PRESS RELEASE

Fatou Jaw Manneh Elected GPU-USA Deputy Secretary General

Fatou Jaw Manneh, a female US-based Gambian journalist currently undergoing a bogus trial on flimsy charges brought against her by the Jammeh regime has been elected Deputy Secretary General of the Gambia Press Union, United States branch (GPU-USA). Miss Manneh’s unanimous nomination and election to the Union’s new executive comes at a time when her case has attracted a lot of international media and human rights attention. Calls by many bodies around the world including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, the Media Foundation for West Africa, Save The Gambia Democracy Project, and the Gambia Press Union have repeatedly been ignored by the Gambian authorities. Miss Manneh’s election represents a renewed vote of confidence in her and a clear message of solidarity with her by members of the GPU-USA.

The other members of the new executive committee are the forcibly closed Independent newspaper’s Baba Galleh Jallow (Secretary General), Demba Baldeh (Public Relations Officer), Madi Ceesay Jr. (Social Secretary), Joe Sambou (Treasurer), and Emuran Saidy (Auditor). The union also invoked a provision in its constitution to nominate and elect outgoing Secretary General Pa Samba Jow and Ya Soffie Ceesay as honorary members of the new executive.The election process was coordinated by Ya Soffie Ceesay after she was unanimously nominated to serve as volunteer Electoral Commissioner by members of the union.

In handing over the affairs of the union to the new executive, outgoing Secretary General Pa Samba Jow thanked members for their enthusiastic participation in the elections and expressed confidence in the new executive: “There is no doubt that we have very competent and dedicated members in the new executive body capable of leading this group to new 
heights,” Mr. Jow said.Responding to Pa Samba’s words, incoming Secretary General Baba Galleh Jallow said that the new executive feels inspired by Pa Samba’s example of dedication. “We will try to fill in your very big shoes,” he said, calling on his newly elected colleagues to rise up to the great challenges ahead, adding: “We are challenged to make a difference. Let’s do it.”

Baba Galleh also took the opportunity to thank the union’s Treasurer Joe Sambou, a professional accountant (CPA), for so kindly accepting his re-nomination to handle the group’s finances.
 




"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
       
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