WHAT DICTATOR YAHYA JAMMEH NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THE GPA FERRY SERVICES—STAFFERS COMPLAIN!

Inside the Ferry Services

By Concerned Ferries Staff At The Banjul Ferry Terminal

Allow me to share with you and the wider Gambian public some of the happenings in the ferry services which make ferries to be in a state in which it is today. Firstly, when the former GPA MD (Momodou Lamin Gibba) was brought to GPA, his first aim was to form a Jola empire in GPA which made him to employ so many unqualified Jola boys and girls and most of them were dumped in ferries as security guards and sailors (for boys) and revenue controllers and collectors (for girls/ladies).

One could realize that there was a time when you get to the Banjul Terminal, you find lots of girls in dark blue uniforms sitting at the gate gossiping and above all quarreling with and insulting our esteemed customers. These people have no basic customer relations training and above all they were given powers to even overrule some of their superiors in charge of customer bags and baggages. They report directly to the MD (because he gave them his direct number). They were allocated a special brand new pick up vehicle (the sole driver attached was one Kebba Sanneh) who picks them up at the end of every working hours and drop each of them at their compound gates whilst the rest of the staff struggle to join the GPA staff bus which drops them on the highway as they struggle to make the rest of the journey to their houses.

Adding insult to injury, these girls were allocated three shifts and provided new uniforms every now and then and as if that is not enough, they were paid risk allowance on top of their unmerited salary grades which others like the engineers and operators who are risking their lives and battling with the sea waves round the clock are not even considered for that risk allowance when they were the very people who should have benefited from it. But Allah The Almighty can judge fairly. Some of those girls became serial thieves who were scooping from the daily revenue left, right and centre and forming osusu clubs. Some of them were sacked for stealing and some of them left voluntarily when they got what they wanted from ferries revenue.

Gibba was aided and abetted in making ferries overstaffed (especially in the revenue generation and marketing department) by no other person than Hali Gai, who is the present Deputy Managing Director of ferries. Hali was a bootlicker for Gibba. If Gibba employs ten people, know that Hali will also employ two or three.  Ferries were reduced to zero by these two people because of their inefficiency, arrogance and lack of know-how in what it takes to manage a Marine institution like ferries.

To compound ferry’s problems, the GPA together with the government completely neglected the Banjul Shipyard where ferries were normally sent for dry docking for proper maintenance and upkeep. Now that the shipyard is not functional (at least the cradle and other facilities that the ferries needs are not operational), the ferries are at the mercy of breakdowns all the time because there is nothing the maintenance and technical staff can do to carry out their duties efficiently because the situation is beyond their control even though they are doing their best round the clock to keep the ferries running.

The ferries have not gone for dry docking for several years which is in direct conflict with International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules. Thus none of the ferries in Gambia is seaworthy as we speak. The Gambia Maritime Authority is fully aware of this issue but as usual, they dare not to mention it publicly for fear of reprisal. It is shocking to hear the VP telling the rubber stamp National Assembly sometime last year that the contract for the restoration and rehabilitation of the shipyard was been awarded to DAMEN SHIPYARDS in Holland and works were suppose to start since last year and were to take 15 months to complete.

Up to today, nothing has been done about that shipyard simply because the GPA who were suppose to fund the project at least partially, are now unable to do so because all the funds were mismanaged by Gibba (the then MD) in building pavilions for wrestling arenas in Kanilai and one at the Arch 22 for July 22^nd celebrations whilst the lives of Gambians are been risked in the unseaworthy ferries plying our rivers.

It was infact shocking to see a whole MD of a respectable institution like the GPA vacating his office to go and sit in a wrestling and festival arena in Kanilai for about a month serving as a judge alongside the useless MD of GRTS. This can only happen in The Gambia – a land of no problems.

When you are entering the Banjul Ferry Terminal, you will notice a big steel plate lying gently on the right side just along the fence of the former Gambia Navy Headquarters. This was an ambitious but as usual, mismanaged weigh bridge project undertaken by Gibba and one of his bootlickers – Ass Jack (once an IT/Revenue Control Director at ferries. I heard that the position has been scrapped now but the man is still bluffing in ferries). This Ass Jack knows nothing about weigh bridges and was given fat allowances and per diems to make numerous trips to the UK to undertake training in installation and operation of the weigh bridge (which he could never comprehend or catch up) while technically oriented and qualified engineers who are in the department and can handle such projects are neglected/sidelined.

At the end the whole project failed and is now about 5 years or more that the steel plate has been lying at that place without been able to weigh even a wheel barrow much more a truck. That was another wastage of tax payers millions by Gibba and his cohorts and during his time no one dares to talk about it in management meetings because he want to cover up the whole story. I think you should set in your investigative machinery in motion to find out about the weigh bridge which has now become a nuisance at that place.

Last but not the least, the so-called new ferries that came from Greece are nothing but second hand ferries that are repainted. If you go on board those ferries and in the engine rooms, that’s the time you will know that they are not new.

As usual, that project was wholly undertaken by Hali Gai alone from the GPA and ferries and the president’s office guys. These guys are all a bunch of incapable persons when it comes to purchasing or negotiating for vessels. They have no maritime background especially Hali Gai who was a former GPTC bus inspector. They made several trips to Greece and fast tracked all the negotiations without proper consultations with competent guys in the GPA/ferries technical services department.

In fact, I learnt a competent individual in the Technical Services – Ferries was once consulted for advice but after that talented man gave his dossier of advice which goes contrary to all what they were planning, they decide to dump his advices and yank him out of the whole project. Today those ferries are been moored at the GPA wharf and Transgambia simply because there is no landing facility for their operation.

It is like the old saying PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE. Landing facilities should have been constructed first before bringing the ferries trying to fool the general public simply because it is election year and the government needs to get something on the ground to make cheap political popularity.

It is in fact a shame that since the inauguration of those ferries, they cannot still operate. The Greeks have gone home for the meantime because since their partnership ferries are not operating, the ferry services cannot maintain their salaries and living expenses in Gambia. They said they will be back after some months and are presently not willing to commit their money in constructing the slipways in Banjul, Barra, Bamba Tenda and Yelli Tenda for those ferries. Everything has to be borne by the GPA and ferries themselves.

Since Hali Gai has succeeded in been the Deputy Managing Director with a Greek as the Managing Director in the present ferry services, we better be ready for a rough ride because in Hali Gai, is a clear case of square peg in round hole. Please do your investigations on the above points and get the Gambian public informed. The GPA MD’s office can be reached on (xxxx) to shed light on the overstaffing at ferries, lack of a functional shipyard for the dry docking of our ferries and the failed weigh bridge at the entrance of Banjul terminal. Thanks, in the service of the nation, I remain.

Editors Note:  The GPA MD could not be reached for comments at press time.  No one attended to the phone when we called on Sunday morning. Thanks for your attention.