The following article is from todays issue of Daily Observer on http://www.gambianet.com ******************************* Amadou Samba buys Daily Observer Sarriang Ceesay is new MD by Pa Nderry Mbai The Observer Company (Gambia) Limited, publisher of the Daily Observer newspaper has been sold. According to a letter from the former proprietor, Kenneth Y. Best, to the staff, the company has been sold to Amadou A. Samba, a prominent Gambian entrepreneur and lawyer. Mr Best, a veteran Liberian journalist fled his war torn country Liberia in 1991 and subsequently sought refuge in The Gambia in the same year. He established the Daily Observer on 11 May 1992 but was unceremoniously deported to Liberia on 30 October, 1994, by the then military junta. In his letter dated 10 May 1999, announcing the sale of the Observer Company to Mr Samba, Mr Best expressed the hope that the paper would maintain the high professional standards for which it is renowned and work diligently for the political, social and economic development of The Gambia and Africa. He expressed thanks and gratitude to the entire staff for the sacrificial services rendered the Company over the past years and urged the paper’s "stalwart cadre of journalists to continue the struggle for press freedom, democracy, social and economic justice and good governance in The Gambia and all Africa." He also thanked the entire Gambian public for their continued support and patronage. Meanwhile, Sarriang KH Ceesay, a former Director General of the Customs and Excise Department, has been appointed the new Managing Director of the Observer Company. In an interview with this reporter yesterday, Mr Ceesay said the new management is commitment to maintaining the editorial independence of the paper. "We will strive to see that the paper maintains its editorial independence. It should report objectively and make balanced reporting. We will seek to promote transparency in reporting to emphasize our journalists investigate the facts thoroughly," he explained. He said their plans are to make the Observer more successful for the benefit of the nation and the people who work in the paper. Reacting to the new developments, Observer Editor-in-Chief Baba Galleh Jallow said the Editorial Board welcomes the fact that the company is now owned by a Gambian as this would lay to rest erroneous claims that the paper is being controlled by foreign elements. He however pointed out that they are concerned that there should be no interference with the paper’s editorial policy. "We have told the new management that we hope there would be no interference in the paper’s independent editorial policy and they have assured us that there would be no such interference," he said. News editor Demba Jawo, for his part, said he did not mind the change of ownership but stressed that "what concerns us is the maintenance of the paper’s editorial independence." Meanwhile, the acting Managing Director, Theophilus George is presently out of the country.