Dear Editor,
The ballots have been cast, the mandate determined and the contest concluded. What remains now is infinitely more consequential than the election itself: the collective responsibility to restore ambition, institutional credibility and national purpose to Gambian football.
I extend my sincere congratulations to Kemo Ceesay and his incoming administration on securing the confidence of the electorate. Victory confers not merely authority, but responsibility; not merely a mandate, but an obligation to serve the entire football family, including those who voted differently.
This is where leadership truly begins.
Elections inevitably generate competing camps, contrasting visions and passionate allegiances. But mature democracy requires a second chapter: reconciliation after competition and unity after decision.
The campaign belongs to yesterday.
The future belongs to all of us.
For those of us who supported Musa Jammeh and Team Falcons, the outcome may not have reflected the result we sought. Yet our commitment to Gambian football must never have been conditional upon electoral victory. We supported a vision and an aspiration for transformation. Those convictions remain larger than any individual contest.
Musa Jammeh’s campaign contributed meaningfully to the national conversation about the direction of Gambian football. His supporters should therefore remain constructive, vigilant and patriotic participants in the football ecosystem.
Losing an election does not diminish one’s capacity to serve; sometimes it simply changes the manner in which one serves.
The same principle applies to every stakeholder.
President Kemo Ceesay now has the opportunity to demonstrate that leadership transcends electoral arithmetic. He was elected by a majority, but he must govern for the entirety of Gambian football. Those who supported other candidates are not adversaries of the federation; they are constituents of the same national football family.
The incoming administration must therefore resist winner takes all politics.
The GFF must become an institution where inclusion is stronger than faction, competence stronger than allegiance and national interest stronger than personality.
Gambian football does not need another cycle of personalities competing for prominence while structural deficiencies remain unresolved.
It needs institutional transformation.
Our priorities are clear: credible governance, financial transparency, sustainable financing, modern infrastructure, professional administration, grassroots development, women’s football, qualified coaching, youth academies, player welfare, commercialisation and a genuinely competitive domestic league.
Professional football must cease being merely an attractive electoral promise. If a professional league is to become reality, it requires financially viable clubs, enforceable player contracts, sustainable revenues, credible sponsorship, broadcasting partnerships, competent administration and appropriate infrastructure.
Professionalism cannot simply be proclaimed; it must be constructed.
The same applies to grassroots football.
The Gambia has repeatedly demonstrated that extraordinary footballing talent exists. Our challenge is to build institutions capable of identifying, developing, protecting and retaining that talent.
Every young player deserves a pathway.
Every serious coach deserves development.
Every club deserves a framework for sustainability.
Every stakeholder deserves clarity about where the federation is taking the game.
And every major decision affecting Gambian football should be anchored in transparency, accountability and due process.
Modern football is no longer merely ninety minutes on a pitch. It is an economic ecosystem encompassing broadcasting, sponsorship, tourism, media, merchandising, technology, employment and international branding.
The GFF must therefore begin treating Gambian football not merely as a sporting administration, but as a national economic and cultural asset.
This demands strategic partnerships with Government, the private sector, Fifa, Caf, broadcasters, investors and the Gambian diaspora.
It also demands institutional communication. Stakeholders should not have to speculate about the federation’s priorities, finances or decisions. Confidence flourishes where institutions communicate honestly, consult meaningfully and account transparently.
The GFF belongs to Gambian football, not to any individual administration.
Presidents are temporary. Institutions are permanent.
To President Kemo Ceesay: your victory is now history; your responsibility is the future. Do not measure your presidency by the margin of your electoral victory. Measure it by the magnitude of progress achieved under your stewardship.
To Musa Jammeh: the campaign may have ended, but your contribution need not. Continue offering ideas, challenging constructively and contributing wherever the national interest requires.
To the other candidates and their supporters: your perspectives remain valuable to the national football conversation.
To the delegates: you have exercised the power to choose. Now exercise the equally important responsibility to scrutinise, encourage and hold leadership accountable.
And to the entire Gambian football community:
Let us lower the temperature of our politics and elevate the standard of our football.
There should be no permanent electoral camps, enduring animosities or triumphalism.
There should be one constituency: Gambian football.
Let the next four years be measured not by speeches, ceremonies or political celebrations, but by tangible outcomes: better facilities, stronger clubs, professional leagues, greater financial transparency, improved youth structures, stronger women’s football, better player welfare, qualified coaches and a more commercially sustainable football industry.
Ultimately, history will not ask merely who won the election.
It will ask what was done with the mandate.
The election has produced a president.
Now leadership must produce progress.
Let yesterday’s contest end with dignity.
Let today’s mandate begin with humility.
Let tomorrow’s football be built with courage, competence, inclusion and collective purpose.
The election is over.
The divisions must end.
The rebuilding must begin.
And above every candidate, every campaign and every faction, there must be one enduring objective
Mohammed Jallow
Brusubi