By Kemo Kanyi
Staff of NAWEC could suffer salary cuts if the recommendation made by the State-owned Enterprises Commission is implemented.
The commission monitors State-owned Enterprises and it recommended a reduction of salaries of the staffNAWEC after it said the country’s power company had failed to meet the target in various aspects of evaluation.
NAWEC has been found to have been unable to achieve half of its performance target as shown by the key performance indicators.
Led by Mr. Ousainou Ngum, the commission evaluated NAWEC’s performance from 2021-2022 and the areasdelved into included the utility company’s financial, technical, operational, and management performance.
After the evaluation, it was determined that NAWEC achieved 30% and 20% of the targets set for its Key Performance Indicators in 2021 and 2022, p, the SOEs commission recommended that NAWEC staff be faced with salary reduction for their failure to deliver.
“The Commission will reduce the salaries of NAWEC staff by 5% for not meeting the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) targets set for 2021-2022. The SOEsCommission will fully implement the next appraisal recommendations considering the support NAWEC is currently receiving from the government and partners. The top management is advised to take the challenges seriously as electricity is crucial to the lives of the people, and the promise to deliver must be upheld,” stated a press release from the Presidency.
Former managing director of NAWEC now minister for petroleum Nani Juwara contended that relying on the 2017 baseline for assessment was unfair toNAWEC as, according to him, it did not have audited accounts for that year and due to difficulty in transition.
He stated that using the figures from 2022 would provide a fairer baseline, considering the current situation and system improvements.
It could be recalled that the government of The Gambia signed a performance contract with State-owned Enterprises in February 2023 to curb underperformance; a move commended by President Adama Barrow.