By Boy Jazzy, GPTC Depot, Kanifing The Gambia
GPTC & Yahya Jammeh Under The microscope
Following our lead story on the alleged missing millions at the bankrupt Gambia Public Transport Corporation-GPTC, (See The Gambia Echo Friday October 12, 2007 issue) a letter writer claiming to be an insider who goes by the name Boy Jazzy has promised to set the records straight by exposing all the malpractices and political manipulations that have dealt this once vibrant corporation a devastating blow. In this segment Jazzy began by questioning the authenticity of the missing engine saga. Despite claims to the contrary, Jazzy’s letter exposes the underling cancer of corporate corruption and nepotism that ultimately portend the corporation’s demise. We praise him for his tenacity to come forward to clear the air from his perspective. We wish all civil and public servants will follow suit exposing all of President Yahya Jammeh’s corrupt practices. We will never ever reveal your names. You can use any open name. All the Gambian people want to know is who is doing what? You must also be truthful and speak the truth because mere allegations are not entertained.
CORRUPTION GALORE – Missing Millions at GPTC
(“Ku lal GPTC?”- Wollof- who cursed GPTC?)
Mr. Editor:
Yesterday I read your article “Corruption Galore – Missing Millions at GPTC”. Today I watched “Courage Under Fire” starring Danzel Washington, 20th Century Fox. For those that have not seen the movie it is about one man’s courage and search for the truth so that true honor can unquestionably be bestowed upon the deserving. At the beginning it had been decided to honor a female officer for bravery and dedication to mission after she fell in the first Golf war, in Iraq. In a quest to really establish that she did deserve the honor the true story of her death and the true nature of her bravery and dedication came out. Although her true dedication was not questionable in the end the truth-changed form several times until finally it could not be distorted any further.
In your story about the missing millions at GPTC I suggest you take the lead actor role. It fits well with you as your profession dictates that you follow the truth to the end.
My piece is not going to be the whole truth. As we see in ‘Courage Under Fire’ the first tale only has a small truth in it as it is intended to make one of the heroes look good. I too am a small actor (of hardly any significance - extra) in this tale hence my confession about the level of truth in my piece. But!! Let me tell you this! My facts will stand the most severe scrutiny even under the eyes of the Almighty and I do not say this lightly.
Man Buses/Aircraft Engines
Doesn’t it sound ridiculous already? Lost Aircraft engines kept in GPTC! Wow! Unlike my boss Jagne I am no Aircraft Engineer/mechanic/fitter or whatever rank fits him most. But by simply going by the engine of the MAN bus, which I have seen many times, I believe if two engines powerful enough to fly an aircraft were to be brought to GPTC I would have been aware. Secondly, knowing Jagne, if he had brought in any aircraft engines into GPTC for whatever reason the whole place would probably have been informed. I am not denying that Aircraft Engines were brought into GPTC and sold from there. I think you need to dig further into this.
Secondly, and most importantly, GPTC has no stake in Aircrafts and hence any corrupt deal related to Aircrafts and their parts would not be corruption related to GPTC. That it could have happened within GPTC premises and also involved GPTC’s prime man is a different issue. So in driving to the truth you need to look at the Man and the Entity as two separate issues. For us back at home it is sometimes hard to see the line probably because we are so used to seeing Jammeh and the state as one.
Vague Fact No. 1
After Mr. Jagne was terminated as Director of Operations from The Gambia International Airlines in 2001, it is said (Not in The Echo) he was given a contract to dismantle and dispose an Aircraft at the Airport. Jagne is said to have contracted some boys from his former department to help him decommission the aircraft. I am not sure whether this Aircraft belonged to Air Dabia but what I do know is that anyone who has been to Momodou Jange’s home in Wellingara in 2002/2003 has found the wings of an aircraft lying there. What happened to the rest of the aircraft I have no idea? And whether or not that arrangement has any Jammeh involvement is subject to conjecture. What I do know is that the aircraft dismantling happened shortly after Jammeh fired him only to be recycled later.
