The party at OP: A mockery of Gambia’s suffering

Dear Editor,
In a display of sheer tone-deafness and staggering arrogance, President Adama Barrow recently converted the State House—the highest office of our sovereign republic—into a private party ground. The occasion? A victory celebration for Arsenal Football Club winning the English Premier League. While the President clad himself in red and white to toast to a multi-billion-pound corporation thousands of miles away, the citizens he swears to protect were left to wallow in literal and metaphorical darkness.

It is difficult to decide what is more repulsive: the profound inferiority complex required for an African head of state to subordinate national dignity to an English football club, or his complete lack of touch with the gruelling realities facing everyday Gambians.

While the music played at the State House, the rest of the nation struggled to find water to drink or electricity to light their homes. This is not an accident of nature; it is the direct consequence of weaponised corruption eating away at the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC). While ordinary Gambians suffer under systemic failures, reports continue to swirl regarding the criminal abuse of public funds intended for utility infrastructure, with fingers pointing directly at corrupt networks linked closely to the executive.

The irony of President Barrow’s “fanaticism” is that he seems entirely ignorant of the history of the sport he purports to celebrate. Football has historically been the sport of the masses, born out of working-class struggles. Historically, the elite used distractions to keep the working class quiet while the aristocrats enjoyed their exclusive pastimes. Today, Barrow plays the role of the useful consumer, acting as a free advertising agent for TV rights and colonial sports revenue, while his own nation’s sports sector lies in ruins.

Can anyone imagine a low-level local councillor in England or any European politician hosting a state-sponsored gala to celebrate the victory of an African club? Would the British Prime Minister ever host a party at 10 Downing Street for a Gambian team? The very thought is absurd. Yet, our head of state willingly displays this submission on the international stage.

While Barrow celebrates a team he has never watched live at the Emirates Stadium, his own government has spent over 350 million Dalasis on a disastrous, never-ending renovation of our own Independence Stadium. A recent National Audit Office (NAO) report exposed deep irregularities, contract overlaps, and financial mismanagement regarding this national embarrassment. The contracts were handed to GIGO Construction and CFTM—enterprises deeply intertwined with the President’s inner circle, including connections tied back to First Lady Fatoumata Bah-Barrow, Chief of Staff Alieu Loum, and his nephew Amadou Sanneh.

The result of this alleged nepotism? Our national team, the Scorpions, has spent years banned from playing home games on their own soil, forced to host international matches abroad. At the same time, the stadium surroundings are reportedly carved up into lucrative land deals for business associates, valued at over 500 million Dalasis.

Furthermore, under Barrow’s watch, the national football team has failed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations, let alone the World Cup. Our local athletic infrastructure is starved of resources, and the very youths who should be filling modern sports academies and employment centres are instead denied opportunity. Out of sheer desperation caused by this government’s rampant corruption, our young people continue to board perilous wooden boats to cross the Atlantic Ocean—many dying before they ever glimpse the shores of Europe.

What exactly was Adama Barrow celebrating at the State House? It was not football. It was a celebration of ignorance, a victory lap for arrogance, and a direct mockery of our collective national pride. It is time for the Gambian people to look past the red-and-white smokescreen and demand accountability from a leadership that prioritises foreign trophies over domestic survival.

Concerned Citizen

Glowing tribute to Super Eagles 50 years on

Dear Editor,
One of the most remarkable groups to emerge from the West African music scene of the 1960s and 1970s was the short-lived but highly influential Super Eagles. Formed in 1967 in Bathurst, now Banjul, The Gambia, the band pioneered a bold and inventive fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms, English pop, soul, Congolese rumba, highlife and ndagga music. Singing in both Wolof and English, they helped lay the foundation for what would later develop into the hybrid genre of mbalax. Though their active life spanned only about five years and produced just one album, Viva Super Eagles, the group became one of the most travelled and celebrated bands in West Africa, known for their sharp suits, musical sophistication and seamless blending of African and Western influences.

At the outset, the group included Badou Jobe, Paps Touray, Laba Sosseh, Modou Cham and Oussou Njie, musicians whose backgrounds ranged from jazz and European classical music to modern dance bands. Initially performing under the name The Eagles of Banjul, they gradually absorbed more local musical elements and evolved into the Super Eagles. A generous grant later enabled the band to purchase instruments, amplifiers and public address systems from England, a development that proved decisive. It gave the group the resources to tour extensively and establish themselves as the leading act of their era.

The Super Eagles’ later lineup brought together an exceptional range of talent: guitarist and bandleader Badou Jobe, lead vocalists Paps Touray and Dauda Njie, also known as Edu Haffner, guitar and keyboard virtuoso Francis “Senami” Taylor, Modou Cham on tenor saxophone and congas, Oussou Njie on vocals, Charles Valentine on bass and Malan Gassama on drums and percussion. Gassama, in particular, was widely regarded as one of The Gambia’s most accomplished drummers. As the band matured, it deepened its use of traditional music, especially Wolof and Mandinka forms, while also becoming one of the first groups in the region to boldly combine electric guitar, keyboards and effects with indigenous rhythms and sounds. This creative leap culminated in the 1969 Decca release of Viva Super Eagles.

The album made a strong impact across West Africa, especially in Accra, Ghana, where the band’s modernized pan-African sound found enthusiastic audiences. Its strongest tracks are the ones rooted in Wolof and traditional Senegambian musical patterns, where the group’s authenticity and artistic confidence are most fully expressed. Songs such as “Gambia Su Nous Raew,” “Gambia Zambia – African Unity” and “Alieu Gori Nami” stand out for their energy, clarity and cultural depth.

By contrast, some of the English-language tracks feel less convincing and less rooted in the band’s strongest artistic identity. Songs such as “False Love,” “Love’s A Real Thing” and “Don’t Do That To Me” sound more commercial than inspired, and the cover of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” sits awkwardly beside the group’s more original work. These moments do not diminish the band’s legacy, but they do show that Super Eagles were most powerful when they leaned into their own African voice rather than trying to imitate foreign styles.

Even so, Viva Super Eagles remains a landmark recording. It may not be a flawless album, but it is unquestionably a classic in the history of African popular music because of the door it opened. The Super Eagles helped define the blueprint for the 1970s sound and created new space for electric African music to flourish. Their influence can be felt in the later rise of artists such as Youssou N’Dour, who carried forward the spirit of innovation and cultural pride they had helped ignite.

In 1972, the Super Eagles disbanded at the height of their popularity and later reformed as Ifang Bondi, or “Be Yourself.” In this new phase, they deliberately reduced Western influences and embraced a more firmly African identity. That decision was not without resistance, since traditional music was still largely associated with ceremonial use and often frowned upon as a commercial form. Yet the band persisted, and over time helped shift public attitudes by encouraging audiences to reconnect with their cultural roots.

The legacy of Super Eagles is clear and enduring. They were not merely an accomplished band; they were pioneers who helped shape the sound and direction of modern West African music. More than five decades later, they remain essential listening for anyone seeking to understand how contemporary African popular music evolved.

Silly Puppy
Banjul