By Mustapha Jallow
Yankuba Darboe, the Commissioner General for the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) Wednesday issued a strong warning against customs officers operating at the Banjul International airport.
He admonishes workers especially at the cargo unit over indiscipline and sabotaging the efforts of authority in generating revenues for the country.
He stressed that the authority would no longer tolerate any act of indiscipline by any customs officers in the system.
Darboe made this warning at the international wing of the cargo areas, where customs office is stationed. He made the statement during the conclusion of GRA’s Board of Directors and Management tour aimed at getting first-hand information about the challenges and success registered by their staff.
“We cannot compromise indiscipline here. We are different from other institutions. We are an institution that is collecting revenue as well as taking care of security. At the airport, you are not only here for revenue collection but there is a security aspect that we want you to look at, so that anything coming into the country, is properly screened; you would detect whether there is any illicit item in it or not,’’ he told the officers.
He added: “We don’t want things to pass without undetected.’’
CG Darboe further urged his officers to share useful information with other security services, saying such would make the work of the officers easy at the airport. He viewed the Banjul airport as the most important area, which is the first point of entry.
“Your dress code should be proper too. We don’t want to see our customs officers dressed in a way that is uncalled for. We travelled to other countries and we have seen how they are professionally dressed. So, we also expected both male and female workers appearing smart. We’ve given you enough allowance and salaries, and we don’t want to see anyone coming to work improperly dressed,’’ he advised.
Darboe asked the officers to adopt professionalism, while urging them to treat passengers or travellers at the airport professionally.
After passengers check-in is done, Alhagie K. Mbye, the Commissioner and Excise of GRA said there is an aspect of control that also exists at the airport. He said this is to ensure that illicit goods relating to drugs are not allowed to be exported. Such goods, he says, can tarnish the image of the country
“We also conduct undercover surveillances at the airport. Discharged passengers are monitored. Their interactions with airport staff are fully monitored because they can pass some very important and expensive items, like gold and so on to be smuggled out,’’ he explained.
According to Mbye, the customs further conduct what he described as currency control in line with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), saying they share the data every two months with the Unit, which would help the Unit to be on alert over the currencies going out of the country.
For her part, the Manager of the Customs office at the cargo area of the airport, Awa Sambou, expressed the challenges gripping her unit, which the management voiced to address immediately.
She recounted what customs officers faced in the past regarding other security agencies during their operations at the airport. She went on to say that the Security Council had given the green light to only customs to conduct or control the scanning machine with an official of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency (DLEA) standing by.
“If we see anything of interest to police, NIA or DLEA we would hand it over to these agencies. Now, the operation is going on smoothly without any interference because in those days we face lot of interferences,’’ she explained.
Sambou talked about the violent attack or abusive words that they receive from passengers during their normal operations at the airport.
Madam Lucy Fye Jagne commended the customs officers for their great performances on revenue collections and encouraged them to continue working as a team.
Meanwhile, the board and management visited Customs office in Mandinari Depot and Wellingara, where the tour was concluded. The officials made speeches and staff also expressed concerns and challenges that were noted by the delegation.