Having said that, Jagne did bring a lot of old spare parts and equipment that were not recognizable to most of GPTC staff including mechanics (unfortunately all our Engineers have left). These parts were supposed to have come from Spain as part of a deal struck by Jagne. Certainly they were not fitted in our GPTC buses because the buses were not running at the time. If the Spain Project was being used, as a cover to run Jammeh’s deals then Jagne is far much smarter than we thought. For Now, I choose to believe that is not the case until you get the missing pieces.
So what then happened at GPTC?
Your story refers to three missing MAN (bus) engines value at over $60,000. No one at GPTC today including Jagne himself (and me) can tell the value of a MAN engine. GPTC has not ordered a MAN engine for over 10 years. The last one ordered by the company was around 1996/97 for the SKD bus that was assembled by GPTC technicians in Kanifing. Even this was not a full engine. And although I cannot state what the price was I am certain it would be lower. The fact is GPTC in the years that Jagne has been at the helm did not have three MAN buses to steal even if they wanted to. So if Engines are lost perhaps the story needs to look into the other models (Volvo, Tata or Picasso).
I will come back to Jagne in a while but let us look at why GPTC did so horribly under A (F) PRC. When The Gambia woke up to July 22nd 1994, GPTC like many other National institutions e.g. Gamtel and GPA was doing very well. It was then under the dynamic leadership of Ismaila Ceesay. Bus Operations were reaching from Kartong to Fatoto on a daily basis and remote places in The Gambia like Karantaba, Sabi, Gambissara, Numuyel, Dembakunda, Dankunku, and many more destinations in both the north and south banks of The River Gambia were getting daily affordable services of transport. It was not perfect but plying to and from A to B in The Gambia was not an issue.
Such was the success of the GPTC bus services under Ismaila that when the Gambia Ferry services was not able to link up the country’s two main banks the PPP government decided to merge the land and river transport services. Both sections thrived under Ismaila. The company was rich and the high life loving MD indulged in the riches of the company big time. At least the people enjoyed the services and the staff were generally happy.
Of course Ismaila was no Saint. First of all, the success of GPTC under Ismaila was largely due to aid coming from KFW- a German Charity that was giving aid to help poverty reduction and sustainable development in key sectors like transport, forestry and provision of Water. Under the KFW program GPTC benefited enormously in terms of actual MAN buses, spare parts, but most important of all, technical assistance in the corporation’s human resource development. With Aid like that it was inevitable that GPTC thrived.
On top of that, KFW ensured the PPP government made commitment to the program by not charging duty on fuel purchased by GPTC. The government wanted the population to have affordable transport all around the country and KFW requested them to commit to that principle.
Mr. Editor:
We had a deal at the start of my piece. You can check the accuracy of this fact from many sources. I recall you had a popular interview with BB Dabo. He should be able to confirm this information. After all BB Dabo served as Finance Minister within the duration of this arrangement.
Then came Friday July 22nd. And by Monday 25th July 1994 Gambians went to work knowing that they are not waking up after a nightmare. What happened over the weekend was real and the nightmare, at least for GPTC, was just about to commence. In the post Coup EU aid-tightening period funding from KFW became extremely difficult to obtain. Inflows reduced and one by one the consultants and technical assistance personnel left without being replaced. Ismaila was appointed by the Junta as EU ambassador and replaced by Bakary MK Houma – the first APRC appointed MD for GPTC.
Interestingly, KFW had previously recommended that Bakary Houma be sacked as Finance Director for GPTC as they felt he was incompetent. You can imagine how a reluctant KFW felt when they were presented with someone that they assessed as incompetent as Finance Director to be the head of the institution. Houma’s job security could not be guaranteed while KFW still maintained influence in GPTC. It didn’t matter, the Germans were no longer interested and if there was one person that was going to convince them to stay on it certainly was not going to be Houma.
