The commissioner of the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) of the Gambia Police Force, Biran Mbaye, yesterday, testified before Kumba Sillah-Camara of the Bundung Magistrates Court in a civil case involving one Momodou Njie as plaintiff and Ebou Jobe as defendant.

In his testimony, Commissioner Mbaye told the court that the plaintiff,  Momodou Njie, had told him that he had two Mercedes Benz cars that the defendant Ebou Jobe was interested in.

Commissioner Mbaye told the court that Momodou Njie told him that the defendant, Ebou Jobe, had no money but instead wanted to take the two cars in exchange for a piece of land he had in Bijilo.

Mbaye further revealed that Momodou Njie had also told him that he had made a deal with Ebou Jobe wherein Ebou Jobe would give him D50,000 and the said plot of land in place of the two cars. He then added that he advised him (Momodou Njie) that the offer was too small.

In addition, he said he told him to request an additional sum of D30,000. Mbaye informed the court that although all the transactions had been done, the land was never transferred to the name of  the plaintiff.
At that juncture the case was adjourned to September 9, 2008.

Editor,

It would be useful if you could state the exchange rate two or three times a week, as many of us outside The Gambia send money to friends and relatives. I am sure many people would appreciate this information.

Alan P. Jones

Editor’s Note:

Consider it done Alan – we will put this information at the foot of the editorial each day.

An eleven strong Taiwanese health team has successfully completed a two week visit to The Gambia. The visit was part of an exchange between The Gambia and Taiwan. During the trip the health team visited the AFPRC hospital in Farafenni and Bwiam hospital. They treated a range of illnesses including malaria and asthma.

In an interview with the division Chief Technical cooperation Department Taiwan (ICDF), Dr. Jeffery Ohih-Fu Chen he underscored the essential nature of the trip in the context of the bi-lateral cooperation which exists between Taiwan and The Gambia. He said that during the visit the Department of Health, particularly in the provinces such as AFPRC hospital in Farafenni and the facility at Bwiam, made a lot of treatments.

At a function held at his private residence, the Taiwanese Ambassador Dr. Patrick Chang, thanked the medical team for their contribution over the two weeks. He said this was excellent support for the relationship between The Gambia and Taiwan. Ambassador Chang went on to explain that the invitation to his residence for those gathered was in part to celebrate the feast of Tobaski. To mark the occasion, he revealed that President Jammeh had given him a ram. He reaffirmed his government’s commitment to supporting The Gambia and thanked President Jammeh and his government for being good friends to Taiwan.

For his part, the Secretary of State for Health Dr. Malick Njie, thanked Ambassador Chang for the invitation saying the event was a great one. SoS Njie explained that the Taiwanese government gives great support to The Gambia, particularly the Department of Health.

Other speakers at the event included Doctor Mariatou Jallow the Director of RVTH and senior health officials from the Department. All those gathered expressed their thanks and similar sentiments to those expressed by SoS Njie. 

Reliance Financial Services Company Limited, a leading non-banking financial institution in The Gambia, clocked one, yesterday, in its noble ambition to providing financial services to mainly small and medium-size enterprises and entrepreneurs in the country.

The institution, out to change the lives of the common business and micro-finance operators in the country, opened its doors to members of the public on 19 December 2006, having received its full and official non-bank financial institutions license from the Central Bank of The Gambia on 11 December 2006.

"Reliance has always aspired to provide comprehensive, swift financial services to cater for the needs of the small, medium and micro-enterprises as well as the ordinary Gambians," Reliance’s CEO Baboucarr Khan said yesterday in an exclusive interview with the Daily Observer.

"And in this regard I think we have registered a significant milestone," he continued. "In our first year of operation, not only did we provide services in the form of taking deposits and giving out loans, but we were able to secure a full foreign exchange licence from the Central Bank as well, which allows us to buy and sell foreign exchange in order to provide and support the international trade requirements of our chosen markets, at a limited scale."

Highlighting some of the achievements in their first year of operation, CEO Khan said Reliance was the first non-banking institution in The Gambia to be appointed as a direct agent of Western Union, as well as being the 4th financial service institution allowed by Western Union to send and receive money around the world.

"One of the significant achievements worthy of mention here is the realisation of our promise at the beginning, which was to provide access to financial services to all Gambians regardless of their geographical locations, professions, tribe, religion, or race," Mr Khan noted.

He also said that within the last 12  months or so, Reliance was the first to meet the banking and other financial-related needs of the people of Lower Niumi by starting with a kiosk, which has graduated to a well-built complex.

