Seedy Kanyi, general manager of Gambia Transport Service Corporation (GTSC) has reacted to the transport wrangling between his Company and Senegalese Transport Union that showed two GTSC buses rejected from entering Senegalese territory on Sunday and Monday.
Speaking to this reporter on Tuesday, Kanyi said the decision by the Senegalese Transport Union does not only cause financial loses to his Company but as well disrupt the needed services bestow to its teeming customers, disclosing that denying Gambian vehicles and allowing Malians and Mauritanians vehicle is nothing more than a slap in the face.
“What is more disturbing on our part is why Senegalese authorities are allowing Malians and Mauritanians vehicles to enter freely in Senegal and not allowing Gambian vehicles. This is an unfair treatment on our part as far as the various protocols that allow free movement of goods and services between countries of the sub-region are concern,”MD Kanyi frowns.
According to him, his Company has been filing one bus to Senegal daily until the governments of Gambia and Senegal signed an agreement recently that will allow the free movement of goods and services between the two countries, adding that the Ecowas protocol on free movement of goods and services that was signed since 1975 also guarantee his company to transport goods and services in and out of Senegal without huddles.
Kanyi revealed that GTSC has been sending only one bus to Senegal until after the signing of an agreement between Gambia and Senegal when the Company find it befitting to add one more fleet to be plying between Banjul and Dakar.
“To me it is very illogical on the part of the Senegalese authorities to block Gambian buses from entering their territory as far as the protocols that allow the free movement of goods and services are concern,” MD Kanyi observed.
Quiz on why the move from the Senegalese authorities, Kanyi observed that it could have been the high volume of customers the Company is registering against its competitors in Senegal, adding that GTSC provided better services and more comforting to customers couple with reasonable fare tariff than others in the market.
“This situation may be triggered by the volume of customers we are receiving. We provide better services with comfort and reasonable fares compare to our competition and certainly with increase in the number of fleets we started providing this maybe the reason why we witness this unfortunate situation,” GM, Seedy Kanyi told this medium.
He disclosed that the Management of GTSC has since engaged the relevant authorities on the ground including the ministry of transport in their efforts to address the situation, revealing that the Senegalese Ambassador to The Gambia is also in the picture doing his bits to alleviate the situation.
MD Kanyi said it is the desire of GTSC to be plying four buses from Banjul to Dakar daily as of this year, arguing that this plan maybe hampered if the situation is not address.
