SOCIAL SECURITY: Camara Says He’s Yet to be Served with Termination Letter
By Lamin Njie
Momodou Camara has said that he has not received any formal dismissal letter informing him of his firing from Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation.
“I haven’t got the [dismissal] letter yet nor did I get a formal communication,” the Social Security deputy internal auditor told The Fatu Network on Tuesday.
Mr Camara who is also the president of the staff association of Social Security was until last week rowing with the corporation’s managing director Muhammed Manjang. The staff including Camara accused Manjang of misconduct and abuse of office.
President Adama Barrow waded into the ruckus in September by suspending the two officials. The President also set up a panel to investigate the issue. That panel had since finished its work and had submitted a report to the president. And President Barrow in a major move on Friday ordered the return to work of Mr Manjang. He also ordered the firing of Mr Camara.
Mr Camara speaking to The Fatu Network on telephone from the village said he was still waiting to receive his termination letter.
“As soon as I get it, I will make a decision on the options that are available,” he said.
The Fatu Network understands Muhammed Manjang on Tuesday resumed duty as the managing director of Social Security, four days after the president’s directive.
GPPC Will Pay Off its Debts – Ceesay
The managing director at the Gambia Printing and Publishing Corporation has said his corporation will settle debts it owes to its business partners.
GPPC is on the verge of being sued over ‘substantial outstanding payments’ with the corporation owing Ashobe Stores over D700, 000, a source The Fatu Network last week. Ashobe Stores supplied GPPC with printing paper in February and in March, 2018, the source added.
Momodou Ceesay told The Fatu Network on Tuesday that his corporation wasn’t facing any court action threat.
“We’re not facing any [court action] threat as far as I’m concerned. It’s only Ali Kadra… He’s our good supplier and we’re going to settle the debt,” he said.
‘Printing Exclusivity’
Meanwhile Mr Ceesay has said that GPPC has been handed exclusivity rights to print all “government invoices, ceremonial cards and related materials.”
He said: “That was a cabinet decision and it’s to help ensure that part of the revenue generated by the government could come back to the government. This decision affects all government ministries and departments.”
Gov’t Vows to Champion Human Rights
Minister of Justice has said that the government of The Gambia will continue to support efforts aimed at advancing human rights in Africa.
Abubacarr Tambadou spoke Tuesday at the closing ceremony of 63rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
ACHPR is created in 1987 by the African Charter, an international instrument that seeks to protect and promote human rights in Africa. Its secretariat is based in The Gambia.
Mr Tambadou said: “On our part, the government of The Gambia looks forward to a fruitful engagement with the commission on our combine report which we recently submitted for the first time in 24 years and which further demonstrates a new political will on human rights in The Gambia.”
At least 27 states in Africa have in the past two weeks been discussing about the state of human rights on the continent. Delegates also used the occasion to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Justice Minister Tambadou congratulating the commission on “the successful completion of yet another session” said the Gambia government was committed to working with the commission.
“I take this opportunity to commend their [ACHPR] challenging but noble and rewarding efforts and their tireless engagements with states to ensure that the protection and promotion of all the human rights become a reality in Africa. This therefore gives me the pleasure to reiterate the support of the government of The Gambia to the work of the commission,” he said.
Tangara Meets China, Cuba Ambassadors
Press release
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, Dr Mamadou Tangara on Monday, 12th November 2018 received a copy of the Letter of Credence of the new Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to The Gambia, H.E Ma Jianchun.
Ambassador Jianchun was accompanied to the Foreign Ministry by Zhai Yanping, Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to The Gambia, Li Xiaoquan, First Secretary and Li Changhai, Third Secretary.
Foreign Minister Tangara welcomed the new Chinese Ambassador and extended the appreciation of the Gambian people to China. He recognised the laudable efforts of the former Chinese Ambassador, H.E Zang Jiming in rebuilding trust and confidence between the two countries, while assuring The Gambia Government’s recognition of the one-China Policy.
For his part, the new Chinese Ambassador H.E Ma Jianchun thanked Dr Tangara for the welcome. He said the Chinese Embassy in Banjul will continue to strengthen trust and cooperation between The Gambia and China. He assured Foreign Minister Tangara that China will work with The Gambia in order to implement the agreements at the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation summit held earlier this year in Beijing.
