Tribute to the Late Hon. Mbemba Jatta, Former Minister of Trade, Environment & Labour, PPP Government

By Musa Bassadi Jawara, Bintou’s Point, Kerewan

I was informed within moments of his demise in New York, United States at my vantage point in Bintou’s Point, Kerewan. News travels fast in this age, but grief travels faster. It pierced the quiet of the compound and settled on my chest like the harmattan.

Late Hon. Mbemba Jatta, Former Minister of Trade, Environment & Labour Under former President Sir Dawda K. Jawara

Upon learning the sad news my initial reaction translated in English was: _“To Allah we come and to Him we return.”_ Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un. It is the only sentence that holds when death speaks. It is the anchor of the believer, and it was the first rope I reached for.

I do not often write tributes on the passings of the deceased because it is an onerous and sanctimonious duty. One must know without a modicum of a doubt that the attributes, testimony and utterances you mention posthumously are accurate and not sugar-quoted. That is why it is not my forte, despite my natural propensity to writing.

But either way, with Honorable Mbemba Jatta, I am very clear, certain and without a modicum of a doubt I know the man and he knew me. This is not a tribute built on hearsay. This is witness. This is brotherhood. This is memory with receipts.

First and foremost he was a brother-in-law and fringes on bloodline. In Mandinka society, that is no small thing. It means the door was always open, the kola nut always shared, and the truth always spoken between us without the need for pretense.

When I returned from the United States from my college sojourn at the University of Maryland in 1992, I was posted at this Ministry as an economist while he was the Minister. He received me not as a junior officer, but as a son of the soil returning to serve. He taught me that public service is prayer in a different posture.

Memba was a statistician by training. He was very good with figures. Not your usual orator who was vociferous publicly with words but a master in figures as he did the mathematics on development matrices and formulated national development policy quietly without being loud in public microphones.

He worked where it mattered: in the silence of spreadsheets, in the discipline of data, in the long hours where policy is born. Before the Economic Development Ministry was moved from Trade to the Finance Ministry, it was under his charge and he was the architect of the Kombo Coastal Roads and the plan implemented by the military junta in the 90s and it was his brainchild.

Let history record it plainly: the coastal transformation that opened Kombo began as numbers in Mbemba’s notebook. He saw roads where others saw bush. He calculated growth where others saw only sand. He was a trailblazer and one of the unsung heroes of the country who contributed immensely in the socio development of this country and with the cultural and local coexistence, harmony and overall societal functions and environment in human and material terms.

Mbemba was the indigenous family of the Kombo called ‘LANSAREWARS’ in Mandinka. They were the landowners and he was very generous in distributing land to poor families to build homes for free. That was his faith in practice. He understood that land is not just property. It is dignity. He gave it away the way Prophets give water: without ledger, without camera, without condition.

Mbemba was very generous and he would give his last change to a needy or even acquaintances without hesitation. There is no one who is more generous. I can testify to it in Antwerp in 1987. He visited me and father in Antwerp hospital while my father was admitted there and not only did he come to see us, he provided cash to add to our incidental expenses which I must confess, Balla used at my favorite restaurants in Antwerp.

That was Memba: he fed the body and eased the burden, then walked away before thanks could make him uncomfortable. He was frequenting Bintou’s Point, Kerewan until his departure to New York for last and final sojourn in Dunya. He sat where you are reading this. He drank at this well. He laughed under this same mango tree.

His life was a sermon without a pulpit. Quiet competence. Unannounced charity. Nation-building by arithmetic and by heart. He proved that you do not need a microphone to move a country. You need integrity, and a pencil that tells the truth. He considers me Balla as as generous in giving and I reciprocate even firmer attribute to him.

I extend my deepest condolences to sister Mariama, his children, his family, people of Gunjur, Kombo South, Gambian Political establishment and the entire people of the Gambia. May Allah grant you Sabr Jameel. May He count every grain of sand on the roads he conceived as sadaqah jaariyah for him. May He widen his grave and light it with mercy.

Insha Allah I will be around to receive the corpse of this good ole schoolboy from Gunjur to his final resting place when arrangements are finalized by the family and so long honorable, as I fondly call him.

Soon we carry the mortal remains of this illustrious son of the Gambian nation, this quiet and giant of Gambian local politics and ready hand it gifts. Travel well, Honorable. The Kombo Coastal Roads will drive you home. And Bintou’s Point will keep your chair warm in memory.

Editor’s note:

Late Hon. Mbemba Jatta, Former Minister of Trade, Environment & Labour in the PPP government of late Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara was born and raised in Gunjur. He moved to the United States of America following the overthrow of the PPP government in July 1994 where he passed away on Monday, 11th Amat 2026.