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Breaking News:Gambia Gov't Lack Money To Pay "Teachers And Livestock Workers."-Treasury Official Unveils!
No Salary For Gambian Teachers And Livestock Workers!
...Treasury Official Says The Gov't is Faced by "Cash Shortages."

    "Gov't Ignored IMF Advise On Economic Reforms!"

By Staff Writer Justice Sam

Gambia's worsening economic and political crisis is taking its toll on poverty stricken Civil Servants. Teachers and Livestock workers are among those badly hit, as the government of President Yahya Jammeh is being confronted with "cash problem" to pay the country's teachers and Livestock workers, the Freedom Newspaper can authoritatively report. An official of the Treasury Department, the nation's cash office blames the current cash problem to what he calls"over staffing and lack of donors to support the government." Our correspondent who had two hours interview with the Treasury Department official was informed by the said official that the government lacked money to meet its financial obligations to the Civil Servants particularly teachers and Livestock workers. "We are aware of the non-payment of the teachers salaries and that of the Livestock workers. Our office can do little on this. The two Department of States must use their budgets wisely to avoid such problems. The salary problem can be attributable to over staffing and lack of donors. Donors have ceased to finance projects in this country due to governance problem. Most of our partners have given their back to us and we are left with no alternative but to cut down expenditure for now. It would take time before these teachers and Livestock workers would be paid. That I can confirm to you. Their payroll accounts are almost in the reds."Said the Treasury Department official who wished not be named in fear of reprisal from the government.

Few days ago, our Banjul Bureau Chief Bolong Jammeh, dispatched a story highlighting the plight of the country's teachers and Livestock workers. Some of the aggrieved teachers and Livestock workers complained about lack of pay, marginalization among others. The disgruntled Civil Servants even went as far as vowing to take to the streets if their demands were not met. Education and Livestock officials are apparently avoiding the local press on this serious state of affairs.

According to the Treasury official, I spoke to today, the government was likely to down size the Civil Service in months to come.This he said, was due to the growing cash problems confronting the regime. "Our Foreign Reserves have not been performing well. In addition, there is a dramatic decline on our currency. Foreign Exchange is a major problem in this country. Rates are getting higher and higher Most companies cannot order goods these days due to lack of Foreign Exchange. The Government wants to determine the price of their goods, which they refused to accept. They said they cannot order goods only to sell them at losses. Confronted with Foreign Exchange problem, there is also a sky rocketing on basic commodities in this country. Many families cannot afford price for a bag of rice, which the country's main stable food. The teachers and Livestock workers have good reasons to complain, but our office can't help. The situation is beyond our control."Said the Treasury Department official. The officials says the Jammeh government had also failed to meet the requirements for the West African common currency (WAMI). This he said was due to poor economic performance.

         Gov't Ignored IMF Advise On Economic Reforms!

The official says the Gambian Government had ignored all the economic reform Recommendations that were given to them by the International Monetary Fund Mission team who visited Banjul before the much talked about African Union Summit. According to the official, the regime instead of cutting down public expenditure and tackling graft has embarked on new projects which have no developmental bearing at this hour."The Formation of Ministry of Higher Education was not part of the country's budget for 2006-2007 fiscal year period. At a time the country is experiencing problem in paying teachers and Livestock workers, the government is on the other hand trying create white elephant projects. There is no money at this hour to Finance the activities of the said Ministry. The new Minister Crispin Grey-Johnson had a small office there without staff. Infact, his appointment is creating confusion at the Ministry of Education. Many here believe that he is the boss of the Education Minister Fatou Fye which is not true. Johnson is running a caretaker Ministry without staff. Second, government is spending several millions of Dalasis on arms and ammunition. Our Defense budget alone is twice more than our Health and Education budget. Thirdly, the government is also bringing Cuban doctors into the country each year with the promise of paying them in Foreign currency. This to some extent has affected our Foreign Exchange base."said Treasury Department official.

