It was very sad to see a national team playing again with in empty Stadium on Sunday during the brilliant performance from our darling U17 team against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone.  But the main question is what is stopping people to come out and giving support to the boys? The players need the support of the public and private sector.

Pointsports went around to seek the views of people on this matter.

Speaking to one Nigerian, Stanley, who is a football fan he said, “Gambia is the only country where I see football tickets cheap and still when their national team is playing you see empty stadium.” He said, “the only way that Gambia can make a name in the international world when the private sector supports to the players. This will motivate and give them courage. It is very simple, all they need to do is to buy tickets during international matches and give them to their staff to go and support. It is also publicity for them,” he explained.

In his reaction Momodou Bah, a Senegalese man residing in The Gambia for more than 23 years, told Pointsports that, “The Gambia has a good, very young team and I believe that with the help of the public and the private sector we will see The Gambia not only in the African Cup of Nations but the World cup as well,” he explained.

It will be recalled that in an interview with Pointsports the Senegalese legend Juan Franco Bocanday said that The Gambia have a very young team as he used to watch them playing during the Youth tournaments. “They have good and intelligent players and all that they need is the support from the general public and the private sector,” he said. That’s the voice of the Senegalese legend so what is stopping the general public and the private sector from coming out?

The Gambia will be hosting Liberia in the joint World and African Cup on Saturday 6th of September 2008. We hope and urge the private sector to do the same as they used to do before during the U-17 tournament. At that time they gave the fans with T-shirts and drums to see who is the best supporting company. They should restart this excellent practice for the upcoming games too. The general public should also come out in force. We hope that we will see the same on Saturday and always.

The first vice –president of The Gambia Football Association (GFA), Major General Lang Tombong  Tamba, in an interview with journalists shortly after The Gambia and Sierre Leone U-17 match has called on the public and private sector to fully participate for the development of football in the country.

General Tamba expressed his total disappointment about the low turnout of fans during the match noting that Gambians should take ownership of their football. “The gate collection today cannot even cover the air tickets, accommodation and pardiums of the referees and match commissioner,” he said.

He stated that the GFA alone cannot do it, noting that the national teams are the cream of the nation. He urged Gambians to be proud of their football and added that the money they spend in the video clubs would be far better if spent on the national teams.

General Tamba also called on the private sector to emulate the efforts of Africell in supporting the GFA towards the promotion of Gambian football.

The Secretary of State for Trade, Industry and Employment Mr Abdou Colley has described the private sector as an important partner in the economic growth of the country.

He made these remarks last Thursday at the Kairaba Beach Hotel at the review of the draft Investment Promotion and Free Zones Act.

According to him, investment promotion involves a wide range of stakeholders; government institutions, the private sector, financial institutions, civil society, and other development partners.

“Seven years ago, the government decided to enact the Investment Promotion and free Zones Acts to promote private investment in the economy and to allow private sector to play a lead role in the management of the economic resources,” he said.

 The enactment of the two Acts, and their subsequent review, he said, indicates government’s strong conviction that promotion of private sector investment, particularly foreign direct investment (FDI), is central to the country’s development process.

He said that the contribution that the FDI could make towards the country’s economic development and integration into the global economy is widely recognized. He urged the participants to make particular reference to the issue of investment incentives. “In as much as we recognize that our country is essentially tax-based economy, we should not lose sight of the fact that we live in a very competitive world where every country, developed or developing, is devising their strategies to attract strategic investors. In this regard let us agree on promises that we can keep and speak with one voice as a government,” he said.

Mr Don Lecrew, an international consultant, said that the purpose of the investment Act is to make The Gambia more attractive to investors, adding that tax incentives are very important for both domestic and foreign investors.

Of course, we have many times in the past expressed our total disappointment with the way in which some public offices and officials in this country treat the private media regarding the dissemination of information to the general public.

What we must not accept is segregation of any kind, at any level of government or the public service in dealing with the media in general. The private media have in the recent past been subjected to some sort of discrimination as against the public media.

Most public institutions seem to be in the habit of putting the private media last in all their dealings. As we see it, most public institutions regard the public media as the only medium through which information can be disseminated. Is this an avoidance of the private media or is it that the private media have done something wrong?

Every now and then, public officers walk into our offices with press releases relating to programmes that the private media should have been invited to cover. And what next do we see or hear? Invitations for coverage are extended to the public media only. In some instances, they give us a last minute call. What public offices should understand is that we in the media report factual information to keep the general public abreast of all that is happening in the public and the private domains. As journalists we should be allowed and indeed encouraged to perform our duties as the nation’s watchdogs. It is not at all fair to organise conferences and omitting, whether inadvertently or deliberately, to invite the private media. Public officials are paid with taxpayers’ money and they should therefore be held publicly accountable. Keeping the private media from events and from relevant information may not be the best way of shirking that public accountability. Such an approach merely arouses suspicion and speculation.