In a similar development, Foreign Minister Tangara also received a copy of the Letter of Credence of the new Cuban Ambassador to The Gambia, H.E Ruben Garcia Abelenda.
Dr Tangara welcomed H.E Ruben Garcia Abelenda to The Gambia while recalling Cuba’s remarkable role during the liberation struggle of African countries. He recognised Cuba’s contribution in The Gambia’s health sector with Cuban doctors going to the remotest places in the country to give health services to people.
H.E Ruben Garcia Abelenda thanked Dr Tangara for receiving him and promised to strengthen the historical bilateral relations between Cuba and The Gambia.
Gambia Still Stands a Chance of Discovering Oil – Sanyang
The Minister of Petroleum Fafa Sanyang has said that The Gambia still stands a chance of making a discovery of oil.
The Gambia government at the weekend confirmed the first Far and Petronas offshore drilling has failed to find oil or gas in the country.
The development has come off as a surprise, with many Gambians going as far as accusing the government of being economical with the truth.
Mr Sanyang told TFN on Monday that “drilling is part of exploration and there’s no 100 percent guarantee of finding oil.”
“We’ve done a lot of geological work. Far came in last year and they have done their work program. The well was designed and drilled. It was actually not found with hydrocarbons but very important information that will lead us to further exploration,” he said.
According to Sanyang, there are many factors that could lead to not finding oil.
“The oil may not be there, that’s one factor. The oil could have migrated to [an]other area,” he said.
The Gambia government said it will continue to work with partners in search of the natural resource.
Mr Sanyang said: “We’re going to continue to search. If you look at it here, we only drilled 3 wells – two onshore wells one in Brikama one in Kanifing; and one offshore well that was drilled in 1979. So we have very little well information compared to Senegal and other countries.
“Senegal they have more than 100 wells drilled in the past. Ghana, for example, about 300 wells… So this is the beginning of exploration. Of course, the ultimate goal is to find oil and it would have been a good thing for the first well to get oil. But it’s not uncommon also to drill many oil and you don’t find out. That doesn’t mean there’s no oil in the area.”
HELLO MR PRESIDENT… Intuition Is Important in Governance
From the onset, let me say that your decision to return Mr Manjang to his position at the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation is commendable. It is understandable that when a section of the staff protested against him (Manjang), making many allegations against him, people were outraged. Many people at the time – myself included – raised eyebrows due to the copious nature of the claims and counterclaims.
In issues like this, it is necessary for folks to remember that as Karl Max said ‘Man is a selfish animal’ and that many – if not most – will have their judgements tainted by self interest. Thus, when you set up a committee to look into the happenings at SSFC, that was a judicious move.
Having done that, common sense dictates that whatever that committee finds, and recommends, will be for the best interest of the nation inasmuch as they were people of impeccable character and high moral standing.
If, after their report, someone else comes up with a report which is not inline with the findings of that committee, you have to tread a tight line. The odds were always with the committee due to the fact that it was constituted to investigate and come up with recommendations.
Knowing the nature of the previous government and what used to obtain – the Janneh Commission has laid many things bare – it is understandable, likely indeed, that many people at the SSHFC saw Mr Manjang with his reform agenda as the enemy because they would have thought that he was out to get them, as it were.
After having all the information from different sources, it takes intuition and wit to arrive at the right conclusion and take a decision based on all you have learnt from the various sources. Doing tha, in good faith, you can go to sleep knowing that you conscience is clear.
It is firm decisions like this that will enable you make a mark and leave an indilable print of your footmark even years after you leave office. In other words, your legacy is written with the ink, or blood, of the actions you take.
With this action, you have loudly declared that institutions will reign supreme in this New Gambia. For, we all know that it was the failure of institutions that brought us to the brink of a pit of fire not so long ago.
I therefore say bravo for a great step taken!
Have a Good Day Mr President….
