By Madi Jobarteh
The Essential Commodities Act 2015 defines the list of essential commodities under Article 2. First and foremost, it says they are foodstuffs. Then, it adds that they could be non-food stuff, as declared by the Minister. Thirdly, it states they could also be any other class of commodity, which the Minister declares in a published gazette.
In 2022, the Ministry of Trade gave the Central Bank a list of businesses’ names to disburse more than 100 million dollars to these entities to import essential commodities. At the time, the Central Bank Governor Buah Saidy refused to disclose the list of names of businesses that received the money.
Now, the current Minister of Trade, Baboucarr Joof, in responding to NAM Omar Jatto Jammeh of Janjanbureh, who raised this matter, identified 15 entities, including the Ministry of Health, as the ones that received the money. Speaking on the floor of parliament on March 12, Minister Joof said the list of businesses, “were selected by government to benefit from foreign currency withdrawn from Gambia’s reserves … to help them import essential goods’ into the country in the wake of supply chain disruptions brought on by Covid and the Ukraine – Russia war (Gov’t Names Businesses Helped With Forex – The Standard Newspaper | Gambia).”
Here is the list of entities Joof mentioned and what they used the money for:
1. JV General Trading for the importation of rice, sugar, and cooking oil
2. Fouta Enterprises (rice, sugar, and cooking oil)
3. Jah Oil (petroleum products)
4. Kepa Track Group Limited (rice, sugar, flour and cooking oil)
5. GGC (rice)
6. G-Farms (poultry and livestock feed)
7. Global Properties (rice)
8. Unique Group (rice,)
9. Concise 360 Company Limited (sugar)
10. GNPC (petroleum products)
11. LBJ and Sons Company (sugar)
12. QuantumNet (for the purchase of 30 new buses)
13. Orange Energy Gambia (petroleum products)
14. Nawec (for the settlement of payments to Karpower and Senelec)
15. Ministry of Health for procurement of ambulances.
Now, the questions.
This list raises several pertinent questions for which there is a need for transparency. First, did the Minister of Trade announce the list of essential commodities in 2022 as per the Act? This is pertinent considering the following questions.
1. Do buses constitute an essential commodity?
2. Does paying for Karpower and Senelec constitute an essential commodity?
3. Do poultry and livestock constitute essential commodities?
4. Are ambulances essential commodities?
The second set of questions:
Can the Central Bank Governor decide independently to withdraw hard currency from the country’s reserve and hand it over to businesses?
In that regard, has any agreement or contract been signed between these businesses and the government?
This raises a fundamental question: was the National Assembly involved in seeking their approval for this decision?
This means that this money is given as a loan or a donation.
Would any of these entities have paid back the money if it were a loan?
Interestingly, neither the Central Bank Governor Buah Saidy nor Minister Baboucarr Joof have disclosed how much money each entity was given.
Even more concerning is that some of the beneficiaries are not private business companies, such as GGC, GNPC, NAWEC, and the Ministry of Health, which are public institutions. Furthermore, some of the businesses are not known to be food vendors, such as Global Properties, Unique Group, QuantumNet, and Orange Energy. Meanwhile, the profiles of the others remain to be clear.
Therefore, the third central question is, what were this facility’s selection and eligibility criteria?
I commend NAM Omar Jatto Jammeh for raising this matter. But I contend that it has not been fully addressed. I would urge him to seek a motion for the establishment of a parliament inquiry into this matter. I urge all NAMs to join Jatto Jammeh to probe this facility to ensure that every butut belonging to the Gambian people is retrieved and used properly.
After giving over 100 million dollars to these entities three years ago, the shortage and high prices of essential commodities remain prevalent. Why?
