Recently, the Minister of Digital Economy Mr Lamin Jabbie revealed to the National Assembly that government of The Gambia has been working with The World Bank in efforts to privatise national operators Gamtel and Gamcel. The minister revealed that due to this move more than six hundred employees of those entities will lose their jobs.
It is true that he informed members that these people will be given a handsome severance payment which may amount to a huge sum of money for each of them. They will also have the chance to continue in their current employment for the coming six months. He said that the privatisation and restructuring will only permit about three hundred and fifty staff to maintain their jobs.
It could be recalled that Gamtel and Gamcel have been in the news many times over the years due to the precarious nature of their financial status. It was feared that these two entities were losing money instead of making profits as was expected. In fact a time came when they found it difficult to pay salaries of their employees.
Perhaps government saw privatisation as the best way to solve the problem and enable it to continue receiving revenue from these enterprises. There is talk also of course of the Gambia Ports Authority which is being taken over by a Turkish Company. It is not clear whether some people will lose their jobs in that deal as well.
It is worrying that agreements like these are being entered into where hundreds of citizens would be laid off. They will then be required to fend for themselves and their families. No matter how much money is given to them in bulk, it cannot compare to having a stable job with which they can feed their families for many years.
It is necessary for government to seriously consider these consequences when entering into agreements like this. The welfare of the citizens should be the number one priority of any government. It is hoped that everything possible will be done to ensure that the rest of the SOEs do not go through something like this.
