President of Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Mr. Edi Mass Jobe, has raised great concern over some of the lapses affecting the operation of the GCCI over the years.
He also spoke on wide range of achievement registered by the Chamber in 2020 during the deadly pandemic coronavirus.
According to him one of the major concerned of the chamber is the constitution which needs to be amended to enable its members to achieve good governance.
He raised this issue on Friday ahead of the GCCI Annual General Meeting scheduled to take place on Tuesday 27th July, 2021.
Mr. Jobe strongly emphasised on the need for GCCI members to do everything possible during this AGM and re-consider amending the Constitution which is among the major constraint or concern affecting the operation of the Chamber.
He said this AGM will avail its members the opportunity to meet under a platform and take stock of issues affecting them at a Chamber.
He said he has no doubt that the AGM will make an impact and create the opportunity for the members to review the constitution of the chamber to a better prosperity.
Mr. Jobe also spoke on need to improve governance and transparency to its members and one way of doing that is to change the old constitutions and give only Authority and responsibility to the Board of directors in the discharge of their duties to avoid confusion between the executive and the secretariat.
According to Mr. Jobe when he was elected to the Board, he encountered couple of constraints, and one of the major constraints was the constitution and the composition of the Board.
He said looking at the GCCI constitution document there is confusion, as roles and responsibility of the board and executive is not clearly spelt out.
According to Mr. Jobe the constitution give Authority and responsibility to both the board and the Executive in the same document, which created confusion between the Executive and the Secretariat.
The GCCI boss stated that the constitution should clearly spell out separately role and responsibility of both the Executive and the Board of Directors for effective transparency and good governance in the discharge of their duties.
Therefore, he described this forthcoming AGM as very timely, and urged the members to look into the constitution and see how to address or adjust it, so that the incoming board will work amicably without encountering such difficulties in its operation at the Chamber.
Mr. Jobe went further to strongly emphasised that there is need for this forthcoming AGM to address and change the constitution by giving only Authority and responsibility to the Board of Directors who are accountable to its member for the next three years.
According to the GCCI Boss, in doing so, it will greatly improve transparency, accountability and good governance at the Chamber.
He also spoke on the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer position, which he said should be on contracting basic subject to be renewal by its members. He also lamented on the issues of representation, saying that you cannot represent an institution without elected by the members.