By Binta Jaiteh
Honourable Lamin Ceesay, National Assembly Member (NAM) for Kiang West and member of the public enterprise committee has disclosed that Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS) has failed to submit its 2020 activity report in its capacity as a state broadcaster of the country.
He said it is a big lapse that they are not expecting this as a committee “imagine 1-year interval and the reports are still pending.”
He made this statement yesterday at the National Assembly sitting during the questions and answer session between the members and the institution.
According to him, the institution is managing a whole lot of people that including the Human Resources as much as they hold their people accountable they need to play their lead “as a committee we are here to help one another so it could be a better GRTS for all.”
He went on that, according to the response of the MD (of the GRTS) it is due to a busy schedule, and “I want the institution to explain the reason behind the late submission. When it comes to complexity in my view, financial reports are more complex because it requires the involvement of external auditors and it takes a lot of time but the activity report is internal and that reflects in the financial statement because the funds are spent on the activities so we expect those reports to be ready.”
However, it should be the priority of the managing director to see that reports and accounts that are not presented are prepared and submitted to the National Assembly. That is a big lapse and there is no excuse to back the failure of reporting in response to inheritance
“It is your responsibility to make sure that everything is intact because if that is not done when are we going to review 2022 and the institution need to be funded for subsequent activities,” he said
Marlick Jeng, managing director of GRTS said it has been a busy schedule for them noting that the busy schedule was due to the Presidential and the National Assembly elections which had led to the delay of the reports, and also “I assume office on the 21st of March 2021.
Jamo Sowe, finance director said they have a setback and noted that the activity report and the financial report are ready but as the required presentation, the two reports should be completed.
Honourable Lamin J Sanneh, chairperson of the committee said the activity report should be prepared before the presentation of the financial report. The committee had to re-schedule the institution to a later date for the submission of the activity report and financial statement for 2020.
