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| Momodou Camara, President Barrow, MD Manjang |
This same group of staff organized a demonstration, on company time, and marched to State House demanding the dismissal of the Managing Director who had been in office for less than a year and a half.
When they didn't get what they wanted, they decided to occupy the headquarters premises of the corporation, padlocked the gates to the offices thus denying public access to a public building, an illegal act committed in full view of Gambia's Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), the Director General of the State Intelligence Services and the Inspector General of Police.
The campaign to have Mr. Manajang's services terminated resulting in open defiance led to President Barrow's decision to appoint a Panel led by Mr. Lamin Samateh, a retired civil servant who, during his three decade of service, had served served as Permanent Secretary, Personnel Management Office and at the Health Ministry among other key positions. Other members of the panel include prominent Gambians with distinguished service both within the national and international civil services. including the United Nations and the African Development Bank.
In presenting the Report of the fact finding Panel, Mr. Samateh's statement hinted at several outcomes of their investigations, suggesting the exoneration of Mr. Manjang as Managing Director among other outcomes that would not appear to be favorable to a small band of disgruntled staff who have sustained a well coordinated campaign to sully the reputation of a Gambian who has proven to be a competent and honest professional with a sterling investment banking career. When the state-owned and -controlled television ran a banner that the Panel has exonerated the Managing Director, it sent the campaigners into a frenzy.
The SSHFC-sanctioned consultancy conducted earlier had reached similar conclusion about Mr. Manajang's competence to lead the corporation when it its draft report to the Board of Directors said "The consultants and authors of this draft report, as a result of observations and discussions, believe that such leadership does exist within the SSHFC", in managing the impending redundancy. Of course, the far-reaching restructuring the consultants were recommending requires a strong, competent and decisive leadership and they found it among some members of the Senior Management Team (SMT) at SSHFC.
Among the consultants' recommendations were the retrenchment of 79 staff of the corporation, reclassification of other job titles, retraining of remaining staff and, of course, a severance package of affected staff. Management was presented with two options of either retaining affected staff until the end of their contract or terminating the contracts with an accompanying generous redundancy package that will include notice pay, separation pay and other inducements.
The financial mismanagement of the corporation that lasted for two decades, except at intermittent intervals when Jammeh experienced some resistance from senior management, "needs a makeover", to borrow the phrase of the consultants. "This will involve continuous training, focused IT system, separation of investment and the financial management system, organizational and process restructuring, cultural change, new compensation and a new approach to performance management."
The extent of the "makeover" would require not only a cohesive and competent management team to lead the charge but it would require a strong and determined stewardship at the apex of the organizational chart. And according to the consultants who have had extensive interactions and discussions with Mr. Manjang and senior management, the current MD fits the bill - a view, by our assessment, shared by the fact finding Panel led by the former Permanent Secretary of the Personnel Management Office.
These findings and conclusions by a team of consultants and a group of eminent Gambians with extensive national and international experience have validated the widely held view that he current Managing Director must be allowed to continue his mission unhindered to implement the reform program of the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation.
Government must urgently endorse the Panel's recommendation and allow Mr. Mohammed Manjang, staff and his Board of Directors to resume work so that they can, together start putting in place the reforms necessary to protect the interest of their clients - pensioners, prospective pensioners and the employers who are contributing to the corporation.
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