By Tabora Bojang
After a huge controversy greeted the granting of government-guaranteed 50 million-dollar BADEA loan facility to Jah Oil, the company has returned it.
Last June, the National Assembly approved the loan agreement which the government said was to support Gambian businesses involved in the importation of food and other essential commodities to ease price pressures in the market.
It said having satisfied all criteria which other bidders reportedly could not, Jah Oil was given the loan.
However, the decision attracted heavy criticisms from citizens including some National Assembly Members who questioned why such a major deal was not put out to a competitive tender instead of giving it to only one private company.
Finance Minister Seedy Keita, who dismissed these criticisms at the time, explained that the loan facility required a one-off nonrefundable payment of D48 million which Jah Oil was the only company willing to pay as well as honour other collateral and securities.
However yesterday, the minister informed the National Assembly that Jah Oil has returned the offer.
The Lower Saloum lawmaker Sainey Jawara requested the minister to provide the Assembly with documentation for the disbursement of the first tranche of $20 million to Jah Oil and the second tranche of $15 million which he said is currently being processed and ready for disbursement.
In response, Minister Keita clarified that the first tranche of $20 million was disbursed to Jah Oil while the second tranche was never processed for disbursement.
“The first tranche was disbursed but the beneficiary, Jah Oil has fully paid it back and has said it is no longer interested in the facility and has returned it to the government. We have now returned it to the Ministry of Trade to invite interested private sector operators to make a second bid,” Finance Minister Keita revealed.
Following these responses, a long argument ensued between the minister and NAM Jawara who asked him to explain why Jah Oil pulled out of the deal when it was considered by the government to be the most responsive to be awarded the facility.
Minister Keita replied: “I’m not here to speak for Jah Oil. I am here to speak as a minister. I owe this Assembly transparency. You have been asking me this matter on four occasions and when I brought this deal here, it came with a finance agreement so nothing is secret about it”.
Keita, who was visibly irritated, went on to explain that Jah Oil was the only supplier that fulfilled all the conditions attached to the facility resulting in it paying a total of $1.284,541 to be able to access the facility. “This country has a history of facilities coming in and certain private sector operators using it and not paying, often forcing the government to pay back. That should be history. We have extracted a corporate guarantee from Jah Oil and if he had not paid this facility we would have sold his company to pay it back. So it was not because of nepotism or favouritism. Let us behave in a parliamentary manner,” Keita charged.
His comments did not go down well with NAM Jawara, who asked the Speaker to ask him to withdraw his comments that NAMs should behave. “We are here to represent our people. How am I behaving? Let him withdraw,” Jawara strenuously asked.
Deputy Speaker Njie ruled and asked for a withdrawal which came but unconvincingly, and Deputy Speaker Njie insisted he does so unconditionally.
“I have no objection and I withdraw,” the minister said.
NAM Jawara relentlessly challenged the minister to clarify claims by Trade Minister Baboucarr Joof that he was not privy to the contract agreement between the government and BADEA, which contradicts Minister Keita’s assertion that the facility was transferred to the Ministry of Trade to implement it. “So which one of you do we believe? ” Jawara asked.
Minister Keita said his interpretation is that NAM Jawara is insinuating that one of them [ministers] must be lying. “We have shared this agreement with NAMs, journalists and the public, so there is nothing secret about it. How would the Trade Ministry be able to do the allocation when they did not know how the facility works? The trade minister is guided by a permanent secretary. So if he says he has not seen the agreement, does that make it invalid? No, the PS chaired the committee that awarded the facility and he is the technical head of the Ministry,” Keita concluded.