Tha Scribbler Bah
A Concerned Citizen
Journalists Cannot Assume All the Blame for Failing to Report Government
By Alagi Yorro Jallow
Part 1
I despair of the way in which commentators, especially (with a few exceptions) our resident economists, are not prepared to decry the illusion of the emperor’s new clothes that is the applicability of Keynesian economics in the Gambia. Future generations, I am sure, will laugh at the credence our era has slavishly given to our economists, in the same way as we now scoff at the credulous adherents of alchemy, and even, these days, journalism.
Some of our intellectuals can be described as manipulative charlatans, but I suspect most of the rank and file are just brainwashed dogmatists. It doesn’t matter how often their economic models, policies and analyses go wrong, or the enormity or the vast extent of their errors, they will not ditch the models or policies adopted by government. Which means we must ditch, and accord blame to, our economists, rather than our journalists.
If a journalist were to write about economics, arguing against economic policies and macroeconomic beliefs and suggesting alternatives, he or she would be dismissed, because his or her work would lack “impact.” The problem is not that there are no alternatives or criticisms, but that we live in a society that continues to believe that there are none.
Our political debate is on level of an argument who had last piece of the pie. Our political environment is pathetic and insane. The discussions are repetitive and take place only at the shallowest level. (Should VAT be 17.5% or 20%? Wow, so important—and yet no questions of what the tax should be spent on.) The fact is, we live in a country which is not interested in “radical” alternatives, and journalists are not given enough credit as they lack the legal framework and requisite training in economic concepts and policies.
Richard Parker, of Harvard University, suggests that even the clearest statement of what economists know about policy, written by journalists who are as well-trained in economics as the economists themselves, might still not penetrate the public’s consciousness unless the reporting can be captured by the filters with which the public organizes and processes information. The public imposes a moral and human-interest frame on news, which economics, as a discipline, severely underplays in this regard. The public, according to Parker, has deeply rooted views which are at odds with the individualistic, rational decision-maker paradigm around the reporting of economic issues, which underemphasizes the role of institutions and collective action.
In the Gambia, economists are reasonably blamed for bad economic policies, while journalists are unreasonably blamed for things far out of their realm of expertise or their power to control, such as nuclear fusion
Economics is the study of social networks of interactions. It will tell you that, in general, if you do X, then Y will happen and that if you do Z, Y will tend to happen less. What’s happened over the last 23 years in the Gambia is that far too many people are more often doing Z and expecting Y to happen because it’s politically convenient to expect it to happen. A few years ago, it was obvious that much of our economy was floating on a debt bubble, and that sooner or later that bubble would burst. Obvious, too, was the fact that we should have been making decisions presuming that would happen and preparing for it. But we didn’t because that would have been unpopular—it would have reduced public happiness for a time.
There’s a sort of incompressibility to financial unhappiness. It can be moved around, but not got rid of. The fiscal exuberance of the previous and current regime is being paid for with youth unemployment today. We could have smoothed that out, but we decided we didn’t want to.
Our economics have failed. Modern politics have failed—politics which have elected two governing systems with not an engineer or scientist or mathematician amongst them; politics which created a myth of a boom without end; politics which created the myth that the poor and the middle class would forever happily pay taxes, so the middle class could retire earlier. The same politics which failed to regulate banks and failed to regulate money creation happily watch false inflation measures and happily impose austerity without countermeasures.
Politics and economics have failed us by making so many bad choices. Government cannot make people take those choices. It’s the ability of economists to describe why those choices are bad. But these are not systems built by economists. Economists, who describe how people and systems are or could be, can only tell you the consequences of political choices. In a government that had not failed what role could economists and business journalists hold?
Angola Abandons Crackdown on Gambians
By Lamin Njie
Angola has put on hold its latest crackdown on foreigners, the Gambian consul to the country has said.
At least nine Gambians are among dozens of West African immigrants arrested in recent months over various crimes which include illegal stay. Some of them have been detained for than two months.
Haji Jawara told TFN on Sunday that more than 200 Gambians converged at his residence in Luanda as the government works towards getting a clearer sense of their plight.
“I got a letter from the ministry of foreign affairs… They asked me about reports of [the crackdown]. They wanted to know the facts about what happened to Gambians here,” Jawara said.
“The government through the ministry of foreign affairs wants to know how many Gambians are living here in case of any emergency. We want to get hold of everyone so that if anything happens it would be easy to evacuate them back to The Gambia.”
