International Airline Goes Bankrupt!!!!

….GIA To Fire Workers Due To Lack Of Funds

By Staff Writer Fatoumatta Jallow, Banjul.

The Gambia International Airline ( GIA) is heading for a full blown bankruptcy, following the economic downturn hitting the impoverished West African country, the Freedom Newspaper can reveal. GIA has announces a major job cut, as a result of the company’ inability to meet its financial obligations. An official of the company who spoke to the Freedom Newspaper on condition of strict anonymity says GIA is to dismiss some of its employees as he puts it “ the company can no longer continue to pay staff salaries.” The official who appeared very nervous and worried said the company’s financial base was very weak. The official says many workers would be affected by the job cuts, which is scheduled to begin soon.

The Gambia International Airline is partly owned by Government. Aviation sources said the airline industry is not doing well in The Gambia. Our sources cite lack of passengers and visas as contributing factors to the problem. The majority of the passengers traveled via Dakar, Senegal.  

According to GIA insiders, the Government has been dipping  its hands into the company’s ailing budget over the years, without any formal accountability. This continued our sources aggravated the company’s financial crisis.

The company’s Managing Director could not be reached for comments at press time. But GIA insiders confirmed the planned redundancy exercise due to commence soon.

 In another development, the newly hired Information Minister Omar Ndow is expected to report to work this morning at the Information Ministry. Ndow will officially assume duty today. It appeared that he was hired without his consent. He has been tasked to help dispose of GAMTEL. Lebanese investors have expressed interest in buying GAMTEL.

Fatim Badjie, the then Information Minister refuses to sign the contract due to the dubious nature of the whole sale deal. She was fired by the President last week.