Secka, Michael Hamadi (1963- )

Michael Hamadi Secka was born in 1963 in Basse. After attending Armitage High School, he was trained as a teacher at The Gambia College. A seasoned educationist, he is presently the Principal of Kalagi Upper Basic School. Michael Hamadi Secka has published several poems, articles and brochures for students.

Literature For Gambian Upper Basic Schools was published in Banjul in 2000. It is a collection of literary texts 65 pages long.
The book is divided into three parts: 14 poems by the author, 10 hunting stories collected in Kaur in 1982 and a play in two acts about the trial and the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. Michael Hamadi Secka’s book clearly shows his desire to talk about issues germane to the socio-cultural environment of his target-audience: the student population.

In The Shock (1999) written by Michael Hamadi Secka, the central theme focuses on religioushypocrisy, where people use religion as a tool and a cover to embark upon deleterious or unfathomable social injustices like sex discrimination and child molestation. The text describes the story of a young girl Madina who travels from her village to the city to live with her uncle, whom she never saw before coming to live with him. She is later seduced by her uncle’s friend and gets pregnant. Her uncle forces her to commit abortion and in the process she dies. The uncle not able to bear the shame commits suicide. (Reviewed by Dr Pierre Gomez, Sr Lecturer, UTG)

Michael has since published several other books.

(To be updated)