At least twenty two (22) staff of Food Safety and Quality Authority (FSQA) are reported to have been issued with an indefinite administrative leave letter without salaries till further notice.
This development comes on the following a petition signed by thirty two (32) staff of the authority involving official misconduct and unfavorable working conditions created by Director General, Zainab Jallow.
They accused the FSQA Director General of unfair treatments, frequent travel allowances allocated to her, official corruption among others in a petition sent to the Office of the Vice President, Dr. Isatou Touray for possible redress.
However, in a letter addressed to one of the staff seen by this reporter the management reasoned that as a failure of the staff to report to his posting place he has been asked to go on administrative leave without salary till the Board of Directors of Food Safety and Quality Authority takes their final decision on the matter.
“Following a petition written to the Office of the Vice President and copied to Secretary General and the National Assembly by several staff of the Authority including you against the Director General on the 7th October, 2019, you as a member of the petitioners have refused to comply with posting orders from the management with impunity for a duration of about two months,” the letter disclosed.
According to revelations the following staff has been served their letters of indefinite administrative leave letter after refusing to comply with the postings authorized by management while their petition was under review.
Alhagie Sowe, Habibou Bojang, Buba Ceesay, Yankuba Fatty, Bubacarr Jallow, Jainaba Barrow, Mariama Sanyang, Alhasan Jatta, Alkali Ndong, Fatou Beye, Abdou Sarr, Ebrima Sonko, Awa Camara, Baba Kujabi, Alieu Bah, Filly Sanneh, Alieu Taal, Maa Gomez, Jalika Keita, Sutay Bah, Fatou D Sanyang and Saffiatou Jobarteh all staffers of Food Safety and Quality Authority are asked to stay on administrative leave till further notice.
Reacting to the development, Alhagie Sowe a victim confirmed the story, revealing that twenty two staff out of thirty two petitioners has been served with an administrative leave letter for failing to report to their posting locations.
According to him, even if the affected staff were ready to go on with the posting no offices have been prepared on the ground for their usage, adding that most of the staff currently in the field are encountering lack of office space across all the borders and other communities.
“The reality is we were posted to different communities within the country while our petition letter is yet to be addressed. There was an investigation launched in to the report of which is yet to be finalized and we are waiting for the outcome. We thought that it was very wrong for the management to proceed with our postings while the investigation report is not yet to be publish,” said Alhagie Sowe.
He observed that even the letter addressed to the affected staff are wrongly dated, adding that to the disappointment of the recipients the letters were signed by the director who is currently on administrative leave.
“The letter that we received is wrongly dated and signed by Director General, Jainab Jallow, who is currently on administrative leave. We thought that it was wrong for such administrative decision to be signed by someone on administrative leave and for this reason we are not complying with the letter,” Sowe told this reporter.
He calls for the intervention of the relevant authorities to intervene to redress the development before it goes out of hand, adding that all the affected staff are G