The Houma years, July22 Movement at The GPC; Disaster of the Volvo Buses & The Sacking of Key GPTC Directors.
Houma & The Death of The MAN Bus
A lot of people in GPTC who enjoyed the hey days of Ismaila still look back to those years as fun years. They are right to do that. For me and a few people I have had the chance to discuss this issue with, one of the biggest errors (and I hope it was an error) that Ismaila did was to recommend Houma as his successor. I am not convinced that it was an error though as Ismaila of all People knew the limitations of Bakary Houma. He was not short of alternatives. He had Musa Jallow, Director of Operations, Ebrima Ceesay, Director of Engineering Services, Saroo Darboe, Director of Administration and Human Resources (although Saroo at the time was relatively young and inexperienced) etc, etc. All of these people were highly intelligent and capable and were beneficiaries of the KFW human resource development program. In my view the very first betrayal of the efforts of KFW and to the institution and the citizens that benefited from its services was the act of appointing Houma. Nothing against the man. He was simply not the right man for the job period!!
As history would have it, Houma took the job of leading the organization with a renewed boost of energy. It had been a while since the corporation had received new buses. The collapse of the Yugoslavian Federation has impacted on the company that assembled the body of the initial buses that were received by the corporation. The last batch of 10 MAN buses was assembled in Turkey and they lacked the rigidity and agility of their older brothers. They were depreciating fast and Houma rightly put it in his number one priority to get new buses.
The search began and Houma was to later announce in various management and general meetings that MAN and the Germans were ignoring his requests for quotations. He was not left with much choice but to look for an alternative supplier of buses. The A(F)PRC government at this time was desperate for a feel good factor and as soon as Houma presented a proposal to get new buses it was received with great interest. . Within a short period the energetic Houma obtained government guaranteed finance of approximately D21M to bring new buses.
to their rescue by proposing a separate model for operating the School Transport Service at a lower cost. Of course this will be approved.
By this time disaster had already begun to happen. The Volvo buses were collapsing under the heat and roads of The Gambia. There were engine and structural breakdowns daily and money was not coming in. Something needed to be done very quickly. The bus buying Houma then got contacts with one of India’s biggest companies TATA for a deal. He needed to present his idea for running a cheaper and more sustainable School Transport Service to lower the government bill significantly. The idea was to buy 20 Tata buses (lower Capital Investment) and lower operating cost to replace the MAN buses being used to ply the students to and from school.
He prepared a team to go and investigate the reliability of the buses. His choice of people for this job was surprising. The head of Engineering at the time was Baboucarr Njie. It would have been his responsibility to ensure that the buses were of the right specification. In fact Baboucarr was the one who went with the assessment team to Tunisia to initially inspect the Volvos. This time Houma went for two retired GPTC staff and a young – then unqualified Engineer called Momodou Bah. The other two were Mr Loum (a retired Operations Director of GPTC at the time serving in the Board) and Momodou (MAX) Touray (a retired Director of Engineering of GPTC at the time on contract as the Managing Director’s Technical Adviser).
The three submitted their report directly to Houma and the deal was sealed. Amazingly, the Tata project happened to be the most successful GPTC project of recent times. As you shall find out later GPTC even after Houma left went back to TATA to try to obtain another 20 buses for urban and provincial operations.
In short Houma engaged in two major investments in GPTC. One was a total and bitter disaster and another that the corporation benefited from. The Volvo project was so draining on the resources of the Corporation that it came down to its knees. Payment of Salaries started becoming a problem. Finally the Corporation defaulted on its payment of the loan and Government had to honor its obligation under the loan guarantee. Strangely enough, there were no enquiries and there were no rolling heads.
One other venture of Houma that still keeps the GPTC surviving today was the airport Apron-to Terminal passenger service. I would not credit him for this though as this was not his initiative. This was part of the Government’s plan in promoting services at the BIA after building the new terminal.
How Houma Survived?