The International Monetary (IMF) last year cautioned the Jammeh government about their unfinished spending spree, which the Firm says was bound to have negative toll on the country's already "ailing economy." The IMF also raises concern over the government's move to host the AU Summit,citing the expensive budgetary cost attached to such sub-regional functions. But the Jammeh government allayed the IMF fears by assuring them that government would not use state budget to finance the Summit. The government at the time claimed that some donors were going to sponsor the AU Summit.

But the Treasury official told the Freedom Newspaper that there was "no iota of truth" into the government's claims. While conceding that some members of the business community, Taiwan, Iran and Vensuzevella extended financial donations to the government, the Treasury official said the government still went ahead to dip its hands into Central Bank coffers to sponsor the event."Funds from the business community, Taiwan, Iran and other agencies were directly handed to the President. He never uses the said Funds. He decided to put it into his personal use. The President uses the name of the government to solicit funds but at the end of the day, there is no paper work presented to our office to confirm such donations.This was why the Former Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service Mamburay Njie was in trouble. The President wants to have total control of monetary donations extended to this country."Said the official.

       Graft Still A Problem in Jammeh's Gov't

The Freedom Newspaper was also informed about the "rampant official" corruption in the Gambia. According to the Treasury official, due to the economic and political uncertainties that gripped the country, many Public Servants have resorted to corrupt practices these days. The official said the Gambia Police Force, the Immigration Department, Customs And Excise Department, Defense, Aviation and Seaport workers are at the Center of the said graft. Our Department has realized major cash shortages in the said Departments. There is no proper book keeping and accountability. No cash control. Most of the monies released from these Departments are undocumented. The President is not paying much attention to the activities of these Departments. All he is concerned about, is his personal security and that of his government. But I fear for the future of this country. The economic crisis can lead to anything."the official warns.

The Treasury official says he thought it crucially necessary to spill the beans to the world, since the Jammeh government is behaving irresponsibly these days."His aids cure never came as a surprise to us. He's running a government without funds. He thought that the best way to divert Gambians attention to the current economic problems is to venture into areas he had no knowledge about. The President is very confused at this hour. We at the Treasury Department knows what obtains on the ground. Some government accounts are also almost in the red."The official claimed.

                     Soldiers Getting Wilder

In a bid to monitor the activities of the soldiers, President Jammeh has assigned some undercover agents in almost all military barracks in the country. The job of the said undercover agents is to monitor and report activities of soldiers suspected of being "disloyal" to the system. They call these undercovers "Intel agents." There is a growing distrust among the military today. Officers don't trust junior soldiers, while junior soldiers are also avoiding their seniors. They treat each other with a pinch of salt. Soldiers accuses one another of being spy in their barracks. Some would be heard saying they careless about those monitoring them. An insider at the GAF Head Quarters told me that each army official is assigned to a secret agent who mount surveillance on their activities. It's not clear what the President's intentions are, but the reality on the ground is that the army is divided. The army is not free of tribal politics. Other tribes complained about marginalizing and discrimination.

The soldiers say the GAF command favours their own errand boys during peace-keeping missions. This to some extent has angered a majority of the soldiers. There is also claims that some soldiers who served in Dafur on peace-keeping hard problems to get their allowances. That the government was paying them in piece-meal.

                   Education Officials Contacted again!

In a bid to authenticate our story on the Teachers and Livestock workers salary non payment, we contacted a senior official of the Department of state for Education before going to press, who confirmed the story.The official says the Education Secretary was briefed about the teachers plight but was yet react to their problem. The official says the teachers stormed their offices on a daily basis complaining about not being paid.

The editor can be reached at the following addresses:editor@freedomnewspaper.com,panderry@hotmail.com or panderrymbai@gmail.com If you know that it's happening or is about to happen please contact us. It's easy. Just type your info on our contact us file and then click send. The Freedom Newspaper is your leading and most authoritative source of news. We have the required professionals to serve you round the clock. Get your morning breakfast news by reading Freedom. We have good stuffs every morning. At Freedom, we mean business.

Posted on Sunday, February 18, 2007 (Archive on Wednesday, February 28, 2007)
Posted by PNMBAI Contributed by PNMBAI

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