By Omar Bah
President Adama Barrow has ordered that the administrative leave of the managing director of Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation Mr. Muhamadou Manjang be lifted and that he be duly notified to resume duties. According to a statement from State House, the president has also ordered that the services of Mr. Momodou Camara, the staff representative on the board be terminated with immediate effect and the termination to be compliant with corporate policy.
Both men were put on administrative leave in August 2018 following a longstanding internal conflict at the corporation.
A panel commissioned by the President in September – shortly after their suspension – was tasked to look into the crisis. The panel had since finished its work and had submitted a report to the president.
The statement from State House said the latest development followed a review by the President of the report and recommendations of the independent fact-finding/investigative panel on the crisis.
There has not been any immediate comment from Mr Manjang but Momodou Camara described his termination as the ‘height of dishonesty’.
“The president’s decision is not fair to me and all the other staff of the SSHFC who stand up to fight injustice and hypocrisy in the cooperation,” Mr Camara said in a Standard interview shortly after confirming his termination.
He charged that the president’s decision has put the government into disrepute by ignoring the Ombudsman’s report to take the report of people that are “juggling” and looking for positions to be ambassadors and other things which he said “is very wrong and dangerous for our democracy as it will kill transparency and accountability. This was not what we voted for.”
