History was made on Tuesday, 13th November 2007 when for the first time in the history of The Gambia, a former soldier in the person of lieutenant Baba Bojang took the wig and gown as barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of The Gambia.

No less happened when the historic record of the Sherridan brothers in England (The Times Friday October 14th 1994) to have four brothers called to the English bar as barristers was on the same day repeated in The Gambia, when Malick Fafa Mbai followed the footsteps of not only his father, Mr. Fafa Edrissa Mbai, but his three brothers Edrissa Fafa Mbai, senior magistrate and President of the Gambia Magistrates’ Association, Ousman Fafa Mbai, Senior of Crown Prosecutor Services in London, and Omar Fafa Mbai, head of the Legal department Eco Bank, The Gambia.

Malick Fafa Mbai is the fourth son of Mr. Fafa Edrissa Mbai to be called to the Gambia Bar as barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of The Gambia.

The ceremony, held in the chambers of Chief Justice, was graced by Justice Agim, acting Chief Justice and President of The Gambia Court of Appeal.

Speaking at the ceremony Dr. Henry Carrol, Solicitor General and Legal Secretary, advised the new entrants to the bar to value integrity and good name as the basis of their survival at the bar.

Mr. Antouman Gaye, a senior counsel of the bar, rechoed similar advice to the two new entrants.

Justice Agim advised the two entrants to cultivate the habit of reading and learning. He said knowledge of the law and integrity is what make a good lawyer.

Mr. Fafa Edrissa Mbai, a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in both the first and second republics of The Gambia, thanked Allah the Almighty for having granted him the longevity to witness the call to the bar his fifth son as barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court where he has been and still practise law for some 30 years, noting that it is a humbling experience for him. Malick is the fifth son of Mr. Mbai and the fourth to take the wig and gown.

Mr. Mbai added that he had climbed up a long steep road from the hill of Sambang village to Keele and London universities, appearing before the judicial committee of the Privy Council and addressing the third United Nations conference on the law of sea in Montego Bay as Attorney General and Minister of Justice of this country. He reminisced “I have been honourable society of the Inner Temple, London, and now before you in this court.”

Mr. Added: “In his spiritual biography, ‘The measure of a man’ Sidney Poitier, the legendary black American actor, tells us ‘a large part of my father’s legacy is the lesson he taught his sons. He brought us together and said: ‘The measure of a man is how well he provides for his children,’ If we agree with him I can stand tall and proud: unbowed, uncowed, unrepentant and untroubled either by hopes or by fears and still less by regrets.”

He concluded by remarking: “the dogs have barked, but my caravan has crossed the desert, and yonder still are the oasis yet to be reached." Crown Prosecutor.