is the PPP. 
  THE FORMATION OF THE PPP 
  According Mr. Sanjally Bojang, a veteran of the people's protectorate party who before his death spoke to this columnist has confirmed that there were very few Mandinkas in Banjul when he used to go there to look for work. He said one day he was invited by one Dr. Jones for a discussion. He indicated that Dr. Jones told him that many people died from the provinces without any relatives to bury them. He said Jones told him that these people were being buried as the government knew best, without regard to Muslim rites. Mr. Sanjally Bojang said he could not sleep without thinking of that, so he kept that in his mind. He said they then established an association called "Linlai Warasul" meaning (Help for God's sake). He said they then made an announcement and called on all those who belong to the Mandinka language grouping to answer to the call to address their common interest, no matter how scattered they had been. According to him, Mandinkas answered to the call of "Linlai
 Warasul." He indicated that they were all very poor, so as he said they then agreed that each person should pay six pence every Sunday, that they used their collection to respond to any news of a dead person. He indicated that it was the collection they utilized to buy perfume, needle and cloth for the burial. As the demand intensified he said many began to leave. He said he therefore saw the need to include the districts outside of Banjul which led them to form a society called the (Kombo, Niumi, Friendship Society) which was later transformed to be a party called the People's Protectorate Party. 
  Mr. Bojang narrated that the party arose from hard work they had done for the people, and when the masses saw the support they had given to their dead relatives, they were ready to render support. And as he said some people began to form organizations such as "MACCARTHY COMPINO" led by Kebba Burama Njie. So when they heard the Elections would be extended to the provinces, they began to prepare for it. 
  In 1958, there was a chief's conference held in Brikama. It was at that meeting that it became clear as to whether elections were to be extended to the provinces or not. He said some chiefs asked him to bring elders to the conference which he did, because of its importance. He said "Linlai Warasul and Kombo Niumi Friendship Society" all sent representatives. He said the meeting took place in his brother's residence, that is Landing Baraballi Bojang. He said he was later informed by Chief Karamo Sainey Kaba from Kaiaf that elections were to take place involving the whole entire country. 
  In that meeting, Mr. Bojang said Mr. J.C Faye attended it with keen interest since he already had established his own party at the time. 
  According to Mr. Bojang, it was shortly after that, that they formed the PPP but as he said the educated people from the provinces did not trust it at the time. They did not believe that it could succeed so he said they had to find them and consult them to join them. He said they were spreading their message by word of mouth because as he said none of them could write. So they then contacted Mr. Buna Darboe and sheriff Sisay who answered to them and Sheriff accepted to be helping them in writing their messages. He named personalities like Famara Wassa Touray who was literate, Jombo Bojang and Buna Darboe who could not write nor read. He said Sheriff worked very hard until their information reached all over the country, then they removed the secrecy about their activities. He named one Lang Fatty and Arfang Lalo Singhateh who initiated the collection of contributions from many people. 
  According to Mr. Sanjally Bojang, they had serious difficulty getting an office where they could meet and plan their activities small in Banjul but as he said a small house belonging to Pa Francis Small was provided to them with a little wooden room. He Praised Francis Small as one of the first lights in Banjul . He indicated that after their subscriptions, they then called on all the educated Mandinkas to a meeting. He said many people had answered to the meeting. As the organizer of the party, Mr. Bojang said he kept on informing people as they came, with the objective of convincing the educated Mandinka who he said were very skeptical at the time. 
  According to him, after two meetings, many people said they should select a leader and what he suggested was for them to identify someone who is knowledgeable and who would cook but would not dip his or her hand in the food, he/she should be such a person regardless of whether he was a rich man's son or that of a blacksmith, leather worker, slave or a poor man. He said it was Lang Saho who said they should take caution and go by the advice of the elders and select a son of a chief. 
  He said all the elders agreed and a Dr. Marena was selected unanimously. 
  Dr. Marena was a native of Kudang in the Niamina District. He was a mandinka speaking and seen to be highly educated. He was seen by Mr. 
  Bojang to be highly respected and who he said loved the country, but as he said, Marena turned down the selection. He said when he asked Marena to recommend someone, Marena recommended Kairaba Jawara. This was how he said they selected Kairaba Jawara but as he said Jawara was also afraid of people putting him up only to betray him in the end. He said it took everybody, Mandinka, Wollof, Fula of protectorate origin to beg to convince Jawara to accept which he eventually did. 
        


"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
 
---------------------------------
No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go 
with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