By: Arret Jatta
The ex-staff members of the Gambia Ferry Service Company Limited have a loanamounting to D402.872 that is not being followed up and yet to be settled, the report of Public Enterprise Committee (PEC) of the National Assembly has shown.
The chairperson of the PEC Hon. Lamin J. Sanneh stated that from the test of controls procedures performed on the credit controls relating to the ex-staff loan balances, the auditors noticed no evidence of follow ups to recover outstanding balances due.
The report shows that ex-staff with loan balances are: Ousman Samba owingD239.030, Joseph Lemo Gomez owes D60,000, Sarjo Alieu owes D39.772, Jadama Makah owes D27,970, and Musa Saidy also owes D36.100 which amount to D402.872 in total.
The committee recommends that the board and management of the company to make follow ups on these ex-staff loans and to resort to guarantors for recoveries. Furthermore, the committee also states that the board should ensure the process is documented and should as well seek legal advice.
The report further noted a decline in the company’s performance.
“During the auditor’s trend analysis review on the performance of the company, they noted a sharp decline in the performance of the company over the 3-year-period which raised a question on the long-term sustainability of the Company. In 2018, turnover was D393.5million and going down to 2020 D200.2million giving a decline of D193m within the 3-year period,” the report stated.
The committee then recommends that the board and management should ensure the company’s revenue generation capacity is strengthened to improve its performance and position going forward.