GPU Vice President Mustapha Darboe Resigns

Photo: Mustapha K. Darboe (Photo Credit Culled from Facebook)

Written By News-Bite 

Mustapha K. Darboe, Vice President of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) has on Monday tendered his resignation letter at the Union’s Secretariat in Fajara.

His resignation came following huge pressure from a group of young journalists who called themselves as ‘Concerned Journalists’. This group questioned Darboe’s eligibility as media chief serving as a GPU Executive, thereby undermining the Union’s Constitution. Mr. Darboe is said to be the proprietor of Malagen, an online Gambian media outlet.

First to question his eligibility was Ousman A. Marong, senior reporter at Mamos Media.

Mr. Marong quoted Section 5, paragraph G of the GPU Constitution which stated that “No proprietor or part-owner of or managing director or managing editor of a media house shall be eligible for election to any position in the executive committee.”

He added: “The Gambia Press Union’s Vice President is currently running his own media entity and he is now a media chief, therefore, he is disqualified to be part of GPU executive going by paragraph G of Section 5 of the GPU Constitution. I hereby call for his resignation.”

It was a heated debate in the GPU WhatsApp page when Mustapha K. Darboe, Vice President of the Gambia Press Union took a bold responsibility and accepted to resign on Sunday.

Photo: Saikou Jammeh ( Sectary-General GPU)

He said: “Colleagues, I have keenly followed the calls for me to resign as the vice president of the Gambia Press Union. The truth is that those who said I am not eligible to serve as vice president are right. And I know this months ago. I have brought it to the attention of some of my colleagues and friends, but even my critics. Yankuba Jallow, as you can admit, I told this and many others. For a number of my friends, the clause that is being referred to by those asking for my resignation is not correct since it is talking about “eligibility” to stand for an election.

Then how about someone who later became a media owner 2 years later? Well, to settle this, we just have to look at the intent of the clause. The intent is to prevent a media owner being in the GPU executive since the Union is an association of workers. It is assumed that having owned Malagen, an online news platform, I have journalists too working under me. Well, I don’t but I may hire next month or in the near future. Even if I don’t, by just owning a publication platform, the law would assume that I also hired journalists.

So, my resignation letter would be on the desk of the President and the Secretary-General tomorrow afternoon.

God bless us, bless our Union.

And I hoped I had been of any use, at all, to anyone of you, while I served you from 2018 to now.”

Following his resignation on Monday, Mr Darboe wrote this comment on the GPU Whatsapp page.

Photo: Ousman A. Marong (Concerned Journalist and Chief Petitioner)

“Let’s talk

Before I go, I need to tell you a story. I know my one leg, if not both, are out, as far as leadership at the Union is concerned. This morning, my letter was on the desk of the GPU president Mr Sheriff Bojang Jr. The last two year have been incredible for me. I have learned a lot. That is because of the opportunity you gave me. As most of you would know, I was a big critic of the administration before me. Of course, I feel like I paid dearly now. Lol.

First, let me hasten to say that the GPU as an institution is stable. It has been before me and will continue to be in terms of governance. There are lot of people here who think people are there and they are “eating our money”. Well, we can’t avoid claims like that. But how is the GPU managed?

There is the board which is the executive that you voted. Like all organisations, boards make major decisions and offer policy directions. However, the administration of the GPU is run by the secretariat led by the Secretary General and his staff.

While you don’t pay the board, the GPU staff are paid. For example, as your soon-to-be ex-vice president, I kept my full-time job. Of course, for GPU board allowances during our sittings, which is about 3 times a year with the exception of some emergencies, we sit and get D1000 for a meeting. This is because serving in the GPU board is, as it is elsewhere, voluntary.

I must say that Sheriff Bojang Jr and his team have given the secretariat the space required for them to be productive. I will explain this later.

The greater bulk of the work of the GPU, however, is done by the staff. Give this to Saikou Jammeh, Lamin Jahateh and his team. Forgive me for saying this but there is so much disingenuity at the Union from some of our members who think that some of us are “eating money” as they would put it. When I won awards, they said it was because he was vice president. Even people who ought to know better would say “Tapha is a good journalist. He deserved it but, you know, it is a perception issue”.

These people know I play no role in the selection of GPU Awards Committee. It is the Award Committee that selects judges. And they know that I have no relationship with those judges. And they also know those judges are some of the best journalists this country has ever produced. The likes of Baba Galleh Jallow, Agnes Thomsi, Issau Williams have all once become judges. But no, these people just believe what they believe.

And even when they claim, I am not supposed to win awards, they could not share a single story that they think should have won instead. Until today, they can’t. But I accept these things as criticisms. Then came GPU grants for stories of investigative journalism, no one applied. I did mine. This resulted to my mining story (https://malagen.com/investigations/govt-gach-and-mining-for-minerals-where-are-the-millions/) and my GNPC story (https://malagen.com/investigations/how-gnpc-under-mambury-njie-spent-nearly-d19m-for-a-banjul-property-in-a-deal-susceptible-to-favouritism/).

These things, I applied and produced results. Well, whether these are good stories or not is a matter of individual opinion. However, I delivered. I have never received any favour at the Union. From grants to the awards, I have worked hard for it. An unlike a lot of other GPU administrations, we have not stolen any GPU money. No one can point to a single case of theft in our administration. There were past GPU administrations that could not even produce a financial statement at Congress.