There is no denying the fact that it is through our activities that the world gets to know what is happening, where, why and by whom. This can however be only possible with the full collaboration of all public and private institutions in this country.

These people are in their positions to serve the public and not their own selfish interests. They should not see journalists as enemies when they are engaged in dubious deals and as friends when they have promotions or other reasons for celebration. Recent indications from some public officers suggest that public institutions only approach the private media when they have information that will please some people in some way. A stop should be put to this lob-sided practice. We as journalists are not here to please any particular person. We believe in neutrality, objectivity and impartiality, and as such we cannot be in a position to countenance media discrimination in any manner or form. It is our position, which all lovers of democracy and fairness would support.

“Everything secret degenerates … nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.”

Lord Acton

The President of the Republic of Ivory Coast, His Excellency Lorent Gbagbo, is currently in The Gambia on a private visit, reports monitored over GRTS revealed.

President Gbago was received upon arrival at Banjul International Airport yesterday by the Vice President of the republic of The Gambia, Madam Isatou Njie Saidy, Speaker of the National Assembly, Chief Justice and Secretaries of States.

Speaking to reporters on his arrival, President Gbagbo said that he is in the country for vacation, citing the sunshine and hospitality of the Gambian people as the elements of attraction.

We congratulate all those honoured by The Gambia Police Force for their contributions to the force in recent times. They are to be lauded for their efforts in supporting the force in its efforts to protect the people of The Gambia and their property. The four men honoured were Momodou Turo Darboe, Hon. Suku Signateh, Majority leader Fabakary T. Jatta and KMC Mayor Yankuba Colley. Among the accomplishments for which the men were honoured was a donation of D25,000 towards the construction of the new police station at Talinding by Momodou Turo Darboe and this was praised by IGP Badjie at the occasion.
There was also high praise for Fabakary Tombong Jatta for providing the police with fuel during their times of need. Meanwhile, at the same ceremony, Hon. Abdoulie Suku Signateh gave a whopping donation of 250 raincoats and boots to The Gambia Police Force as part of his contribution to national development.   These are all indeed great contributions to national development and those making them should be commended. Given that the private citizens of The Gambia are presenting The Gambia Police Force with their hard earned money the police must ensure that the best possible use is made of the money.

On a regular basis in these pages we call on the private sector to step up to the plate and invest in Gambian sport. That is why it is so heartening to see that Africell have indeed risen to that challenge with great aplomb and in the process set the minds of Scorpion’s fans everywhere at ease. We are referring of course to the generous sponsorship deal which saw the Belgian Coach Paul Put appointed Head Coach of the Gambian International soccer team. Coach Put has had a one-year contract paid for by Africell and has received two months wages up front. This kind of direct support from the private sector is vital if we are to build a strong team to represent The Gambia at international level. There is a very big game coming up this weekend for Coach Put as The Gambia take on the Lone Stars of Liberia in Monrovia in the first of the qualifiers for the World and African Cup of Nations 2010. The coach has expressed confidence that he can lead The Gambia to their first ever appearance in these competitions and we all hope he is correct. As has been said many times for better or for worse the more money that is invested in sport the greater the return that will be enjoyed. For this reason we hope that Africell will continue their efforts to support the Scorpions and that others in the private sector will emulate them.

Of course the government must also live up to its role. As we said in these pages yesterday the National Sports Policy and Programme of Action 1999 – 2008 is coming to an end and lessons must be learned from it. Budgetary adjustments are vital if we are to continue to grow all of the sports in The Gambia and enjoy success on the international scene.

President Jammeh must also be commended for his continuing support of Gambian football. He provided a significant contribution to the support of the new coach. He provided accommodation for Coach Put at AU Villa’s and also provided generously for the coach’s transport needs. These gestures are very generous but President Jammeh is only one man, with finite resources, and so cannot be expected to put up this kind of support all the time. This is why private sector investment, incentives for footballers and long term budgetary planning are the way forward for Gambian football and sports in general. We wish our new coach and our boys well at the weekend and look forward to a period of great success ahead for Gambian football.

“Football? It’s the beautiful game”.

Pelé

Badara Mbye, the newly appointed managing director of Africell, a leading GSM operator in The Gambia, has spoke of his desire to consolidate on the gains already registeterd by the company since its inception in the country nearly seven years ago.

