By Omar Bah
Following reports that some soldiers were deducted in their January salaries, the Gambia Armed Forces has said its high command invited officials of the Personnel Management Office (PMO) to the Defence Headquarters, seeking clarification on the matter.
“During the frank and constructive discussion witnessed by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Defence, GAF Service Chiefs and Commanding Officers, amongst others, personnel of the PMO posited that in implementing the allowance reform system, some imputing errors were reported and these errors affected the GAF in general whose pay should legally draw inspiration from the Terms and Conditions of Service (TACOS Officers and Soldiers),” GAF said.
GAF said the PMO officials have “noted that the errors will be corrected and the affected men will be refunded as soon as possible”.
“GAF wishes to bring to the attention of the general public that the recent measures taken by the PMO to rationalize and standardize the allowance structure across the civil service have affected the GAF as well as other institutions, according to an explanation from the PMO. However, this exercise led to the deduction of the take home pay of the entire membership of the GAF. Meanwhile, the GAF High Command wishes to assure GAF personnel that their pay and welfare is top most priority on the Chief of Defence Staff’s priority list,” the GAF statement said.
