BEREAVEMENT IN OUR SANKANU KAGORO CLAN OF SOTUMA SERE, I LOST MY ELDEST BROTHER
By Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu, ill and bed-ridden in The Gambia!
I am currently off the radars as I am in a serious state of sorrow and bereavement. The month of May is recorded as MENSIS HORRIBILIS (horrible month) for me. I need not bore you with my trial and tribulations in The Gambia in the hands of officials playing table tennis with my project files and other issues. The Gambia appears to be NO country for sincerity, non-political patriotism, competence, performance and productivity. People are just good at pretending and telling lies.
That noble virtue of one being a man or woman of his or her words is hard to come by nowadays between Kartong and Koina! This is making me very lonely here on the ground! What people will tell you in your presence is different from what they will say against you in your back or report about you to their superiors. Psychopaths, insincere praise-singers, usurpers, copy-cats and half-baked folks get the swift red carpet pampering in luxurious facilities and fat cheques, from both public and private sector sponsors, for their wasteful projects to frustrate genuine and reasonable contributions to nation-building in one’s sector or industry. If you try to reason in the interest of all stakeholders and Mother Gambia you will be ostracized as anti-government, bitter or jealous and they would use their connections within the corridors of power to plant invisible obstacles on your way! Nation of values indeed!
Anyway, my second eldest brother just returned from a very successful business trip in Thailand only to fall victim to arm robbery in Ibadan, Nigeria. Ten of thousands of US Dollars in cash and gemstones were snatched from him at gunpoint. We are grateful that the robbers spared his life and he was smart enough to have wired down enough funds for a housing project in our village before setting out to procure new valuable goods.
While coming to terms with this shock, the eldest brother in our branch of the Sankanu Kagoro clan of Sotuma Sere, URR, MUHAMMED SANKANU aka MUHAMMED SOSSEH aka SOMETHING passed away on Saturday May 18, 2013. Our clan members from across the Gambia, Senegal, Mali and the two Guineas joined us for the funeral and related matters. Those in Europe, USA, France, Spain, DRC, Angola, etc, used modern technology to commensurate with us.
This sad news is extended to JERREH LK MANNEH, the pioneer Headmaster of Sotuma Sere Primary School, the staff of the defunct GPTC in Basse and others. Muhammed Sosseh Sankanu was the unofficial community focal point for public servants, NGO personnel and other project workers posted to the noble Sotuma Sere village. He used his personal resources, social mobilization skills and contacts to make sure they felt at home in our serene rural settlement during their tours of duty. A GREAT LOSS!
All my associates in Germany, especially the FILMINIATIV KOELN eV team and the members of the Gambia German Cultural Association of Cologne, are hereby informed as well. I planned to be in Germany in the last week of May but am compelled to stay in the Gambia longer to handle the new family situation.
The new reality, added to the socks of betrayal, thefts of my ideas and other lazy official excuses over my projects I have been encountering since returning to The Gambia on March 08, 2013, is taking its toll on my health and strength. All the production crew members and potential actors and actresses of my film “THE WOMAN IN BLACK JACKET” are kindly informed that I am keeping all pre-production activities of the film project at the lowest minimum till I fully regain my esprit de corps. I am ill and bed-ridden. Should my heath situation worsen I will fly back to Germany where I will stay till the doctors deem me fit for another round of suffering in The Gambia – the price of genuine patriotism with conscience and principles!
Sincere thanks to all my genuine fans, friends and well-wishers for all the words of sympathy and solidarity so far.
To those contacting me about my iconic “interview of the year” with Malik Jones and why it is still not approved for GRTS broadcast, please direct your queries to the Director General of GRTS. I promised not to write an article on it or join the speculations. One fact is indisputable though: there is NO directive from the Office of The President, State House, Banjul or the Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure (MOICI) blocking my educative and interesting interview from the GRTS schedule!
Prince Bubacarr Aminata SANKANU
Email: [email protected]
Tel/SMS: +2206774620
Forgive possible typos!
END