Was Houma unlucky? Did he just make one bad investment that failed and unfortunately did not have the luck that Ismaila had with KFW funding. It may look like that but this certainly was not the case. It was clear to Houma himself from the very moment that he took over that the seat was not as cozy as he had anticipated. In the first few months he spent going round giving charity and telling everyone that would listen that “it was not easy”. When Ramadan came few weeks after he took over he decided to award all the staff half a month’s salary to buy sugar. He was later known, at least in the early days, to be giving out money to groups of staff he finds together.
He must have felt insecure being surrounded by people who were far more qualified and more competent than he was. By this time Ebrima Ceesay (MBA – former Director of Engineering) was appointed as SoS for Works and Communications. But there was no shortage of competent people within the GPTC who were able and most probably willing to take his seat.
He started doing things through middle managers of departments (there were 4 departments – Traffic Operations, Engineering, Finance/Accounts and Admin & Human Resources). Supply and Stores reported directly to the office of the MD and so did Audit. A quick rift started between Houma and the heads of the two largest departments, Traffic Operations’ Musa Jallow who was also his assistant and Engineering’s Baboucarr Njie. Houma started making friends close to the main corridors. And once he was assured of their support he started an internal attack on these guys and started sending them warning letters.
These warning letters were copied to the office of the Perm Sect for works and also State house. Nobody used to take Houma Seriously. He was towards his retirement age and everyone wanted his term to just run out and then the team will re-group and surge forward.
This was not to happen. By the last quarter of 1998 Houma had got enough dossier on his so called enemies within GPTC. A small student demonstration came to his aid one evening. On that faithful day, the evening school bus service for Gambia Senior Secondary School delayed. Students decided to do a small march to the gates of State house. The next morning it is said that Houma was quick to respond to enquiries that the reason for the delay was the sabotage of his leadership and that of His Excellency by his enemies from within. Immediately, the NIA invaded. Musa Jallow, Baboucarr Njie and the second in command in the Admin and HR department Pa Lamin Beyai were fired.
People wondered what a Human Resources Manager had to do with a late school bus. This was strange. Beyai’s sacking proved to everyone beyond doubt that it was an anti Houma weed-out. There was so much noise. Beyai himself refused to go quietly. He started to challenge his removal and he was quickly restored. Beyai was later to have said that he returned on principle to proof to Houma that he can’t just get rid of him. He resigned shortly after his return and got a job that Houma can’t even dream of applying for.
Saroo Darboe had earlier left and was replaced as Director of HR by Habib Drammeh. GPTC went into shock!! Houma now had no doubt that the government was on his side. He enlisted in the July 22nd movement and proudly carried a membership card around. He never missed an event. The rest of the intellects in GPTC were sidelined. Max Touray a retired Director of Engineering was brought back from retirement and made Director of Engineering and Adama Deen was transferred from the Department of State for Works to replace Musa Jallow as Director of Traffic Operations.
A period of uncertainty followed. Morale dived down. Key people started to leave. Habib Drammeh left and was appointed as the Director General who set-up the Gambia Tourism Authority. Kebba Touray, then Director of Finance left to do the same job at GIPFZA – He is now the CEO there.
This was an opportunity for Houma to establish himself comfortably. With his full approval and perhaps even encouragement three junior boys, Bully Fye, Essa Badjie and Dahaba (Known for his flute and screams after Yaya Jammeh) set-up an APRC/July 22nd wing in GPTC. People were forced to register. Membership was almost mandatory. Unfortunately for those boys the power of July 22nd got to their heads to the extent that they wrote letters to the government asking for the removal of Houma and many other senior management staff. They also threatened to burn houses belonging to Houma and if I remember right, Tijan Jobe head of procurement and Musa Silla the Chief Store Keeper.
By this time Houma had strong backing from the junta despite the under-performance of the GPTC. The letter was sent right back to him and he sacked the three immediately. Dahaba, a former army officer (mate of Edward Singateh and self confessed fool for Jammeh) was re-instated almost immediately, allegedly on the instructions of Jammeh himself. He has been untouchable since then.