Reliance staff strength, he explained, has grown from a start-up 25-member staff to 70 employees in the course of its first year of operation.

"I think the locations of our kiosks in all the key markets within the Greater Banjul Area has demonstrated our commitment and dedication to providing easy reach and access to the unbanked," he said, adding:

"To date, we have touched almost all the sectors of the economy, ranging from the fisheries sector, the re-distributive trade, the importation of basic merchandise from Dubai, China, and other Asian countries, the transportation sector, the vendors in the market, the women in horticulture and gardening, the seamstresses, and the tailoring business, just to mention a few."

The CEO of Reliance also commended President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh and his government, especially the Department of State for Finance and Economic Affairs and the Central Bank of The Gambia, for providing "the most conducive of environments" which allowed them to operate and change the lives of Gambians through the provision of lucrative financial services.

He also thanked the shareholders, the board of directors, the management and staff of Reliance for their invaluable support to the company.

"My appreciation and thanks also go to our dear customers who have patronised our services and products," he said, pledging Reliance’s continued commitment to serving their holistic needs with more splendid innovative services and products the in coming years.

He added that Reliance will be presenting to their customers who may be lucky to win their raffle draw, a host of wonderful gifts, which include a sum of D25,000, mobile phones and a lot of other items, as part of celebrations marking their 1st anniversary.

The Brikama Area Council (BAC), on September 3rd established a new partnership with the municipality of Grand Yoff in Senegal at a ceremony held at the BAC conference hall in Brikama. The partnership is in a bid to strengthen the relationship between The Gambia and Senegal.

Speaking to the Daily Observer, Sereign Modou Joof, Public Relations Officer of the Brikama Area Council said primarily the delegation came in a bid to discuss with officials on issues pertinent to the protocol agreement of the two municipalities to share.

Mr Joof said some issues were highlighted such as a protocol of agreement between the two municipalities and the way forward to strengthen peace, love and order between The Gambia and Senegal. “Environment and sanitation issues were discussed and it was agreed at the meeting that the standards must be in line with the World Health Organisation’s aims. We also discussed issues of culture and traditions”, he said.

He further confirmed that they also agreed that the two municipalities will come together to look for donor assistance to establish a project both in The Gambia and Senegal.

Mr Joof further asserted that the two municipalities will in future have exchange visits. He added that to ensure that the factors discussed in the agreement are realised, a technical steering committee has been formed containing three representative from Senegal and three from The Gambia.

“These people are expected to work on the agreement to see to it that it is executed to the letter”, Mr Joof concluded.

Mr. Pa Modou Bojang, General Manager of Yiriwa Development Radio Station in Brikama Town, Western Region, has lately returned from the UK where he attended the World of Music Arts and Dance Festival (WOMAD) held at the new site of the Founder Peter Gabriel in Charton Park few miles away from London from 27th to 29th July 2007.

The festival, which brought together over two million people including 40, 000 artistes across the globe, was geared towards bringing about cultural exchange through music, arts and dance. This year’s festival marked the difference as over million people were reportedly seen singing, dancing and drumming in the muddy sands of the newly -built Charton Park.

Speaking to Travel Talk, Mr. Bojang described his trip to the UK as a resounding success.  He said attending the WOMAD festival has given him the opportunity to meet and mingle with the movers and shakers of the UK society.  According to him, during his stay in the UK, he was invited to attend the Tribe of Doris Festival that took place at the Wellington Park in southwest England from 22nd to 28th August. “The Tribe of Doris is the intercultural summer school that began 17 years ago and that this year’s event attracted over 40,000 people including artists from all over the world.

“African artists were given prominence as African cultures were given more attention more than any other cultures. Many artists from the African continent including The Gambia, Senegal Zimbabwe, Nigeria and just to name a few performed at the festival,” he said.

The Yiriwa FM boss also revealed that while in the UK he attended a two-day workshop on globalization and cultural exchange at Bristol organized by Sul’art, a community-based organization that promotes cultures through providing entertainment to schools and prisons adding that forum was expertly coordinated by the Gambian sabarr teacher Modou Joof.

He further stated: “This trip has really accorded me ample opportunity to get access to partners in development for the future possible investment in this country.

“I was able to meet the BBC Bureau of International Development and Partnership where agreements were made on staff training and programme rebroadcasting. With this agreement there is a strong hope that every year one or two Yiriwa FM staff could benefit from the training package.
“I also met the Black Radio Organization in Bristol with whom so many things were discussed for the expansion o f Yiriwa Development Radio in Brikama.
“I was The Gambia goodwill ambassador to WOMAD and all these events because this is the first time that the Gambian media is being invited to these festivals.
I was able to present a paper on future investment in The Gambia at a forum organized by Gambians residing in the UK and their friends that took place in Liver Pool.

