Buba Sidiki Michael Baldeh (11 November 1953 - 9 July 2014) was a

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

. He was a former managing editor of ''

The Daily Observer ''The Daily Observer'' is a newspaper published in Bakau in Banjul, the Gambia. The paper, Gambia's first daily newspaper,Gabriel I. H. Williams, ''Liberia: the heart of darkness'', Trafford Publishing, 2002, p.333 was founded by Mae Gene and Ke ...

'', a Gambian daily newspaper, from 2000 to 2002. Baldeh was also a former member of the National Assembly of the Gambia from 1982 to 1985 and 1987-1994 during the first Gambian republic. Buba also served as Minister of Youths and Sports during the first Republic from 1992 to 1994. He survived by 8 Children and with two wives. Buba subsequently went on to serve several posts after the 1994 coup d’tat until his fall out with the then President of The Republic of The Gambia

Yahya Jammeh Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (born 25 May 1965) is a Gambian politician and former military officer who was the leader of The Gambia from 1994 to 2017, firstly as chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) from 199 ...

Early life

Baldeh was born in Basse Mansajang,

Upper River Division Upper River was one of the five Divisions of the Gambia. Its capital was Basse Santa Su. It was subsequently reorganised as the Basse Local Government Area, without any change in the area covered. Per 2013 census, the region had a population ...

, Gambia. His father, Michael Baldeh, was a member of the House of Representatives (now called National Assembly of the Gambia) during the British colonial period.

Early career

Baldeh started his career working for the district commissioner of Gambia from 1972 to 1977. He was later designated the role of project director for the Freedom From Hunger Campaign in 1977.

Political career

In 1982, Baldeh was elected to the House of Representatives but was ousted out in 1985. He was reelected to the House of Representatives in 1987 and became the secretary for the Ministry of Health in 1990. Baldeh also held the portfolio of Minister of Youth and Sports from 1992 until 1994. His tenure as an MP ended with the

1994 Gambian coup d'état In the 1994 Gambian coup d'état, a group of soldiers led by 29-year-old Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh seized power in a bloodless coup d'état on the morning of 22 July, ousting Dawda Jawara, who had been President of the Gambia since its independence ...

Arrest

During the 1994 coup by

, Baldeh aligned himself with the APRC party. However, his relationship with the APRC weakened after he was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency for forging evidence in 2004. Baldeh was exonerated of the charges in June 2005.

Exile

After an attempted coup by Ndure Chum in 2006, Baldeh moved and lived in exile in

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

from 2006 until his death in 2014. He died in

Dakar, Senegal Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 20 ...

, on 9 July 2014 from stomach pains.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldeh, Buba 1953 births 2014 deaths Gambian journalists Gambian editors Government ministers of the Gambia Members of the National Assembly of the Gambia United Democratic Party (Gambia) politicians People from Upper River Division