Mr Mbye,formerly the chief financial officer and the first Gambian to handle the MD post made this remark in an exclusive interview with the Daily Observer at his Kairaba Avenue office last Friday.

According to him, his priorities are to make sure that Africell is reachable in all corners of the country, to improve the human resources base, provide  adequate and fair renumeration, enhancing the existing cordial relationship with government and the private sector and to reduce poverty.

He revealed that Africell had a record number of 420,000 active subscribers and has contributed  in putting The Gambia on the telecom map, being one of the highest rank in telephone density in the African continent.

Social responsibilities

On all their raffle draws , the new  Africell boss Mr Mbye said “ it is not the money we are looking for but we want to entice our customers and as well increase our subscriber base . Africell value their clients very much.

We also contribute significantly in sports and youth development. We are into health and education. Africell support the children’s wing of the RVTH . We support the national football team and  Nawetans (summer football tournament) across the country. We are the sole financier of Sait Matty football club just to name a few”.

Resolution.

The Africell boss said that his new year resolution is to  turn the company into an indigeneous entity. He said that even though  the company  belongs to Lintel Holding based in Lebanon, the overwhelming majority of its 270 staff are Gambians.

Speaking on the company’s marketing strategies, he acknowledged the fact that is the most vibrant sector of Africell.  As the market is becoming more and more competitive, the only way to survive, he said, is to contantly innovate and diversify the strategies’ approach. Therefore the pattern, he noted, will certainly not be changed as adage goes “When it works, don’t change it.”  

Resolutely decided to make a difference during his tenure, the Africell boss spared no efforts to indicate that his company will also continue to venture into modern technology capable of providing the latest advances to its customers. “With the German Siemens, our strategic partner, we will never be left behind,” he hinted. In other words, Africell has the advantage to provide up-to-date equipement and facilities to its numerous clients.

Trust Bank Gambia Limited entered the country’s banking industry in 1997; a time when the industry was at its infancy in terms of growth and competitiveness.

A few years after its emergence on the banking landscape of the country, TBL, as the bank is widely known, earned itself a commanding position as a major player in the country’s banking market, injecting innovation and highly competitive services that endeared it to many as the ‘number one bank’ of the Gambian populace. Besides a record 11 branches in the country, which confirms its aggressive marketing strategies, TBL now ranks as the country’s most profitable bank and has repeated this achievement in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

In this exclusive interview with the man behind the scenes, Pa Macoumba Njie, TBL’s managing director gives an insight of what it has taken them to reach where they are today.

Trust Bank Ltd is 10 years this year. How did it start?

Trust Bank Ltd opened for business on October 1st 1997 by taking over the assets and liabilities of Meridien BIAO, which had been in operation in The Gambia since 1992. The shareholding was in the hands of institutional investors (both local and foreign), individuals and employees of the bank.

The private sector capital was driven by the huge potential that the bank is believed to have and the confidence in the management team at inception.

Where can you be found?

Trust Bank is in Banjul, Bakau, Basse, Brikama, Farafeni, Latrikunda, Kololi, Serekunda, Soma, Westfield & Yundum. We are on the verge of opening our 12th branch, which is located in Bakoteh.

What would you say have been TBL`s achievements over the years?

Trust Bank started with four branches and today we operate at 11 (soon to be 12), widely dispersed locations all over the country and currently employ about 240 staff made up entirely of Gambians.

In 2002 we got listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange which was the first cross-border listing of any bank in this country.TBL has been the most profitable bank in The Gambia in 2003, 2004 and 2006. This is no mean feat considering the environment we are operating in. Our contribution to Health, Sport and Education is both exemplary and legendary.

We have paid over D250 million to the Income Tax Department in the last 10 years, which in my view is the ultimate corporate responsibility. TBL has contributed immensely in every sector of our economy, always with the Government Vision 2020 and MDGs in mind. Along the way the bank has won numerous awards both locally and internationally namely: GCCI Banker of the Year for 2002 & 2004; The Banker Magazine (Financial Times subsidiary) Banker of the Year for The Gambia 2003, 2004 and 2005; The prestigious award for best Emerging Market Bank by Global Finance 2005, 2006 & 2007.

What in your view gives TBL a competitive advantage in the banking sector in The Gambia?

Our competitive advantage is that Trust Bank Ltd is quintessentially a Gambian bank and that our customers and potential customers recognise this fact. As said earlier TBL is by far the most accessible bank in the country with 12 locations. The advantage of this is that being everywhere means you are in a better position to understand the needs of the market. In banking you cannot establish needs and wants of your customers without being where they are.