“At the investment forum I informed the gathering that The Gambia has lots of positive investment opportunities as well as an enabling investment climate and I have no doubt that if given chance not only Gambians residing in UK but many other business tycoons around the globe would invest in the country since The Gambia ranks among the most peaceful countries in the world.
“Also I attended the Northinghill carnival in London that brought together over one million people drawn over diverse societies in the UK.

“So I’m very thankful to the proprietor of Yiriwa FM Alhaji Basiru Darboe for paving the way for Yirwa’s participation and the organizers of WOMAD for inviting me to cover this year’s event. Equally I’m also very thankful to government of Gambia for the creation of a level playing field for us in the electronic media.
“My future plans include the setting up of a private television station in The Gambia that would be attached to Yiriwa Development Radio. This TV station would focus on airing programmes on environment, health, agriculture and education”.

The Point has been reliably informed that Guaranty Trust Bank, Plc. has achieved the prestigious honour of a place on the London Stock Exchange, becoming the first African bank to be listed at such exalted business level.

In a press release sent to this paper, the GT Bank management reported that the bank has closed its $750 million offer for subscription of Global Depository Receipts, which was oversubscribed by 15%.

In the press release conveying the good news, the bank noted that “industry analysts have described as another unprecedented move to further deepen its forays into the international market, disclosing that the parent bank of GT Bank Gambia, Guaranty Trust Bank, Plc. Last week Thursday, 26th July, 2007 became the first Nigerian Company and the first African bank to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. “This is coming on the heels of the resounding success of the bank’s $750 million offer for subscription of Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”) which closed a week earlier. The offer was issued in London market to raise about $500m from international institutional investors outside Nigeria and about $250m from individuals and institutional investors in Nigeria,” the release stated.

The release went on to explain that a Global Depositary Receipt (“GDRs”) is a negotiable dollar denominated bank certificate issued in international financial markets through a registered depositary bank while it represents ownership of certain equity securities that are issued and traded in a local market as well as ownership of a certain number of shares of a company. “It can be listed / traded independently from the equity securities. GDRs are typically used by companies from emerging markets to raise capital and access investors in international markets,” the release elucidated.

The bank further revealed that the parent company’s GDR offer is the first such opportunity for Nigerians to make dollar-denominated investments in the securities of a Nigerian company listed and traded on London Stock Exchange, adding that “it opens up a previously unavailable large and global capital market to Nigerian investors considering that the London Stock Exchange is the primary market to many of the world’s largest companies, attracting some of the largest and most sophisticated investors in the world. The dividends of the GDRs are paid in US dollars.”

In retrospect the bank’s efforts to secure this position on the London Stock Exchange were highlighted, noting that hitherto it only traded in ordinary shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. “Following the closure of the Offer Period, the GDRs have been admitted to trade under the symbol “GRTB” on the market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange through its International Order Book.” The release then gave an analysis of the London Stock Exchange’s comparative position in the global domain, portraying it as not only having gathered two centuries of experience but also as the cynosure of 350 reputable companies the world over. “Its wealth of experience, integrity, expertise as well as knowledge of the market has propelled it into becoming one of the world’s foremost equity exchanges, ahead the famed New York and Tokyo Stock Exchanges.”

“This land mark achievement reaffirms Guaranty Trust Bank’s desire to further strengthen its cross boarder presence and grow the confidence of international investors in the burgeoning Nigerian market. The bank already has a credible foot print in the international market with its highly successful $350 million Eurobond offer which was the first of its kind by any Nigerian Institution.

“The listing of Guaranty Trust Bank in the London Stock Exchange gives a positive commentary on the bank as one of Nigeria’s most profitable & and fastest growing banks while lending credence to its AA- (double A minus) by Fitch; and BB- (double B minus) by Standard & Poor’s, the ratings assigned by the two international rating agencies to any Nigerian or west African - based bank. The bank has subsidiaries in Gambia, Sierra Leone and Ghana,” the release concludes.

A senior Zimbabwean police official has employed five young men to sell foreign currency on the streets of the capital, Harare, but while the police play cat and mouse with the illegal dealers, his "employees" conduct their business undisturbed because they cannot be arrested.