Mr Jawara also dismissed reports of the arrest of 250 Gambians.
“There were reports of 250 Gambians being jailed here. That is not true. Only nine people are arrested,” he said.
Jawara said the Angola government had wanted to launch a fresh crackdown on foreigners but for the intervention of the Angolan public.
He said: “When they [government] said they wanted to start operation on November 5, the population protested. They are not happy with the way the government is treating foreigners.
“The town is calm for now. We don’t have any problem with anyone. They have not arrested anybody as of now.”
No Oil in Gambia after Drilling of Exploration Well – Gov’t
The Gambia government on Friday confirmed that the first FAR and Petronas offshore exploration has failed to make a discovery of oil and gas deposits in The Gambia.
“His Excellency, President Adama Barrow has been updated on the results of the first FAR and Petronas offshore exploration in The Gambia. The prospect of finding oil and gas in the first offshore exploration has been unsuccessful,” a statement from the office of the President Friday evening said.
According to the office of the president, “the oil and gas explorers drilled the wireline logging at Samo-1 up to the total depth of 3240 meters.”
The statement said: “The drilling, which took almost three weeks, between October and November this year, was without a success. The offshore drilling started on the 22nd October to the 9th November 2018.
“The geological assessments of the drilled well have indicated the presence of all the key components of Hydrocarbons but the preliminary results of the drilling did not find any oil and gas deposits at this specific location, thereby indicating an unsuccessful well.”
The government also said on Friday that it has granted approval for a six-month extension to allow FAR and Petronas to do a thorough evaluation of the SAMO-1 results.
“The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in collaboration with Gambia National Petroleum Company – GNPC, will continue to support FAR and its joint venture partners in their exploration efforts,” the statement by the presidency added.
SSHFC Staff Promise President Barrow Fire over Camara’s Sack
By Lamin Njie
Staff at Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation have said they are ready to take on President Adama Barrow over his termination of their leader Momodou Camara.
President Barrow in a statement on Friday said that the services of Mr Momodou Camara “will be terminated with immediate effect.”
“We stand by Momodou Camara and we’re ready to go to any length in ensuring that this decision is reversed,” one staff told TFN on Friday.
“We’re going to meet and we’ll call a press conference on Monday to announce what we’re going to do.”
Another staff said: “I just saw the statement from the office of the president saying Mr Camara is going to be terminated. We’re not going to allow it even if it means the country is going to burn.”
Mr Camara is the deputy internal auditor at Social Security. He is also the president of the staff association.
His termination comes as the president decides to reinstate the corporation’s managing director Muhammed Manjang after almost three months of suspension.
Mr Manjang was put on administrative leave in August 2018 following a longstanding ruckus between him and his staff.
A panel commissioned by the President in September – shortly after Mr Manjang’s suspension – was tasked to look into the crisis. The panel had since finished its work and had submitted a report to the president.
A statement signed by the President’s press secretary on Friday said “President Barrow has reviewed the report and recommendations of the independent fact-finding/investigative panel on the crisis involving Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC).”
“Having closely reviewed the report, the following decisions have been taken: that administrative leave of the Managing Director, Mr. Muhamadou Manjang will be lifted and that Mr. Manjang will be duly notified in writing by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (the line Ministry) to resume duties,” the statement said.
Plastic Bags Ban Still in Place – Dibba
Minister of Environment Lamin Dibba has said that the ban on the use and importation of plastic bags is still in place.
“I would like every Gambian to understand that the plastic bag ban is still in place and we have not lifted it and anybody found wanting the law will take its course,” Mr Dibba told journalists at a press conference on Friday.
The government in 2015 imposed a ban on the use and importation of plastic bags saying it will help protect the environment. Manufacturers and traders of the bags have argued the ban is ill-conceived.
Friday’s development means any manufacturer or importer could face fines of up to D300,000. Individuals who violate the law could also be handed fines of up to D3,000.
At the press conference, Mr Dibba said due process was followed with regard to the ban.
“We all understand plastic was banned in this country and it was done through due process that went through cabinet and the national assembly,” he said.
