By: Haddy Touray
The staff working for Direct Aid the Gambia is demanding pay rise of salaries and transport allowances from the visiting regional director of the organisation.
In a letter dated 19th April, 2025 and addressed to their Country Director, Abdellatif Ourahou of Brufut Center, the staff requested for an audience with the visiting regional director of Direct Aid so that they could lay their complaints.
According to the staff, the Gambian government has given out pay rises to its workers twice in recent times without Direct Aid replicating the gesture. “We respectfully write to request a meeting with the visiting Regional Director for Africa, who is currently in The Gambia. The purpose of this proposed meeting is to allow us to engage and familiarize ourselves with the Regional Director, as well as to extend our sincere appreciation to him and, through him, to the Board of Directors of Direct Aid for their continued support,” the staff stated in the letter.
They said they would also like to raise the issue of pay rise once they have the chance of meeting the regional director.
“We kindly wish to highlight that the Government of The Gambia has implemented salary increases for civil servants on two separate occasions—January 2022 and January 2025—resulting in a cumulative increase of sixty percent (60%),” the letter noted.
According to them, this adjustment also extended to various allowances, including the transport allowance, which was increased from GMD 1,500 to GMD 3,000 as of January 2025, noting that it is regrettable that none of these increments have been extended to staff at the Direct Aid The Gambia.
“We believe that a direct engagement with the Regional Director would allow us to voice our concerns and further reinforce the efforts you have been championing on our behalf,” they buttress on the reason for having the audience.
“We humbly seek your kind approval to facilitate this meeting and would be immensely grateful for your consideration of our request,” the letter concluded.
Meanwhile, this medium contacted Abdellatif Ourahou, Country Director at Brufut Center, to shed light on the development, but he declined to comment on the matter.
However, scores of staff members who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity disclosed that they have been following up the issue of salaries and transport increment from the country director and his team of administrators to no avail, hinting that anytime government effect salary increment workers at Direct Aid would approach the management to no avail.
They told this reporter that they have held series of meetings with the country director who always responded that increment would be affected but to date no increment have been affected, adding that it is out of desperation that the staff takes the bold decision to seeking audience with the visiting Regional Director of Direct Aid as means to addressing their concerns.