Vouching for Hassan Touray

Friday May 13, 2011

From the Basse Association, Inc.

Vouching for Hassan Touray 

 Hassan with fellow Basserian wife Jacob Krubally-Touray and kids Omar and Aisha Touray

Our man Hassan Touray, an executive member of the Basse Association, Inc., has been in the news a lot lately. It is not our wish to comment on the ongoing civil case involving Hassan and The Gambia Government. The matter is in the hands of the courts. Thus, it is outside of our purview. Nonetheless, it is our hope that the wheels of justice will speed up for Hassan and his family. For Hassan is a wonderful father and husband, a man of unassuming personality and of the highest integrity, and a man with an unflinching love for his native Gambia.

We know this because we have worked with him. We can attest to his warmth, to his excellent family values, to his magnanimity largesse. Hassan, a native of Mansajang Kunda in the Upper River Region, is very much a community organiser. He loves his community; it doesn't matter where he resides, be it Basse or Dallas, Texas. As a member of the Basse Association (BA), Hassan has been of immense value to our organization, particularly in our target area of Basse. Recently, when the BA donated medical supplies to the Basse Health Center, Hassan was there to coordinate logistics in terms of meeting with the local leaders and facilitating the handing-over ceremony. Hassan and his fellow BA executive colleagues Dawda Sankareh and Filly Sabally, toured the Basse Health Center, inspecting facilities and checking on the conditions of admitted patients.

Hassan (white) inspecting beds at the Basse Health Center

Hassan, middle (white) with Basse Health Center staffer Abdoulie Jammeh, right, and Basse community leaders

Also, when the BA sponsored a Nawetaan in Basse in memory of the town's deceased footballers, Hassan was on the ground to help make the occasion a success. As a former footballer himself, and having played for Manju F.C. in Basse Nawetaan, Hassan must have felt an enormous sense of pride in seeing an organization of which he is an integral part, sponsor a football tournament to not only memorialize important names of Basse football, but also to help promote sports in the area and use it as a vehicle for community togetherness.

Hassan, second from left, third row from down, at the Basse Mini Stadium

At the Basse Mini Stadium: Hassan, middle, flanked left by Basse Assc. Sports Officer Ousainou Krubally, and right, Basse Area Council Chairman Omar Ceesay; Basse Asss Project Manager Dawda Sankareh, back row

Last year, Hassan was very instrumental in laying the groundworks for the Basse Association's first meeting in The Gambia. He made his home at Bakau Cape Point available for some of his fellow executive members and the Basse community in the Greater Banjul area. His inputs and participation also helped the association hold its first townhall meeting in Basse.

Hassan, immediate left, and fellow Basserians at the Kombo meeting

We bring all this to light to help explain a man who wants to contribute, with every ounce of his energy, to development, both at the local and national levels. It is our conviction that Hassan's return to The Gambia to set up shop was driven, in no small measure, by a patriotic duty to contribute towards national development. Hassan could have chosen to stay in the United States and carry on with his lucrative job. But the desire to help his community and make it a better place, an imperative challenge for every patriotic citizen of a nation, must have impressed on him to re-locate back to his native place. Endowed with technical skills and keen about translating those skills into a wonderful product and service, into gainful employment for the multitude of job-seeking Gambians, Hassan is the kind of human capital a country like The Gambia needs. We can say, with all certainty, that Hassan's expertise, if allowed the room to grow and multiply, can and will only redound to the Gambian economy. Young technocrats and emergent business leaders like him should be given all the support they need.

We understand and sympathize with Hassan's situation. We know it has been difficult for him and his family. So: we pray for their well-being and for a quick resolution to this matter. It is our hope that Hassan's irreducible honesty, his strong sense of work ethic and continued love for his community, will lead the authorities to discover a wealth of merit about our man, and therefore, let him go back to continuing what he has set out to do: contribute to the growth and development of the Gambian nation.