WAEC Writes to forGambia About Sam Sarr’s “Meet Me in Conakry”!

May 14, 2021

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The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Banjul office has reacted to forGambia News’ article addressing claims made by Gambian author Samsudeen Sarr that his “Meet Me in Conakry” was dropped due to his support for former president Yahya Jammeh. 

The council, in a letter sent to us Friday morning, still maintains that Sarr’s book was cancelled for curricular use due to its unavailability on book shelves in the country. We did reach out to Sarr for more clarifications, and in due course will publish or air his side of story. Below, we reproduce the letter in its entirety:

THE WEST AFRICAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL,

BANJUL OFFICE

REACTION TO MR. SAM SIDEEN SARR’S ALLEGATION THAT HIS BOOK, MEET ME IN CONAKRY WAS DROPPED FOR POLITICAL REASONS

The attention of The West African Examinations Council, Banjul Office has recently been drawn to a post on the University of The Gambia EDUSA WhatsApp page by the author of Meet me in Conakry, Mr. Sam Sideen Sarr in which he alleged that his book was cancelled for inclusion among GABECE prescribed Literature in English text due to his support for the APRC Party.

The allegation is absolutely incorrect and the Banjul Office wishes to set the record straight.

Literature in English texts are subject to a periodic review of every five years and procedurally, the decision of which texts to adopt is the prerogative of an independent committee of stakeholders. In this regard, in the first half of 2018, The Council invited suggestions from schools and other stakeholders to propose texts for review and selection by a Working Committee.

Upon receipt of the suggested texts, a National Working Committee was constituted in June 2018 to review both the existing texts and the ones received as suggested GABECE Literature in English Texts for the period 2021 to 2025. This committee comprised a representative from the University of The Gambia, a representative from Curriculum Research and Development Department of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE), Chief Examiners and a select number of schools with large entries for the subject. The committee met from June 11 to 15, 2018 and reviewed the suggested texts and poems to ascertain their suitability in line with set criteria, agreed upon by all the panelists. These included:

  • Suitability of the text in terms of the language level
  • Topicality of the themes and issues raised in the book
  • Text not used in the recent past

The Committee selected a number of texts including Meet me in Conakry. It may be of interest to note that Mr. Sam Sideen Sarr’s political profile was public knowledge at the time. However, that did not prevent the committee from selecting his book in the first place.

However, in November 2019 (about one year six months later) the Office received information from schools that the text was not available in the market. This was corroborated by some panel members who were mainly examiners. The council deemed it necessary to call another meeting of the Committee which reconvened on November 28, 2019 for the purpose of coming up with a replacement. After a day’s work, it settled for So Long a Letter as replacement for Meet me in Conakry. All the panelists confirmed to WAEC that the text (so long a letter) was available. Consequently, schools were written to on the replacement on December 17, 2019. After the letters were sent, the Banjul Office did not receive any complaint from schools that the book (So long a Letter) was not available in the book market.

Months later, we received information from a man who claimed to be the supplier that Meet me in Conakry was not available at the time but that it had been printed. He further said that the consignment got stuck somewhere along the Nigerian border and that delayed the arrival. That, its printing coincided with the closure of Nigeria’s land borders. He strongly appealed for a reversal of our decision to replace Meet me in Conakry with So Long a Letter. His appeal was not however acceded to since a decision had been made based on the information available at the time.

In fact, the author himself spoke with one of our officials while abroad to express his concern over the issue. It was explained to him in no uncertain terms that his book’s withdrawal was as a result of its unavailability in the market but assured him that it could be considered in the next review once the panelists settle for it. “that’s well understood”, he remarked, at the time.

 WAEC, Banjul.

 

Samsudeen Sarr Responds:

Dear Editor, 
I have read with keen interest the unsigned letter from WAEC illustrating the conditions that led to the cancellation of my book “Meet Me In Conakry” after its initial approval for inclusion in the Gambia schools curriculum cycle of 2021 to 2025. Yes, I was in New York City when my agent responsible for the printing and circulation informed me of the decision of WAEC to cancel the book because of its unavailability. 
 

What had exactly happened at the time was the diligent effort and huge resources invested by my publishers to produce enough of the books soon after it was selected. However, while in the USA,  my producers who had ordered the book from Nigeria had explained about a minor setback they had encountered in a slight delay  in the transportation and delivery of the books from Nigeria to the Gambia; nevertheless, they had immediately and successfully explored an alternative means that sped up the delivery before the school cycle commenced in 2021. 

Mark you the letter of cancellation from WAEC was signed and dispatched in December 2019. 
I think a more accommodating option would have been to first give a deadline for the availability of the books before what I believe was the WAEC’s hasty decision to replace it with another book.
 
Evidently by the beginning of the school cycle of 2021, my book was adequately available in the country. That is when I was involved from New York City and spoke to someone identified to be part of the decision makers at WAEC who took part in the cancellation process. I cannot remember his name or the exact details discussed either. 
 
Upon my arrival back from America I had faced another problem of losing all my contact numbers including that of my producers who recently contacted me through a friend’s help. For the first time I was shown the letter of cancellation followed by an exhaustive discussion over the reasons for the WAEC’s inflexible position even where they said they had also noticed the unavailability of the replacement book. And that the same process applied to produce the replacement book “So Long A Letter” by the late Mariama Ba of Senegal was the same means my producer had applied. 
 

I was indeed with the impression that my book couldn’t be produced and delivered in time to start the school cycle and was indeed the reason why I agreed with the justification given by the person I spoke to over the phone while in New York City. 

That said, it was however one of my producers who a couple of weeks ago explained how he was tipped off by an insider at the WAEC that the decision to drop the book and the intransigence of the committee were more of political reason than otherwise. That I have been a supporter of the APRC and continue to do so even in the wake of the 2016 political change. 
 
I will however continue to support the APRC in the same manner and commitment I would do to encourage the WAEC to reconsider their actions and adopt my book “Meet Me In Conakry”.
Thank you very much for the space to carry my response in your prestigious paper.
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