By Haddy Touray
Sadibou Kamaso, a leading proponent of Gambian football, has levelled scathing criticisms against the Gambian Football Federation (GFF), describing it as an entity that lacks the vision and commitment needed to propel Gambian football forward.
The former aspirant for the GFF presidency made these remarks in an exclusive interview with The Voice held on Thursday where he criticized the federation’s reliance on a “copy and paste” approach to regional constitutions.
“The problem with the federation is lack of vision,” Kamaso stated. “Every leadership should have vision, a roadmap, and tools. The vision should outline what you want to do and how you plan to do it, and then the roadmap can serve as a guideline to where you want to take Gambian football. But, this is not existing in GFF file,” he charged.
He continued: “GFF doesn’t have such vision or roadmap to determine what tools you need to get where you want to go. If you ask the Gambia Football Federation what vision they have, they will tell you they don’t have one even though they made a lot of promises in their manifesto. But this is the third year, and we are yet to see even a quarter of what they promised.”
Kamaso recalled that the federation made numerous promises to football veterans that remain unfulfilled, including a D1 million trust fund, vehicles for easy movement, and durable playing pitches. None of these, he said, have been delivered to date.
“Most of the pitches GFF is using are private,” he pointed out, citing the Hawks Football Pitch, the Real de Banjul Football Field, and the Zico Pitch. “Bakau and Jarra Soma Football Fields existed before this executive, but Jarra Soma today has no pavilion or proper dressing rooms, and players endure scorching sun up to 41 degrees.”
Kamaso also faulted stakeholders, noting that they share responsibility for GFF’s failures. “The stakeholders had chances in 2014, 2018, and 2022 and now 2026 is approaching but we haven’t seen anything,” he said. “For me, it’s lack of vision and commitment because where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
He concluded by questioning the legitimacy of some regional football executives, particularly the URR Football Federation. “The URR president died in 2022, yet no election has been held,” he said.