By: Momodou Justice Darboe
The Deputy Managing Director of the GGC, Mr. LaminSanyang, has declared the 2023/2024 groundnut trade season closed.
“As far as the corporation (GGC) is concerned, the groundnut trade season is closed. We have realized our target and also reached our funding limit,” Mr. Sanyangdeclared in a press conference on Wednesday.
Meanwhile the GGC, through the AGIB, has disbursed D1.5 billion in the just-declared closed trade season to buy nuts.
Speaking earlier, the Director of the Strategic Planning Unit of the Gambia Groundnut Corporation (GGC), Thomas Roberts, vowed that the GGC will turn every stone to recover the monies owed to it by some groundnut-buying points or Seccos.
The AGIB has distributed D1.5 billion among the various Groundnut Marketing Cooperatives (GMCs) to serve asthe intermediary between the GCC and groundnut farmersin the buying of peanuts.
The idea was to facilitate the timely buying of nuts and the convenient disbursement of funds.
However, things did not go to plan as some GMCs faltered in supplying tonnes of groundnut to the GGC even after the corporation paid them money.
The GGC’s director of strategic planning and corporate affairs Thomas Roberts and the corporation’s No.2 LaminSanyang were not amused by the development but wereoptimistic that the monies would be recovered.
“The money belonged to the Gambian people and it must be recovered,” stressed Mr. Thomas in a press conference on Wednesday.
The corporate affairs boss hinted at the need for a revisit of their dealing with the Seccos.
“We have to revisit our modus operandi,” he stated.