By: Famara Badjie, GRTS Sports Writer
The recent comments made by Lamin Kaba Bajo the president of the Gambia Football Federation about the National Broadcaster (GRTS) left me as a fervent follower of the GFF League matches wondering if the comments by the GFF supremo were out of ignorance or ungratefulness.
Kaba speaking at the launch of the Broadcast Agreement between GFF and FIFA said, he ‘hardly see reports of the GFF league matches on GRTS News even for a second’.
IN KABA’S OWN WORDS:
“I don’t know our doubts why we hardly see a GFF League match at least even for a second or two on prime time news on GRTS. Unless I am out of my house I hardly missed the 8 & 10 pm. That’s the more reason why we ran to this even if it’s going to cost our National Broadcaster not to have access to our products. GRTS should set the pace but it’s not happening. We’ve talked about this at the highest level but it’s not happening”.
Is Kaba really serious?
What could be more shocking than that grossly unfounded, ungrateful and misleading rhetorics?
As someone who put more effort into covering and reporting on activities concerning the GFF, I see the remarks as insulting not only to GRTS but to my personality as a sports reporter.
It baffles how Kaba loses sight of the facts that GRTS has covered and reported on matters of the league more than any other TV Station in the country.
GRTS has covered the league extensively in the past season, hardly a season goes by without GRTS covering all the teams in the league and even a couple of Second and Third Division games male and female were covered by the GRTS Sports team.
The last time GRTS covered a GFF League game was as recently as week 18 events, [Falcons Vs Brikama United, Wallidan vs Real De Banjul and Hawks vs Wallidan]. Each of those games were a headline story on the prime time news Kaba is talking about.
GRTS have been discussing the league games extensively in flagship programs like Good Morning Gambia on both the TV and Radio. The GFF Communications Director and Competitions Manager have been engaged on those platforms to talk about the league time without numbers. The GRTS Multisports Show has been labelled “biased” for the attention it accorded to the GFF activities at the expense of other sporting disciplines, yet the GFF president has the guts to utter such unfounded statements. What more did Lamin Kaba Bajo want? Perhaps to sing unworthy praises of him as the GFF election is ultimately on the horizon.
As if this was a preconceived move, Babucarr Camara the GFF Communications Director also said ‘they had a series of meeting with GRTS to have league matches on Television, but, GRTS could not have the capacity’. How can that just be true! His remarks were condemned in the strongest possible terms in a press release by the GRTS management which debunks the GFF claims.
GRTS has covered many bigger national events LIVE. This includes even bigger football games like the National Team matches and other sporting events like the National School Athletics Championship among many others. What does it take to cover the GFF Leagues material-wise or the human resource base that GRTS lacks!
The remarks of Kaba and his Communications Director were baseless, unfounded and deliberate. This is probably because Kaba feels GRTS has not been singing his praises as he seeks reelection in August. Whatever his motives were, it would have been gentle for Kaba and his group to be sincere before the television cameras.