"We sell the foreign currency openly because we are untouchable. Some constables arrested me at one time, even though I had informed them that I was working for their boss. They have been transferred from Harare and after that no-one dares touch us," said one of the dealers, who identified himself as Peter.

He claimed that a number of police officers were selling foreign currency and using their positions to ensure that their agents were protected from arrest.

Besides dealing in foreign currency on the parallel market, the police official also has other "employees" who vend vegetables or cigarettes, and cellphones confiscated from unauthorised vendors.

As Zimbabwe's economy plumbs new depths, some police officials have joined the ranks of company executives who have resorted to moonlighting as dealers, running intricate networks in the informal market to supplement their income.

A police spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, told IRIN, "It is illegal to sell foreign currency in the streets, be it policemen or ordinary Zimbabweans, they will be arrested."

Something extra

Every Friday, Stanley Cele, 48, the managing director of a vehicle spare parts company in Harare, takes bags of assorted essentials - ranging from imported cooking oil, laundry soap, detergents and even sweets - to sell at his workplace.

He enlists the help of some of his colleagues to encourage others to buy the goods; those who purchase items have their names written down and are given the option of paying at the end of the month when they receive their salaries.

There is a large sign that prohibits hawking on the firm's premises. "I am aware that there are people out there who scoff at me, saying that as a managing director I am not supposed to be seen hawking; they say it reduces my esteem as the head of the company but I don't care, I have to survive," Cele told IRIN.

The stranglehold of Zimbabwe's seven-year economic recession, characterised by runaway inflation - currently at around 4,000 percent - acute shortages of essential commodities, power and foreign currency, has left 80 percent of the population living below the poverty datum line.

Many company executives are augmenting their incomes in ways that would be unacceptable in a normal economy. "As a manager, before the economic meltdown I used to be fussy when junior employees brought their items, mostly buns for breakfast, to sell on the company premises. Of course, I have now swallowed my pride," Cele said.

Cross-border traders

His wife quit her job as a nurse at the beginning of the year to start cross-border trading, bringing into the country the items that Cele sells to other staff and the employees of neighbouring companies.
She has joined the thousands of others who go mainly to neighbouring South Africa and Botswana to buy goods for resale in Zimbabwe, a business that is proving to be the mainstay of many families.

Most basic commodities are not readily available on Zimbabwean shop shelves but can easily be found on the streets. By bringing the goods to the people at work instead of selling them on the streets, Cele ensures quick sales.

He said his company, which used to have branches nationwide, has hit a low ebb because they were finding it difficult to source foreign currency - scarce in banks but available on the parallel market at exorbitant rates - to import the spare parts that were the company's core business.

"We are performing well below capacity and salaries have been stagnant for a long time, and if things continue like this we might be forced to close down," said Cele, whose take-home pay is a paltry Z$10 million (about US$77 at the parallel market rate of Z$130,000 to US$1).

Crossing the line

He has to keep up appearances, going out for lunch with other executives and wearing expensive clothes, but this cannot be sustained on his meagre salary.
Cele admitted that he sometimes used unorthodox methods to force his employees to buy his goods.

With poor monthly incomes, most of them were reluctant to buy too many items in case they were left with no money, but Cele, particularly near the end of the month, held general meetings with them and brought out his goods after addressing them. "I know they are forced to buy because they want to curry favour with me and believe that that is the best way of keeping their jobs."

However, other employees have also started hawking, plunging the company into chaos and virtually turning the premises into a marketplace; even the security guard in the firm's reception area has set up a stall outside the gate, selling cigarettes, sweets and bananas.

"Almost everyone is doing it because that is the only way to earn a semblance of a living, but we are careful not to bring in goods that the boss is selling because that would mean we are directly competing with him, and that could easily cost our jobs," Absalom Mutsvangwa, the guard, told IRIN.
"Second hand clothes, sugar, vegetables and slaughtered chickens are among the most popular commodities on sale, and employees are now spending most of their time doing that instead of their duties. Workers from the surrounding factories inundate the firm, especially during lunchtime," he said.

Innocent Makwiramiti, an economist and past chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, said it was not surprising that company executives were resorting to other means to augment their salaries, because industry was performing poorly.

"Most executives are no longer held in high regard by their juniors because of the coping tactics they have been forced to adopt by the current economic crisis. That has created another problem, in that where a company head is not respected, performance at the workplace suffers and returns diminish," Makwiramiti told IRIN.

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries recently indicated that industry was performing at a third of its pre-2000 capacity, while analysts say the economy has shrunk to its pre-1965 level.