By Hatab Nyang
The Chief of the North Bank Regional settlement of Illiassa in Upper Baddibu Ebrima Ansu Tamba Jammeh, said his grandfather’s car, will not be given to the Gambia National Museum (GNM) or to any other person.
Chief Ebrima Ansu Tamba (grandson of Mama Tamba Jammeh) was speaking to journalists at his residence in Illiassa on Saturday 14th September, 2019.
According to Chief Ebrima Ansu Tamba, the late Mama Tamba Jammeh attended Muhammadan School in Banjul then Bathurst from 1905 to 1913; that he was the son of Jatta Selung Jammeh. Chief Ebrima Ansu Tamba said when the British Colonialists declared the colonial protectorate in 1894, Jatta Selung Jammeh become the first Chief in Illiassa and after his demise in 1928, his son the late Mama Tamba Jammeh, became the second Chief of Illiassa on 28th February 1928 and remained in this position for 40 years, becoming one of the longest serving Chief of Illiassa.
According to Chief Ebrima Jammeh, he cannot say how old the late Mama Tamba Jammeh’s car is; that he saw the car like how it is today. He said it can be more than sixty years old and the car is made of iron.
On the suggestion on social media that the car should be given to be kept at the Gambia National Museum (GNM) rather than leaving it to rust and decay, Chief Ebrima Jammeh categorically said that this will not be possible; that they want it to remain with the family in Illiassa. He said if anyone wants to see this car, one has to come to Illiassa to see it.
‘We have other things belonging to the late Chief Mama Tamba Jammeh. Not only this car. His house is still standing here in the compound, but no one sleeps there for now. Also his pictures and some other things about him are still with us. We are trying to do something about them. Maybe to create our own museum in his memory,’’ he said.
The late Mama Tamba Jammeh was one of the Chiefs during the colonial era in the Gambia and was the traditional ruler of Illiassa in the Upper Baddibu District.
