By Alieu Ceesay
One of the aspirants for the 2018 Kanifing Municipality (KM) Mayoral Election, Papa Njie has vowed to make sports as part of his development agenda if elected.
Njie, a former footballer and Sport administrator is among many who expressed interest in running for the mayoral seat of the highly populated Kanifing Municipality.
Speaking in an interview with The Fatu Network on Saturday during a wrestling contest organized by Lamin Cham of Champions Sounds Promotion, Njie told Gambia Sports, “I am honored to be named after one of the ‘flags’ and it is an honor to be here. It shows that we need to honor our Gambian people as wrestling is very popular and need to be supported.”
The grand wrestling contest saw wrestler Hoyantan of Club Ndongo Ceesay defeat Gambian of Kharange Family after six minutes of fight. The much anticipated combat draw hundreds of people to the stadium in Bakau.
The turnout, according to Papa Njie, was good and showed that Gambians appreciate their sports. He called for more investment by the government and the Kanifing Municipal Council.
“We have a problem of sports infrastructure in KM and if this combat was stage in the center of Serrekunda the turnout would have been bigger than this,” he opined, while vowing to change the status if elected as the mayor of Kanifing Municipality.
Papa Njie, who is also the president of Gambia Basketball Association and former footballer said sports development is top on his agenda as he bid for the KM Mayoral seat.
“I am going to make sure KMC invest in sports for its development. KM has the talents” Serign Cham, President of The Gambia Wrestling Federation corroborated Papa Njie’s claim that there is the need for more investment in the promotion and development of sports, wrestling in particular.
“We are appealing to the government to empower the youth not to use the ‘Back Way’ through sports. We want to have our wrestling arena upgraded to have most of this combats stage there.”
Wrestling used to be the country’s most popular sport but after years of dormancy, efforts are well underway to revive the traditional sport with the private sector slowly coming in to consolidate the efforts of the promoters.
One of those private sector actors making a name for itself in the wrestling domain is Gam Housing Real Estate, who for the second time have allocated plots of land to wrestlers after winning their bout, staged by local wrestling promoters in the country.
The latest is wrestler Hoyantan after the Club Ndongo Ceesay wrestler defeated wrestler Gambian of Kharange Family on Saturday at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.
Lamin Mboge, CEO of Gam Housing Real Estate said the love for wrestling in the country is growing among Gambians and as part of their social corporate responsibilities they deemed it fitting to support the sport.
“The Government cannot do it all alone and as a private sector, we deemed it fitting to come in and contribute our quota.”
He disclosed that the winner of Saturday’s contest (Hoyantan) would received a plot of land from Gam Housing at their Sanyang Estate.
“We want to see that wrestling is a lucrative sport for our young people like those making millions in football. Therefore, we are committed to this cause,” said Mbodge.
