I am most flattered! Or better yet, you have schooled
many of us with street names in Banjul. Can u tell me
where the name Half Die ( af-die) came from? Thanks
in advance!
Essa Thomas
--- Prince Obrien-Coker <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Sidi,
> It is funny you asked what the new name of
> MacDonnell Street is. In the late
> 60's Eric Janneh (Now a Chief in the Kombos) and
> other MacDonnell
> "prominents" were advocating that the street should
> be named after your dad.
> I am honestly not joking. Kassy Janneh, M.I. (Kabba)
> Jallow and Oussou Njie
> (Seņor) are online and they can confirm this. You
> see, In the Gambia the
> people determine street names. No Government organ
> can change this fact.
> A good example is "Tobacco Road". The government
> then had tried everything
> to discourage the people from using that name.
> "Tobacco Road" is a song by
> rock group called "Rare Earth". "The Super Eagles"
> popularised the song in
> the Gambia. It is a song about a place you love so
> much, but it is being
> destroyed by "dirt and filth" - corruption and all
> other political
> iniquities. "The Super Eagles Band" was very good in
> using songs to
> "Garuwaleh" the government and "Tobacco Road" was
> one of the most implicit
> protest songs of the late 60's and 70's against
> politicians and their
> practices.
> When I was working at the BCC in the late 60's, I
> was partly responsible for
> the street name boards. One day Kutour Louis Prom
> asked us why we were
> putting up street name boards, with names that the
> people are not using. He
> said the street names should be the way people are
> calling the street. This
> was said at an informal gathering at the BCC. The
> Boards were ordered and
> when they came, we saw that some of the streets have
> completely changed
> names to the way people call them. It was not
> noticed for over 3 months
> until "The Gambia Echo" published it. I was called
> at the Mayor's Office to
> explain the changes. That was not difficult. I told
> the City clerk, Mr C. I.
> Jagne, to call the Mayor's wife and ask her the name
> of her street. Kelepha
> Samba was then the Mayor and I knew that his second
> wife was living at one
> of these streets. She did not only call the name but
> she also spelt it the
> way the new names were written. We all laughed and
> left the room.
> The street that originally was Spolding became
> Spalding, Rakin became Rankin
> and Lemon became Leman. Although Leman street
> existed but it was an
> extension of Lemon: from Hill street to the Brown
> Street mosque. But popular
> usage called the whole street Leman, from McCarthy
> Square (July 22 Square)
> to Brown Street.
> Kutour Prom would not have been the Kutour Prom we
> knew had he not been
> instrumental in this. He also proposed that the
> Health Service Offices by
> Russell Street should be call "Bordor Fell" (Board
> of Health).
> Note though, some street maintained the street board
> while the people call
> them by other names e.g Anglesea will always be
> "Angleseen", also
> Perseverance Street is still called "Pasiveeran".
> Kent Street, to the people
> will forever remain "Ken Street".
> When I just left school my mother used to advise me
> to go to Griffith Street
> to look for a job. It took me days to know where
> meant. Griffith Street was
> in the place that we used to call "PWD" or "PUD" and
> today it is part of the
> Ports.
> Among the streets that have, at present, changed
> names are Buckle, Leman,
> Anglesea, Cameroon, Independence Drive (formerly
> Clifton Road) and Marina
> Parade. Please do not ask me how they are called
> NOW. I only know Mandela
> Avenue (Cameroon), because I was there everyday when
> I was in town.
> I am sure you will say, "yes, but these are only the
> pronunciations of the
> illiterates", but never forget that in the Gambia,
> illiterates sometimes
> dictate to the literate how things should be said.
> The person who ordered
> that "Twenty-Five Dalasis" should be written on our
> bank notes is surely not
> an illiterate, while any literate person knows that
> "Dalasi" has no plural.
> You have never heard a mandinka person saying
> "Dalasis Kemeh".
> Another example is calling the wife of a knight by
> her first name. "Lady
> Chilel" was such a popular name that they name a
> ship after her. During
> KuKoi's fray, the BBC thought that Lady Chilel was
> Jawara's daughter.
> So don't ever under estimated the power of the
> Gambian people.
>
> Prince Coker
>
>
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