The group of disgruntled staff led by one Mr. Camara has been agitating for months now to have the new Managing Director removed from office because of reasons that could only be characterized as flimsy when compared to the myriad of problems facing the near-insolvent state owned enterprise.
Gambians are treated, nearly daily, to the financial malpractices - including abuse of pensioner's funds - by the former dictator, his business partners and senior officials that threatened the financial integrity of the corporation. It is such abuses that the new Managing Director, the new Board Chairman and his colleagues on the Board are set to arrest so that the finances of the corporation can be restored to good health and profitability.
Managing Director Manjang has been on the job for approximately two year and some of his achievement, however modest, can be found here; a subject we covered in our penultimate blog post. He was able to turn a D1.6 million loss in 2016 into a D82 million profit which was achieved despite very strong income headwinds. [The D83.5 million was a misstatement on our part.] When last year's operating profit figure is compared to profits in 2013 [D26M], 2014 [D13M] and 2015 [D15M], one begins to appreciate even more the efforts that Board, Management and staff of the SSHFC have put in.
We will reiterate here what we've stated on our Facebook page and that is these favorable numbers are a far cry from what obtained before the new Managing Director came onboard. It is these favorable figures that the noise-makers and those urging them on are trying to obscure - to divert our attention away from the new management team at the SSHFC.
Needless to say that there is still a lot of work to be done and new milestones to reach. It is evident from the cost management measures implemented in 2017 have yielded dividends because total costs were down by D88 million in 2017 - a figure that is expected to improve further and significantly at the end of 2018.
The Government of Adama Barrow must not let a few disgruntled staffers who are obviously trying to maintain the old system that benefits them at the expense of the over 130,000 (one hundred and thirty thousand) individual accounts operated and managed by SSHFC comprising of pensioners and active employees who currently contribute to the National Provident Fund and the Federated Pensions Funds. The government must lend full and unequivocal support to the Managing Director, management, Board and staff who are committed to ushering in a new era and a new management culture at the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation.
#####
