The decision to construct a police station in Mankamangkunda, the birthplace of President Adama Barrow has been approved by the management – Managing Director and Director of Finance of the Gambia Port Authority (GPA), The Voice can reveal.
According to a reliable source who confirmed to The Voice disclosed that the Board of Directors of the Gambia Port Authority recently met over the possible funding of three police stations namely Bakadaji, Mankamangkunda and Fatoto in Upper River Region (URR).
Meanwhile, The Voice was hinted that constructing a police station at Mankanmangkunda was not agree by the Board of Directors of the GPA while Bakadaji and Fatoto were approved “but later while submitting the transfer request to Trust Bank, the GPA Managing Director, Ousman Jobarteh and his Director of Finance, Tamsir Sallah decided to add Mankamangkunda, regardless of its disapproval by Board of Directors,” the source told The Voice.
It was further revealed by our reliable source that the appropriate governance procedures were followed at the level of the GPA Board of Directors in awarding the contractor, saying that there was no billing and Procurement processed.
Source stressed that the decision to add Mankamangkunda was taken by managing director Ousman Jobarteh and his director finance Tamsir Sallah.
Meanwhile in response to GPA’s Managing Director’s Press Release on the illegal use of the Authority’s financial resources to finance the building of Police Stations in Mankamang Kunda, Bakadaji and Fatoto, Sidi Sanneh said the Act that created the corporate entity known as The Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) is the law that governs the management of the corporation to provide a vital service to the economy and to the general public for profit.
“It is certainly not a charity organization and thus the reason for it to be designated as a State Owned Enterprise. It is therefore not surprising that you will comb the entire GPA Act and you will not find any reference to CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), he pointed out.
He continued that “It is, therefore, contrary to the provisions of the Act. In short, management cannot, and should, therefore, not engage in CSR. Privately owned enterprises, on the other hand, are at liberty to use portions of their profits for CSR projects. SoEs are not supposed to engage in such projects because they are prohibited BY LAW.”
According to Sidi Sanneh the Managing Director’s claimed that “the appropriate governance procedures were followed at the level of the Ministry of Finance and the GPA Board of Directors.”
He therefore tagged on the following curious phrase “…and decision was obtained for the relevant payments to be offset against the liability that the GPA owes to Government….” Approval from whom?
Sanneh however pointed out that from the above, the MD is not sure whether to go by the CSR route, which contravenes the Act or the offset route i.e. treat the payments as offsets against their external loan service, “so he states both. Which is which? It can only be one or the other. But it cannot be both. Ultimately, it really doesn’t matter because both are wrong and illegal.”
He went further that “if we assumed that the Board authorized the MD to approach the Finance Minister to treat the payments to the local contractor as offset to GPA’s external loan obligations, and if the Finance Minister approves the MD’s proposal, he is contravening the Finance and Audit Act by accepting real tangible funds be lodged in the CRF. No IOUs,” Sanneh noted.
He added: “I must say, the press release is not explicit on whether the Board’s nor the Finance Minister’s approval of the methods employed by the MD which we insist are flawed and illegal in both the CSR and offsetting arrangement. I encourage the Finance Minister, the Board of Directors of GPA and the Managing Director on any aspect of the press release which I find bizarre, at best.”