By Muhammed M.S. Bah
Essa Bah is a 26-year-old 1st Class Police Constable set to publish his second book entitled ‘Dynamic cultures and the African Child’. The young officer recounted the challenges he faced in selling his first book after publishing it. Sp eking to the media he said that “My new book will be officially launched soon and will be on sale for D300.”
The 1st class police constable first published a book entitled ‘Mission Accomplished’ on 27th May 2017. Since then his book was approved by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in July 2018, to be used in the lower basic and upper basic school.
Essa currently occupies the role of Deputy Public Relation Officer for the The Gambia’s Writers Association. His latest book aims to trace Africa’s civilised and traditional culture before, during and after colonialism. The book elaborates on how women and children suffered during conflict. One of the topics the book covers is domestic violence towards women in their matrimonial homes.
According to Mr Bah the book paints a picture of the pain, suffering, punishment, and trauma that African girls experience when they undergo female genital circumcision. During an interview with the media, he said: “Sometimes the girls are taken to a very isolated area of forest where they are kept for more than three weeks.”
Essa noted that it is about Gambian tradition, good leadership practices and the essence of consultation in decision making and the respect for human rights. According to Mr Bah he is driven by Africa’s need for unity and development highlighting that “Africa is one of the wealthiest in resources and the poorest in living and earning”.
Given his previous efforts as a budding writer, Mr. Bah laments the challenges he faces in achieving his objectives. According to the Police constable the support he currently enjoys is not sufficient to propel his work to the level which will maximize his impact. Only a few people and institutions are willing to support him. His biggest challenge is finding the financial support to publish his books.
Mr. Bah graduated from Armitage High school where he was inspired to write more books. In 2016 he joined the Gambia police force and was posted as a Traffic officer and subsequently to the Police Headquarters under the Gender and Child Welfare Unit.
Grateful for the support he is currently receiving Mr. Bah thanked, Banjul City Council and the Police for their support in helping him publish his second book. He took the opportunity to call on Gambians to patronise Gambian authors in order to encourage them to publish more books.
He attributed Africa’s failure to gross economic mismanagement and exploitation by a few. Finally he opined that “if Africa reduces and prohibits the culture of aid, war and taking loans, Africa will be a better place and a land of great hope and destiny”.
2 Comments
Congratulations to my mentor and a friend of mine I wish all your dreams come true
Where can one please buy this book when it gets released?