The president of Republic, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Jammeh has donated D200, 000 to the University of The Gambia (UTG) History Club. The money is meant to fund the Club’s fact-finding mission to Guinea Conakry.

This was disclosed Thursday by Essa Touray, a lecturer at the UTG, during a press briefing held at the UTG Brikama Campus. He explained that the students are visiting Conakry to conduct a research on the Kaabu War.

Touray said that the History Club has been making efforts to excavate traditional histories, adding that since they started the programme they started with the Kombos where the club was able to publish a documentary on the history of Kombo. “Our second version of our research was Kaabu. We went to Kaabu to find out the ruins and also interviewed the elders in Kaabu and we were able to come up with the documentary entitled ‘Ruins of Kansala’,” he said.

Touray opined that the only way Africa can take a greater position in the global system is by having Africans write their own history. “The memories of their history should actually be redefined so that African children and the younger generation will be proud of their pre-colonial existence and take greater position in the global system,” he further stated.

Kawsu Drammeh, head of the UTG History Club, said that they are involved in knowledge production and that has been their task since the time they were enrolled into the UTG. “We feel that one of the ways we can contribute our quota to the development of The Gambia is to engage ourselves in the production of knowledge,” he added.

He thanked President Jammeh through the vice chancellor of the UTG and all the deans of the respective schools in the UTG for the benevolent gesture.

Buba SM Ceesay, public relations officer of the UTG History Club, explained that the club has raw materials that are yet to be properly utilised for public consumption. He disclosed that they also have the DVD of the history of Kansala, which features the last King Jankey Wally. He said the DVD is already available for sale.

He added: “If the work is done professionally, well, I am sure we have a president who is always ready to help any work that is of importance to the human race, especially when it has to do with history.”Ceesay went on to describe President Jammeh as a champion of history, citing the introduction of the International Roots Home Coming Festival and many other cultural programmes organised in the country.

For his part,Professor Muhammadou O. Kah, vice chancellor of the UTG described the History students as ‘students with a difference’. He spoke at length on the importance of history, while praising the History Club members for their courage, confidence and hard work in tracing their own history.

The UTG VC also thanked President Jammeh for donating D200, 000 to the History Club, to support their initiative and enable them continue their quest for knowledge, truth and for writing the history of not only The Gambia but also mapping it with history links across the region.