Hi!
My attention was brought to an interview on Freedom Newspaper?s radio (http://www.box.net/shared/h750egpg0j
by Essa Sey. In the interview, Essa intimated and insinuated that
Raaki TV is owned by or fronts for the Gambia Government. I want to
categorically and unequivocally put it to Mr. Sey that his statements
regarding Raaki are baseless and false. I further call on him to use
the same medium he used to utter those words to take them back and
apologise to Raaki.com and those behind it. I will not front for
anybody. If I wanted to declare my support for the government, I will
not hide behind rebroadcasting GRTS material nor will I let myself be
used. I am sovereign citizen with inalienable rights that include the
right to support anyone or any party I like. I am providing Raaki as
a
public service without expecting a butut in return.
Raaki is owned and run by me with the help of my wife. I started Raaki
on 14th. January 2005 when I believe, Essa was working for the Gambia
Government. Version 2 was launched on 22nd. November 2006. Version 3
is
still not ready but some aspects of it including the GRTS page have
been launched. Raaki is named after my daughter who was named after my
grandmother, a Fula. Raaki is the Fula version of Rohey. The site has
since its inception been completely funded by me. I have never
received
a butut from any government be it the Gambian, Swedish, American,
Chinese, Japanese or any other. I have never received a butut from any
agency or individual towards the maintenance of the site. In fact,
suggestions have been made many, many times for me to charge a fee to
recover some of the costs involved and compensate for the time put
into
the effort but I have said no. I don?t even accept advertisements or
use Google Ads on Raaki even though the site has over 1500 unique
visitors per day.
The motivation for starting Raaki was the fact that Gambian media
online was relatively non-existent at the time and the fact that
Gambian culture and cultural practitioners were much underrepresented
online. I therefore started the first live Gambian online radio and TV
to provide Gambians with Gambian material. Due to the bandwidth
problems especially those associated with video, I discontinued the
live video broadcasts and instead put the videos online whilst the
live
radio broadcasts continued. I used to record GRTS when I visited
Gambia
or ask family and friends to record for me and I encode and make them
available online. When GRTS went on satellite and the opportunity to
get the broadcasts in real-time, I decided to record material for
rebroadcast daily.
I believe Mr. Sey, that you are on one of the mailing lists and will
read this. I put it to you that you have erred big time. My motivation
for creating Raaki was not to be used by or front for anybody,
government or agency but to offer Gambians abroad the opportunity to
access Gambian material and promote Gambian culture. I hope you get
facts straight before making pronouncements. Pa Nderry tried on
several
occasions to correct you but you kept on. I love The Gambia and will
continue to promote it, its culture and its people distractions
notwithstanding. GRTS happens to be the only tv station from Gambia.
If
there were other stations broadcasting from Gambia, I will broadcast
material from them. I feel gratified and happy that Raaki has inspired
and resulted in the proliferation of sites that promote Gambian
culture
and music. Thank you.
Buharry

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