By: Arret Jatta
The Acting Executive Director of the MedicinesControl Agency (MCA), Essa Marenah, has saidthe government should not interfere with the work of MCA.
“Government’s interference with our work isn’t helping. The government should not interfere with regulatory bodies because this compromises our work. No regulatory body can work effectively with interference from the government,” Mr. Marenah asserted on Wednesday as MCA briefed the National Assembly’s Select Committee on Health, Refugees, Disaster and Humanitarian Relief on the agency’s operations and challenges.
Meanwhile, according to Mr. Marenah, the MCA does not enjoy budgetary allocations for the agency’s training needs. He told the committee that MCA depends on partners such as the German government for support, adding that the government’s approved budget for the agency was at variance with the money disbursed. This, he added, impacted negatively on MCA’s operations.
He explained that the MCA has been challenged by delays in clearing medicines from the borders.
“Sometimes, the medicines spend more than seven months at the borders,” disclosed Mr. Marenah.
Following his deliberations, the select committee’s chairperson Amadou Camaraassured the MCA acting boss that the committeewill look into the matter and see how they can help with some of their challenges.
Committee member Muhammed Kanteh advised MCA not to allow the government to interfere with their work.
“They are an independent body. So, therefore,nobody should decide for them or interfere with the decision they make because they have a constitutional mandate to operate independently,” he added.
Earlier on, Mr. Marenah informed the committee that the MCA had relocated to KotuEast on 1 February 2024. He explained that the agency had rolled out training programs and continues to offer several capacity nourishment opportunities for its staff.
He also spoke about the various partnerships that the MCA embraced.
“MCA has implemented pre-shipment testing of all medicines through the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Service Level Agreement (SLA) in countries like India, Ghana, and Pakistan and is about to sign one with China as well,” he said.
The MCA acting director said the agency recruited staff and had posted one staff at the Banjul Port and another at the Banjul International Airport to oversee these critical entry points.
“MCA has secured office space at the Banjul Sea Port through the support of the Gambia Ports Authority and is already occupied by our staff. We have also secured office space at the Airport through the support of the Gambia International Airlines (GIA) and it will be made available to MCA in March 2024,” Mr. Marenahexplained.
