The Point Newspaper    Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Bank PHB gives to UTG

As part of its corporate social responsibility, Bank PHB, one of the leading banks in the country, recently presented a cheque for D326, 004, 20 copies of 'Kairaba', the autobiography of former President Jawara, and 10 educational scholarship schemes for brilliant and indigent students, to the University of The Gambia (UTG).

Speaking at the ceremony held at the UTG campus in Brikama, Chuks Chibundu, the Managing Director and CEO of Bank PHB said that supporting education is a way forward in national development, as well as social and economic building for any nation. According to him, as a bank group, education is a key in their priorities.

"We at Bank PHB wants to partner with the UTG because we believe that when people graduate from primary school to senior school what they notice is that the brilliant students who emerge with distinctions would not have funding to continue their studies," he said. He stated that scholarships would be awarded annually to ten indigent students in the UTG. This, he added, covers tuition fees and cost of books. He explained that Bank PHB seeks to actively engage with Gambian youths and that the educational scholarship would be the bank's flagship corporate social responsibility and would focus on the pro-active orientation of the Gambian youth as a pivot for socio-economic change in society.

Also, speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Jainaba L. Khan, the Director General of the Management Development Institute (MDI) expressed gratitude to Bank PHB for the gesture, while urging other banks to emulate their benevolence. She added that such gestures would further strengthen the cordial relationship between the UTG and the bank. For his part, Professor Muhammadou MO Khan, the Vice-Chancellor of the UTG assured them of their readiness to transform the institution into a world-class university. But he pointed out that it is a task government and authorities of the university cannot do alone.

Professor Kah disclosed that currently there are 3000 students and 100 lecturers in the UTG and the number is still increasing. He then commended Bank PHB for the wonderful gifts and urged other banks to emulate them.

Other speakers at the occasion included Dr. Samba Jobe, the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Gumbo Ali Touray, Director of University Affairs and Professor Ousman Nyan, provost of the School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences.

Author: Binta Fatty

 

The Point Newspaper                           Friday, May 07, 2010

Some nuggets from Kairaba, the autobiography of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara

Sir Dawda enters school
'After I arrived  in Bathurst, Pa Yoma (Sir Dawda's guardian in Bathurst) wasted no time in making arrangements for me to go to school. I found myself already registered at Mohammedan School where I entered at the Sub-Standard class in Wellington Street. Mohammedan School was slightly different from the daara I had started at home at 37 Wellington Street,' p.14.

Sir Dawda's father
'My father's small shop found a prominent place among the big trading firms that had set up along the waterfront in Walikunda. He was so preoccupied with farming and trading that it was not clear whether he was a farmer or businessman.' P.21

Sir Dawda walks from Brikama to Barajally
'The Easter holidays in March and April 1938 could not have come at a more opportune time. I badly needed a break to go and see my mother and reconnect with Barajally... I had no money of my own... I hitched a ride on the lorry to Brikama...' (p.86).

The War Years 1939-1945
'All through August and early September 1939, we listened to radio broadcast from London of news about the (Second World) war. A school headmaster, Master John Bolinggbroke Fowlis owned a radio receiver at his home at 9 Louvel Square in Bathurst... The news only got worse by the day...' p.101.

Bathurst and the Second World War
'Today, the impressive buildings of our Supreme Court stand on the site on Clifton Road that was a field of tents camping the soldiers and the officers of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war,' p.129.

Studying Gambian history of any epoch can be a hard task for the uninitiated historian, especially, for the severe lack of published secondary materials by Gambians themselves. This makes us to rely heavily on what Europeans have written about our country, with all the biases, prejudices, ignorance and sometimes, arrogance of the foreign scholar writing from the outside. Therefore, this book shall be a primary source on Gambian history.