While I take no credit for what happened at the Union, I feel the bashing of the staff on some issues are unfair. Let me give you a little bit of history. When I was at The Standard, Saikou Jammeh and I had developed some friendship. Together we worked and even come to the Union sometimes. At this time, Saikou was the SG. But at this time, the Union barely has a cash power, struggles to pay rent and accounts red and run down.

This is the gospel truth. There was no staff. Everything was voluntary by bunch of executive members who were elected. And there was a problem in the administrative setup of the Union. The SG was elected, like all others. This is problematic because it is the SG who is responsible for the secretariat. He answers to the board. If he is elected like all board members, it means they cannot sack him or hold him to account in some ways. Now, that changed!

People who messed up the finances of the Union including the printing press, including some lousy ones here and those behind those here, took monies that would never be paid. Saikou stayed there, wrote proposals and brought money to the Union. Jahateh and others would later join him to bring this Union to this level.

Even better, a year or two down the line, we divorced the Secretary General from the politics of the Union. The SG is appointed, like the Teachers Union and he also appoints his staff. This gives the Union stability. The idea, as anyone here would understand, is to divorce politics from the work of the Union but also gives it continuity. The staff stay, the politician go every 3 years. Like government, it is. And we could not have and perhaps, never would have, more hardworking staff like we currently have.

For me, I have left even before I arrive. And anyone close to me would tell you, never mind my dress and hairstyle, that I am a misfit in this VP role even though I tried so hard to do it. However, these staff are true heroes. They continue to be. And since I bring no value to it, I am leaving with nothing reduced. So, let’s chill. But don’t take from these staff what they deserve.

Journalism is dedication to the truth. And it must not be anything less. "He who comes into equity must come with clean hands." We must hold others to account. True. But even best, we must hold ourselves to account. And for me, this is the most important thing.  But in the Gambian media, what sort of standards do we uphold? How many of us here belong to associations, journalism association of reporters who report nothing? Association of this and that, that serves no purpose other than flirting with people we are to hold to account.

I am not getting back at anyone for I have no grudge but I have seen people holding me to account who have not hold themselves to a similar higher standard. They run down their associations, some never held elections, some battle allegations of theft from their associations etc.

How do journalists form association on the advice of people they are supposed to hold to account? What is the idea of a “relationship” or “partnership” between a journalist and public servants/ institutions? Even when we overlook these important questions that prick our conscience, we still lead those associations forever.

And some of those are among those calling for others to resign. Well, those like me have no excuse to hold on to the role of the VP because I lead an accountability institution (Malagen) and I cannot hold others to the standard I am not prepared to hold myself against. But this media, are we ready?

Not long ago, Jahateh had this project with IRI to support journalists to report on the budget. Nice one. Some journalists applied but GPU had to refund for some of that money because the stories taken were that bad. For some stories, Jahateh had to re-write them. What standards do we set for ourselves? How do we hold ourselves to account in the same way we hold others to account?

Insulting people is not being critical. Let’s make that clear, right here, right now. Being lousy is not being critical! Thinking is the pathway of a critical being! Thinking! Spotting weakness in institutions and process, among others. Offering solutions for our collective progress. If we don’t strive hard, we will continue to say “journalism doesn’t pay”. Of course, it doesn’t but it is possible to earned a good living in journalism.

Lowering the standards for our own work and our behaviours, opens us to exploitation. There is currently no newspaper in this country that does not need a journalist. They are all complaining of quality and content. Not long ago, the owner of Today newspaper Hamid Adiomoh started recruiting to bring back his paper. He could barely have any. He came to me but I am occupied on other issues.

Let’s make no mistake about it, journalism is about going to the trenches. A journalist’s only relevance is the story he or she does. A journalist is nothing but his story. Knowing all the theories of media or communications is irrelevant if you cannot do a simple story.

To tell you that it is indeed possible to make a living in the Gambian media, I was not paid bad at Kerr Fatou. In a Gambian newsroom, D10, 000 is not bad at all. Some people approached me after leaving Kerr Fatou in January to work for them. Yet, there is over 200 journalists in this country. Everyday story on newspapers or online in this country is what everyone knows. It is a speech delivered a day ago or some telephone interview of someone who has already said on his Facebook page that he told this radio or that newspaper this even before it becomes lead or main news bullet.

What I am trying to say is that the Union cannot make anyone a better journalist or get you a well-paid job. It will try to negotiate. It will bargain. However, your worth is what will be paid. There were reporters here hired by newspapers and paid a certain good amount, few months down the line, they are told they can’t keep them. They had to be forced to freelance. Because every story had to be re-written.

Even Yankuba Jallow, My Julius Malema, (a recruit, call him my “little dog”, who has turned against me) he cannot help some of us improve. Guys, we have to fight to be our new self. Time for the old to die. GPU spends lot of money on trainings, grants etc. Nothing productive comes out of it.

You see, there is only one thing I have learned from Sheriff Bojang Jr. He once said there are people in this country, even God cannot help them. I still think, as I have thought at that time, that this is blasphemous! However, let’s avoid Sheriff’s that category of Gambian people. No one has to be down. There is enough space at the top for all of us. We can and we must hold each other there. And most importantly “if everyone clears the snow at your doorway, the city will be clean”.

And as Fatou Toufah Jallow said before the Truth Commission, comfort has been a disaster for this country. Truth, in most cases, causes discomfort and to embrace the truth we may have to embrace discomfort.”