By the time Houma reached his retirement age, staff at GPTC were hanging their hopes on Adama Dean taking over. To everybody’s surprise Deen was transferred to Gamtel. Houma was given a contract upon retirement to continue as MD perhaps for lack of a credible candidate. Houma himself did little to plan for succession. GPTC continued to limp until end of December 2001 when government failed to renew Houma’s contract. By then Adama Deen had been returned to GPTC as deputy MD and on 1st January 2002 there was no doubt who was in charge.
Adama Deen’s One Month Rule
Adama Deen wasted no time. Unlike Ismaila and Houma he started with a much weaker GPTC both financially and in terms of expertise. Houma’s 5 years reign had robbed the corporation of both. Ali Gai had just returned from training and was therefore heading Traffic Operations as Acting Director. Amat Njie was Acting Director of Finance, Max stayed on as Director of Engineering but was not always taken too seriously because he had been retired for almost 10 years and never left. Tijan Jobe a stores and procurement specialist was the one left as Director of Admin and Human Resources.
Deen saw his challenges as two fold. To get the right people and buses. Contacts with TATA were quickly established and plans were made to obtain funding from Trust Bank to acquire the buses. Trust bank showed interest in the project. Tata had been successful in the School Transport service and the Engineering department proved that they were more capable of maintaining TATAs than Volvos. It all made sense. Dean also made contacts with GPTC trainees who were stuck abroad for lack of funding and started to bring them back home. Among them was Momodou Bah of Engineering Department, Demba Ndow (RIP) of Finance, Lamin Saidy of Internal Audit and Nykasi Ceesay of Information Technology.
Among them only Momodou Bah had completed his initial course and had started an MSC. Deen and his team got Bah back and re-established contact with the rest with a view to assisting them and eventually returning them to steer up the corporation.
Fate though had other plans for GPTC. By the time Deen completed one month at the helm of GPTC he was appointed as Managing Director of GPA. February 2002 started what was perhaps the most ridiculous event in managing the affairs of GPTC. The Department of State for Works under the watch of Edward Singhateh sent a letter to two senior officers of the corporation. Tijan Jobe, Director of Admin and HR and Amat Njie Acting Director of Finance and asked them to watch over the affairs of the corporation.
Tijan was at the time out of the country on a two weeks official mission or training. Amat took charge during those two weeks. When Tijan returned he saw the situation as ridiculous. There can’t be two acting MDs. He assumed power as he was a director and Amat was only in an acting role. Amat had tried to get the directorship of finance before but the board did not approve it. Most people in GPTC had felt that Amat was not qualified for the directorship of Finance, yet still despite the service rules barring someone being kept for more than six months in an acting role, Amat stayed on as Ag FM. Also Amat was due for retirement within a year so for Tijan he should not be in any race for MD. Amat refused to give way. In any case he was the one that Deen handed over to. The corporation looked on as the two fought it out. Most approvals in GPTC required two people to sign. Things that came from Tijan struggled to pass through Amat and vise versa. Edu’s ministry just looked on.
Finally, it was clear this was not sustainable. The government then decided to formally promote Tijan to the post of Deputy Managing Director and by default Acting Managing Director. A board of Directors was constituted with James George as Chairman. Amat was left bruised. But Amat is a devout Muslim. He turned it to God and moved on.
You would imagine that Edward Singhateh and his Department of State would let the troubles of GPTC lie and try to create stability. Well, out of the blue Momodou Jagne was appointed as a director at GPTC. It was not specified which department he was appointed to direct. That’s the atmosphere in which Jagne entered the show – as a director without portfolio.
The final part will look at Jange’s reign. Wait for the sacking of Tijan and Amat. What happened to the TATA project? Spain! What Spain???? And why is Modou Jagne seemingly untouchable?