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As written by Nfamara Fofana, Buwa Kinteh was the First chief to contest elections and also a member of parliament as a chiefs’ representative.
“As per Ba-Buwa’s birth certificate, he was 96 or thereabouts at the time of his passing, just four years short of a century. He may be very old in recent years but Karamba Buwa Kinteh was very much in full possession of his faculties as he kept drawing my attention to talking points I had earlier shared with him. “
. Mr. Fofana on his timeline wrote that Ba-Buwa may be having chieftaincy blood in his veins but unlike his father Landing Kinteh, he had to contest in the polls (1965) before he went on to enjoy 31 solid years as Seyfo of Jarra West. Under the PPP ticket, he stood against Saikouba Jarjuesy of Soma whom he said had been backed by PS Njie. Ba-Buwa also served in parliament in those days when chiefs had representation in the legislature.
“Ba-Buwa said his lack of interest in becoming a Parliamentarian paved the way for Yaya Ceesay of Sankwia to be tapped up for that role after he made it known to Jawara that becoming a Seyfo was the one thing he had desired. Ba-Buwa recalled spending 3 years in the school built initially for sons of chiefs in the colonial era. In 1943, he would leave Georgetown (now Janjanbureh) for 23 Hagan Street in Banjul to attend Saint Mary’s school. He then left the capital city in 1948 to take up an agric extension worker job in Pakali under Jenoi station before he had a stint with the Public Works Department (PWD). “
He further added that a prime Buwa Kinteh was also instrumental in the formation of the famed Barawulo cultural group in Pakali which once enjoyed a twinning program with the towns of Mbour and Sediou in Senegal.
“At the peak of his powers, Seyfo Buwa Kinteh was equally knee-deep in the green offensive. His forays into rice and groundnut in the years gone by earned him national recognition in the form of the Order of the Republic of The Gambia (ORG). His Seyfo father too had the honor of being conferred MBE. The senior Kinteh is credited for being among those who had helped identify present-day Mansakonko as the admin headquarters of LRR after they had first earmarked Barikunda, a land between Kani Kunda and Karantaba for that purpose. Allanding Konko, said Ba-Buwa, was a name that came up when his father and the senior colonial commissioner at the time were throwing up names for a regional base.”
