By Tabora Bojang
The government has said it complied with a National Assembly resolution to reinstate all the senior staff of Gambia Tourism Board who were deployed and wrongfully terminated as a result of the petition they submitted to the National Assembly alleging corruption and irregularities in the award of contracts for the construction of eco lodges among others.
Tourism Minister Abdou Jobe told lawmakers yesterday that the said resolution has been accepted and as of the end of February 2026, the affected staff members have been reinstated to their former positions.
Parliament also recommended repayment of 50 per cent deducted from staff salaries as a result of a directive issued by former tourism minister Hamat Bah for the GT Board staff to be sent home due to Covid-19. On these resolutions, Minister Jobe reported that as of last month, the governing body has approved the management paper to pay back the deducted 50 per cent to all the staff who were deducted.
According to Minister Jobe, the government has also accepted the assembly´s resolution for the police to investigate former GT Board finance director and chairman of the contracts committee Ousainou Senghore now CEO of GIEPA, for “misguiding the contracts committee members by giving a wrong analysis of the financial performance of LERR Group which eventually affected the scoring or evaluation process” and if found wanting be prosecuted. He added that the recommendation for the suspension of all heads of institutions adversely mentioned in the inquiry has been accepted and that administrative and legal processes have commenced.
He said the resolution for the Finance and Public Accounts Committee FPAC to investigate who gave the authority to build a hotel in Barra that was eventually abandoned costing millions to the state has also been accepted while a legal advice was provided for the termination of the contractor Lerr Group and for legal actions to commence to recover monies paid to it.
On the resolution for the IGP to investigate the initial contract of the GT Board head office at the Tropics in Senegambia and what has been signed on the new head office built by Construct Limited, the minister reported that a letter has been written to the Ministry for the Interior to investigate these contracts. On the resolution for GT Board to immediately stop payment of fuel supply to the minister of tourism and the permanent secretary, Jobe said this has been accepted and a letter was written to GTB in December 2025 to discontinue the monthly fuel allocation.
The government however rejected the recommendation for the Ombudsman to investigate the removal of former governing board chairman Abdoulie Touray who was allegedly removed after he granted audience to staff aggrieved by the award of the eco lodges contract. Minister Jobe argued that the removal of the board chairman falls within the prerogative of the executive.