“We are not doing it just for the sake of doing it. We’re not doing it to stifle anybody’s economic activities. But we are doing it to safeguard the environment, the animals and the human beings. If we don’t act then we’re inviting a major public health catastrophe which as a developing country our health system will not be able to take care of.”
Tour Operators Threaten to Quit Gambia
By Lamin Njie
Some major tour operators have warned they could leave The Gambia if the government proceeds with its current plan to introduce new border control fees.
Leaked documents this week reveal the government is planning to collect $20 from each arriving or departing air passenger at the country’s international airport. The move will target all commercial flights and will come into force in January 2019.
The government says the move is to help ensure the safety of air transportation through the installation of an upgraded screening system at the airport.
Tour operators are calling the new fees ‘over and above already extremely high airport and aviation costs and fees that The Gambia levies.’
A source said: “One of the biggest tour operators has written to the government threatening to cancel its investments if the government proceeds with this plan. They want a guarantee that such or similar fees are not going to be imposed on their operation.”
The spokesperson of the government Ebrima Sankareh told TFN on Friday that the new border fees will be introduced.
“It’s a new government policy that tourists entering the country are obliged to pay 20 dollars,” he said.
Mr Sankareh said the new rule is non-discriminatory as it will affect “every person; tourist or not.”
“It will be embedded in the ticket. [Travelers] could opt to pay with the airline or take care of it at the airport before you can be allowed to enter,” he said.
He addded that “government signed a five-year contract with SECURIPORT and it’s this company that will administer the new policy.”
Manjang to Return to Work after 3 Months Suspension
By Lamin Njie
President Adama Barrow has lifted the suspension of the managing director of Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation, Muhammed Manjang.
Mr Manjang was put on administrative leave in August 2018 following a longstanding ruckus between him and his staff.
A panel commissioned by the President in September – shortly after Mr Manjang’s suspension – was tasked to look into the crisis. The panel had since finished its work and had submitted a report to the president.
A statement signed by the President’s press secretary Amie Bojang Sissoho on Friday said “President Barrow has reviewed the report and recommendations of the independent fact-finding/investigative panel on the crisis involving Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC).”
“Having closely reviewed the report, the following decisions have been taken: that administrative leave of the Managing Director, Mr. Muhamadou Manjang will be lifted and that Mr. Manjang will be duly notified in writing by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (the line Ministry) to resume duties,” the statement said.
Momodou Camara Fired
Meanwhile President Adama Barrow on Friday terminated the services of the deputy internal auditor and president of the Social Security staff association Momodou Camara.
The development which is contained in the same presidency statement as Manjang’s reinstatement said the termination was “with immediate effect and the termination to be compliant with corporate policy.”
Meanwhile President Barrow has also directed that “the Board of Directors of the Corporation to receive further advice on the staff that were culpable in the saga and who have to be subject to disciplinary actions in line with the panel’s recommendations; and that the Board of Social Security through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs will be provided with the Recommendations of the Panel’s Report so that these are adopted and fully implemented.”
FAR’s share price is far far down after Gambia well fails
By Rachel Williamson, StockHead
Oil explorer FAR’s company-making first well in The Gambia has failed, and its shares are diving.
The well is the offshore Samo-1, which analysts at Canada-based bank Canaccord Genuity described last week as “more of an elephant than a wildcat”.
But on Friday morning FAR (ASX:FAR) admitted defeat, saying they found some indications of oil rather than the giant gusher they’d expected.
The share price, which had been riding momentum from Samo expectations as well as comparisonsto fellow oil junior Carnarvon’s North West Shelf success story in May, dropped 38 per cent to 8c.
FAR had said the Samo prospect contained two key reservoirs with a prospective resource of 825 million barrels of oil.
FAR is not the only Africa explorer to come a cropper this year.
Pancontinental (ASX:PCL) failed to find oil in its much hyped offshore Namibia well and watched its stock plunge by 70 per cent.
FAR boss Cath Norman echoed the statement Pancontinental provided after its failure, saying the well “is providing an abundance of new subsurface information that will help us understand the geological play”.
“The result in the Samo-1 well is not in line with our pre-drill expectations,” she told investors.
