By: Momodou Justice Darboe
Long-standing philanthropist and humanitarian H.E Alhaji Salifu K. Jaiteh has dedicated the prestigious award bestowed on him earlier this year by the Gambia Dockers Union to Edrisa Mass Jobe, Mustapha Njie alias Taf and Momodou Turo Darboe.
H. E Jaiteh, who is the honorary consul of Cyrus in The Gambia, said he found Messrs. Jobe, Darboe and Njie worthy of being dedicated his dockers union accolade for showing, in many years and ways, the capacity of the human spirit for hard work, empathy, sympathy, love, selflessness and charity.
In an interview with this reporter on Tuesday at his office, H. E Jaiteh, who himself is a successful businessman and humanitarian, said Mr. Edrisa Mass Jobe of EMJ Holdings, Mustapha Njie of Taf Global and philanthropist Momodou Turo Darboe are some of the Gambians he celebrates every day.
“Edrisa Mass Jobe and Mustapha Njie grew their business empires from the ground up without relying on government contracts. These are some of the Gambians, who have clearly shown that through innovation, honesty, passion, toil, business acumen and ingenuity, success can be guaranteed,” H. E Jaiteh acknowledged. He added:”Momodou Turo Darboe is a philanthropist through and through, consistently using what Allah has given him to improve the wellbeing of the people.”
Meanwhile, Salifu K. Jaiteh is also one of many Gambians, who has been fixing and continues to find solutions for Gambia’s myriad of challenges in the domains of health, education, sports, music, diplomacy, commerce among others. He found himself responding to the needs of the human family in the early 1990s when a vessel from the then worn-torn Sierra Leone, carrying refugees in dire need of humanitarian assistance, arrived at the Banjul Port. H. E Jaiteh, through the Gambia Red Cross Society, provided clothes and warm blankets for the refugees to support their recovery and integration into the Gambia society. In his determination to drastically reduce the infant mortality rate in the Central River Division of The Gambia, H. E Jaiteh made an undertaking in 1996 to provide financial and material support to the Bansang regional hospital. He did not waver in this undertaking to this day.
The Gambia’s Kora maestro Jaliba Kuyateh and the Senegalese Mbalax impresario Youssou Ndour have all in songs acknowledged H.E Jaiteh’s immense support to rise to the pinnacle of musical accomplishment.
H. E Jaiteh rendered countless humanitarian assistance to victims of disasters such as fire and flash floods.
He also helped in deepening the trade ties between The Gambia and Guinea Bissau.
H. E Jaiteh was also a household name in the domestic football scene. He once served as the second vice president of the Gambia Football Association. He also managed and financed S. K Jaiteh FC of Serekunda East and Elephant FC of Banjul. His sterling contribution to football development in the country saw him travel to Zürich in Switzerland in the 90sto receive a creditable FIFA award.
In his determination to help significantly reduce infant and maternal mortality,H. E Jaiteh recently donated inverters and power-saving batteries to the labour ward of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul to aid the medical interventions of the country’s main referral hospital.
He also rendered countless support to disaster victims across the country.