By: Seringe ST Touray
In a recent interview with The Fatu Network, Bakary Y. Badjie, The Gambia’s Minister of Youth and Sports, shared his insights on the current state of sports development and infrastructure in the country.
Promoting Women’s Sports
Minister Badjie highlighted the stigma that often surrounds sports for women in Gambian society. He remarked, “There is a lot of stigma around sports in general, not just female, but more so women sports… because people see it as a male activity and that females should not do it.” However, he was optimistic about the shifting attitudes, noting, “There’s been an increase in terms of female participation in sports, especially for football, because you always had people play basketball, volleyball and athletics, but football was minimal.”
He emphasized the ministry’s efforts to change these perceptions, saying, “In our engagements with communities, we tell them, we encourage them to leave their children, especially female children, to get into sports because of the benefit that’s there.”
Stadium Renovation Project
On the topic of The Gambia’s exclusion from the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) recent list of pre-approved stadiums, Badjie provided an update on the renovation of the Independence Stadium. He explained, “The project is ongoing. Like most people would know, the first phase was completed and as I explained, the project was phased in three.”
Regarding the project’s timeline, he shared, “The second phase officially on contract is ending by the 24th of August… We are looking forward to completing the job before the end of August, and we will be inviting CAF for the inspection – the final inspection – and hopefully we’ll be able to have that certificate to pass it and then be able to bring our matches back.”
Relationship with the Gambia Football Federation (GFF)
Minister Badjie also addressed the relationship between the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Gambia Football Federation (GFF). He clarified, “GFF is an independent body. They are a member-based organization, just like any other federation in the world or any other sport federation, not just football, around the world or in the country.”
He described the ministry’s role as supervisory: “We have the supervisory role. The ministry is the head of sports in this country. We hold the policy and we are responsible in some extent to the financing of the national teams, and we would continue to do that.”
Collaboration between Ministry and GFF
Badjie characterized the relationship with the GFF as “a very good relationship, a professional and cordial relationship,” while acknowledging that disagreements do occur. “That doesn’t mean we don’t disagree sometimes,” he noted.
He explained their approach to resolving issues: “We would normally have an exchange of letters here and there. And we try as much as possible to keep it professional.”
Finally, on the balance of authority, Badjie noted, “There are some decisions that they can make at their level. There are certain decisions for which they need the approval of the ministry and they would normally write to us.”
Minister Badjie’s interview outlines current initiatives and challenges in The Gambian sports sector, including women’s participation, infrastructure upgrades, and relationships between government and sports organizations. The long-term impact of these efforts remains to be seen as they continue to develop over time.
