By Kebba AF Touray and Mariama Touray
The National Assembly of The Gambia has adopted the resolutions of the Petition Committee on the Gambia Tourism Board after an intense debate.
The committee, during the past years, has been dealing with the matter, after they received a petition from concerned staff of the GT Board, on the alleged maladministration at the GT Board relating to the execution of the fund for the construction of eco-lodges.
After engaging the relevant witnesses during a hearing on the matter, the committee developed and tabled a report on their findings on the matter.
The committee drafted resolutions from the report, as required by the plenary, which was tabled before the lawmakers on Tuesday, 24th September 2024, by the Chairperson of the Committee, Hon. Suwaibou Touray, Member for Wuli East Constituency.
After tabling the report, the members took turns on the resolution and voiced out their views on the allegations at the GT Board.
Member for Foni Bintang Karani, Hon. Bakary Badgie, said the alleged wrongful termination of GT Board Staff is improper, and said that such wrong practice can only be addressed if the wrongful act is corrected.
He however, expressed his dismay with the committee’s resolution for not recommending the termination of the Minister as among other issues the Minister has been alleged to have been receiving fuel coupons from the GT Board on the Eco-lodge project.
Member for Busumbala, Hon. Muhammed Kanteh, said “If you want equity, your hands should be clean. The monies given to the Minister and Permanent Secretary should be refunded,” he argued.
He also said that the alleged involvement of Minister Hamat Bah in the project should be minimal at the level of the GT Board concerning giving policy directives to the board.
Member for Janjanbureh, Hon. Omar Jammeh, said the back-and-forth that the resolution and the report suffered shows the polluted political affiliation that exists among the Members of the National Assembly.
Such a scenario, he said, ought to be relegated into history, adding that the lawmakers are the representatives of the electorate, whose welfare and interest legislators must serve.
He suggested the need for the plenary to stamp a definite time for the committee to clearly state and outline the full completion of the eco lodges.
Member for Central Badibu, Hon. Sulayman Saho, said, “This is a catastrophe to our economy because a huge chunk of economic losses has been inflicted on the country’s economy, all of which was done by the Minister for Tourism.”
Nominated Member, Fatoumatta Jawara, said that the resolution dealing with the issue of spouse relations at workplaces is discriminatory and thus needs to be revisited, saying that it is discriminatory against others.
On the eco-lodges Contract, the committee’s resolution is that the Chairman of the Contracts Committee (Mr. Ousainou Senghore) must be investigated by the IGP for misguiding the Contracts Committee members by giving a wrong analysis of the financial performance of Lerr Group which eventually affected the scoring or the evaluation process, and if found wanting, he should be prosecuted for the said crime.
It added that the Gambia Tourism Board must be reprimanded for allocating the contracts for all the lots to one bidder, which is in contravention of the GPPA’s recommendations.
On staff employment matters, the committee’s resolution includes that the Select Committee on Tourism and the Ombudsman monitor and ensure that all the senior staff deployed and wrongfully terminated/dismissed as a result of this petition, are recalled to the Head Office and reinstated to their former posts with immediate effect.
It added, “The Select Committee and the Ombudsman must report back to the Assembly on the implementation of this resolution on or before 1st December 2024.”
On Land Allocations in Tourism Development Areas, the committee resolved that the National Assembly must establish a Parliamentary Enquiry to investigate land allocations from 2017-2024 in the TDA on or before 1st February 2025.
On the Governance Structure of the GT Board, the committee resolves that the Minister of Tourism must not give directives to the Chairman of the Governing body to act upon his instructions as this is not provided for in the Act.
“All activities must be sanctioned by the Governing Body, which informs the Minister to endorse as per the GT Board Act 2011,” the committee resolved.
On budget allocation to the Ministry of Tourism, the committee resolved that “the GT Board must immediately stop fuel supply to the Minister and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Culture weekly. Supply of fuel to them must only be made if they are on the errands of the GT Board.”
It further resolved that the GT Board must ensure that all expenses made to the Ministry of Tourism must be captured in the Annual Activity Report and Financial Statements of the Board.
“The Governing Board of GTB must formulate a policy document to address issues of Conflict of Interest to ensure that spouses or mother/father or son/daughter does not participate in a Board meeting that concerns their interest,” the committee resolved on conflict of interest at the GT Board.
The matter was put to vote for the lawmakers to decide, of which 34 members took part. Out of the 34, 17 members voted in favour of the resolution, 16 voted against the resolution, whilst 1 member abstained.
