By Kebba Secka
The Association of Licensed Forex Bureau in the Gambia, (ALFOB), Saturday 28th July 2018, held their Annual General Meeting at the association’s headquarters in Churchill’s Town. The AGM was characterized by the presentation of an Audited Financial Report 2017, election of new executive members and the annual report on running the activities of the association by the outgoing president.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, outgoing president Momodou A Cham, gave a rundown of the association’s activities during the period under his leadership; that one of the principal objectives of ALFOB is to facilitate cooperation among members and to help stabilize the foreign exchange market. According to Cham, members of the association’s executive are expected in line with Section 569 (c) of the Company Act 2013, to maintain accounts for auditing that they are required to give financial statement each year, for the purpose of giving a fair and true view of the state of affairs of the association. ‘‘The Executive Members are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which would disclose with reasonable accuracy, the financial position of the association in order to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Constitution of ALFOB and other laws that regulate the affairs of our association,’’ Cham said; that the executive’s roles include safeguarding assets of the association and to take a reasonable step for the prevention and protection of frauds and other irregularities. On his final note, he thanked members for giving him the opportunity to steer the affairs of the association cooperatively during the period.
Presenting the financial report of the year ended 31st December 2017, Louis Sarkis, the outgoing treasurer and new president said: ‘‘We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISA), as promulgated by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).’’ He said the financial statements include assessments of the significant estimates and judgments made by the executive committee and whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the association’s circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed. ‘‘It is our responsibility to form an independent opinion based on an audit of the financial statements and to report to you our opinion,’’ he said; that in the executive’s opinion, the financial statements presented has given a true picture and a fair view of the financial position of their association.
The occasion witnessed the election of new executive members entrusted to steer the affairs of the association for another term. During a resolution, Louis Sarkis was unanimously voted by members as the association’s new president, Morr Jobe as vice president, Momodou Bojang as treasurer, Ousman Darbo as Seceretary, Ndambou Touray, Momodou B Jallow, Momodou Jagana, Sheriffo Jaggana, Haja Bah and Halimatou Jallow, as executive members.
In his closing remarks, newly elected president Sarkis who is also the CEO of FIG Bureau De Change, thanked members for the trust vested in them, to steer the affairs of the association for another term. He commended his predecessors for being proactive in steering the affairs of the association forward. ‘‘I promise with my new executive members, that we will push forward the affairs of the association from where our predecessors left it,’’ he assured. He reminded his new executive members about the dictates of their Constitution and enjoined them to work up to expectation.