“The FAR team has identified a portfolio of prospects and leads in the A2 and A5 permits and the data from Samo-1 will be used to further mature and derisk these for future drilling. Drilling the first well offshore Gambia for 40 years has drawn attention to this well and the result is a reminder of the risks we face in our business.”
The company has a six-month extension for its licence and plans to continue drilling next year.
In August, FAR sold a 40 per cent stake in its A2 and A5 offshore blocks to Petronas, in exchange for the Malaysian giant paying for 80 per cent of the Samo-1 well and about $25m.
Drilling Near Completion, Samo-1 Well Unsuccessful
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY FAR LIMITED
The Samo-1 well offshore The Gambia has been drilled to a total depth of 3240m and wireline logging is nearing completion. The well operations to date have been conducted safely, efficiently, ahead of schedule and within budget.
Interpretation of the wireline logs so far indicates that the main target horizons are water-bearing. Oil shows were encountered at several levels indicating that the area has access to an active hydrocarbon charge system. The well also encountered excellent reservoir and seal facies, indicating that all the key components for a successful trap are present. As the first offshore well in forty years and the first modern well, the data that has been collected at Samo-1 and the ongoing interpretation will be critical to unlocking the hydrocarbon potential in the area. The well will be plugged and abandoned, consistent with the plan for this exploration well.
The Government of The Gambia confirmed a six-month extension to the current licence to end June 2019 to allow for evaluation of the Samo-1 well results.
Cath Norman FAR managing director said: “The result in the Samo-1 well is not in line with our pre-drill expectations, however it is providing an abundance of new subsurface information that will help us understand the geological play along the shelf edge –an area which remains grossly underexplored. The FAR team has identified a portfolio of prospects and leads in the A2 and A5 permits and the data from Samo-1 will be used to further mature and derisk these for future drilling. Drilling the first well offshore Gambia for 40 years has drawn attention to this well and the result is a reminder of the risks we face in our business.
We are pleased to receive a six-month extension to the licence, which will allow the JV to formulate and move on with plans to drill next year, after integrating the results from Samo-1 into the regional geological model.
I would like to express my appreciation to the drilling
operations teams in the safe and efficient delivery of our first well in The Gambia”
Samo-1 well unsuccessful
Finance Minister Says Economy Will Grow by 6%
The Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs has said that the country’s economy is expected to grow by more than six percent by year end.
Mambury Njie told a ‘special’ cabinet meeting on Thursday that the economy will grow by 6.6 percent by the end of 2018 from 4.6 percent in 2017.
Meanwhile following the top level government meeting at the State House, the Minister of Information and Communication Infrastructure, Honourable Ebrima Sillah shared the Cabinet’s resolutions with the waiting State House correspondents.
Under the 2019 budget, the Minister of Finance, Hon. Mambury Njie proposed tighter fiscal measures aimed at saving over a billion Dalasi for the Gambian economy. The measures, which seek to instil fiscal discipline and financial prudence, include a temporary freeze on all recruitment in the civil service unless extremely necessary.
Other measures include restricting sector travels in line with the approved budget, and the implementation of the vehicle policy to streamline government expenditure.
As part of the cost-cutting measures, Finance Minister also suggested the downgrading and/or closure of some of the Gambian missions and embassies abroad.
In order to maximize revenue and minimize leakage, Cabinet instructed that from January 2019 no cash payment shall be allowed at service points in government offices. Instead, all payments would be done in banks following the issuance of a proper invoice. In the same vein, the Ministries of Finance, and Information and Communication Infrastructure were tasked to initiate the digitization of government payment system in order to minimize cash transactions in the government systems. The digital shift is envisaged to solve the problem of leakages in public finance thereby maximizing earning, particularly from the domestic revenue base of the economy.
A favorable agricultural sector, trade, and good governance are mainly responsible for the projected growth, Minister Sillah added. Good governance has especially contributed to boosting great confidence in the economy, as well as the subsequent fiscal streaming to show, and the boom in the tourism sector.
“Gambians have taken this bold initiative to see a change in lifestyle and also how the economy and the country is governed. We are expecting this initiative to be reflective of the system change in moving away from the cash economy to a digital economy. This will help the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs to track activities of the economy,” Information Minister Ebrima Sillah said.