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Gambia News: Darboe Raises Eyebrows over Sale of GAMCEL, GAMTEL, and GIA

Mr. Ousainou Darboe, the leader of the main opposition United Democratic Party, has stated that the way and manner that the institutions namely Gamtel, Gamcel and GIA have been privatized leaves a lot to be desired.

Mr. Darboe maintained that the UDP believes that private investment in the country will assist the economy and energize the country for its own benefit. He said that on the issues of the privatization of these three companies, he was not aware of any public tender. “I am not even sure whether the divestiture agency is even aware because everything should have gone through it”.

He added that immediately the APRC came to power, they set up a commission to investigate the privatisation process of the then GPMB which in his view was done transparently, as he said it was tendered internationally. According to Mr. Darboe privatisation should be done for two reasons.

One, if there is inefficient management, and Two, if you need to inject capital in order to revive an ailing institution. As for Mr. Darboe, as far as management goes, GAMTEL is one of the best well managed telecommunications outfits in Africa.

“It was in fact second to South Africa and it has been doing extremely well,” he said. He continued, “It has done extremely well until the APRC came in. GAMTEL funds have been alleged to be put to uses no one knows about. It has quite an efficient management. What is a new owner bringing in?” he asked.

“You cannot talk of management because it was on account of its proper management that the company was making profit and is still making profit”.

“The same thing goes for GAMCEL; in fact a lot of people who were managing GAMTEL are now in the top management of GAMCEL. So what is the need for privatisation?”

“I would say if government needs to get rid of its own share,   Gambians ought to have been given the opportunity to purchase the shares or even if they don’t opt to float it publicly they should encourage some sectors of our business community, Gambians or insurance companies, to pull their resources together and buy it so that it remains in the hands of Gambians. But in this sense, you are putting a very vital player in the economy of this country in the hands of a foreigner and I do not think that is right”.

According to Mr Darboe, “Nothing has been done that can be truly called transparent, and this has again belied Jammeh’s advocacy of accountability and transparency. It shows that it is just mere rhetoric. One can say it is nothing that they are committed to.

I would ask the APRC government that in future if they wish to privatize any of our public institutions, they should do it in consultation with the Gambian population,” he concluded.

Readers would recall that GAMTEL and GAMCEL had been sold to Spectrum Company, a Lebanese-owned company on the 1st of August, and GIA was sold on 1st of June this year.