By Lamin Cham
Gambian businessman and politician Pa Njie Girigara, has sounded a note of caution and advice about government’s current and future privatisation plans.
In the recent past, government went into private financial agreements with foreign partners over the management of the Senegambia Bridge, the port of Banjul, while there are plans for other state- owned enterprises to follow suit.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Standard, Mr Njie said since the economy is the life blood of a nation and not politics, it is imperative that a sound economic policy is put in place by government.
“My position on privatisation from a business point of view is that government needs to do wider consultations among experts in and outside government in relevant areas before embarking on any privatisation agreement. This will ensure that it taps in abundance of ideas to protect national interest and as well as stay in good political light,” he advised.
According to him, the current concession agreement between the Gambia Ports Authority and Turkish conglomerate Albayrak should have been negotiated in such a way that the investor should start by putting money on the table first. He further opined that the main attraction of the deal is the new port in Sanyang and that is where the agreement should concentrate on but so far nothing has started there.
“To be frank I appreciate that the investor is bringing in material and constructing facilities in areas owned by Ports Authority. Also, I am very happy to see that they have now achieved zero queuing of ships at the port.That is very positive indeed.
Especially given that we are competing with other nations like Senegal over business with the landlocked countries. However when it comes to the actual negotiations, I would have demanded they bring money on the table first. This is important because currently they are using infrastructure, equipment and machinery of GPA,” Mr Njie argued.
On Gamcel, Mr Njie opined that the telco is dead now given that very few subscribers are using it. He said the network is starved of funds with government itself owing Gamcel tens of millions of dalasis.
“Here, my honest advice is for government to sell it to either existing operators in The Gambia, or to Sonatel across the border in Senegal. The latter would make lot of sense because all the operators in this country have technical and financial connections with Sonatel,” Mr Njie said.
On the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSFHC), Mr Njie said this enterprise is directly “peopled owned” and should be active in providing social services .
“Therefore, I think the SSHFC should give greater attention to the housing unit of its operations”, he said,
On Nawec, Mr Njie advised that government must not be in a hurry to privatise this water and electricity company because lately, it has been showing improvements in its services. On the effect of the expiry of the Turkish Karpowership contract, Mr Njie opined that Nawec must now have other options to cover that, through the OMVG project as well as Senelec and the green energy projects it has launched