We have a management team with an extensive local and international knowledge and experience. We have a local board of directors, which makes decision-making and consultations a lot quicker. The bank is unique in the sense that decision-making, planning and execution is all handled by Gambians.  Our success is all down to Gambians. There is no bank that is as deeply involved in every sector of our economy as Trust Bank.

What products and services does the bank offer?

The bank offers Personal Banking Services, Corporate Banking, International Trade Finance and Western Union Services, served with a traditional Gambian hospitality and smile.

What impact has the bank on the socio-economic development of The Gambia?

Trust Bank is the leading financier of the groundnut-marketing sector in The Gambia, which is a backbone of our economy. We are also involved in tourism, which is also very important in the socio-economic development of our country.

We are also deeply involved in the construction industry and participated in the construction of AU villas last year. We participate immensely in the financing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)  Through the services we offer and donations periodically made, we are always committed to support female empowerment by giving grants and offering competitive interest rates for advances. TBL was and continues to be the home of SMEs.

What is your assessment of customer involvement in the bank’s development?

The bank’s basic tenet is focussed on customer needs and wants and this is the driving force behind everything we do at Trust Bank.

An additional factor for the success of any institution lies in its people. What can you say about the bank staff?

Trust Bank Ltd is the largest employer in the banking sector in The Gambia. We have a staff strength of about 250, 18 of which are managerial positions and 24 are Supervisory/middle management positions.

We attach great importance in providing them with a comfortable and safe working environment, give adequate and targeted training to improve competence and provide various benefits to ensure supreme performance.

What are the future plans of the bank?

As has been communicated earlier, our efforts are towards bringing banking to the doorsteps of every customer. We will very soon open our 12th branch in the Bakoteh area and hope to open more in the very near future.

We also aim to provide convenience banking to our customers and in this regard more products and services have been introduced to facilitate and ease banking transactions. Recently we launched an online banking service which gives customers the ability to access their accounts from anywhere in the world. Customers can also transfer funds between accounts anytime of the day.

We are at a very advanced stage in developing exciting technology based products and services. What activities would TBL engage in to commemorate its 10th anniversary? By way of saying a big thank you to our esteemed customers and dedicated staff and to celebrate our achievements, we will be engaging in a series of activities to commemorate the 10th anniversary of TBL.

We will be starting off with the official opening of our newest and 12th branch at Bakoteh. The new branch is in line with the TBL’s objective of bringing banking to the doorstep of every Gambian. This new branch will certainly ease accessibility for the communities in the area and also reduce congestion and waiting time at our Serekunda branches.

As part of our corporate social responsibility to the health sector, TBL decided to use this occasion to refurbish the sanatorium, which was in a deplorable state. The need for the control and cure of communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, a major concern for all, had motivated the TBL to involve itself in creating a better living environment for the patients in this hospital. The Sanatorium was fully refurbished at a tune of D2.2 million. The official opening and handing over of keys to the health authorities will be part of the activities to mark the anniversary. Again in fulfilment of our corporate responsibility and cognisant of the fact that children are our future, the bank has constructed a multi-purpose playground for the children of SOS village in Bakoteh by way of contributing toward their healthy development. These sporting facilities, which include a basketball lawn and a volleyball court, is put there to attract the youth to the centre so that they can access the library which provides information on HIV/AIDS and sensitise them on disease prevention.

In our endeavour to fulfill the Government’s aim of alleviating poverty as stated in Vision 2020 and the Millennium Development Goals, we embarked on a Humanitarian Caravan in 2002. Through our collaboration with Western Union and other partners such as the Department of Social Welfare and other humanitarian and faith based organisations, an amount of D100,000 was given out to 1000 needy people as working capital to enable them start up small petty trading.

In this year’s caravan, we will be engaged in sensitising the public about our different banking products and services. There will be a lot of surprises in store during this carnival.

Next week, TBL will launching a series of exciting giveaways in the form of raffle draws amounting to close to D1M. This will be just another way of saying thank you to our esteemed customers.

Major donations will be made to core sectors, such as educational institutions, sporting organisations, health institutions, community based organisations and the Department of State for the Interior. These donations will also be extended to the provinces through our branches in Soma, Farafenni and Basse. This is intended to showcase the bank to the public to prove that we are not only interested in making profits but also in giving back to the community.

All these achievements and support could not have been possible without the diligence and commitment of our staff. In order to honour this dedicated team and express our gratitude, the bank has a huge surprise for them that will be communicated in due course.

Private military contractors (PMCs) are seeking to play a greater role in peacekeeping in Africa to make up for what they claim to be the inability of UN missions and state militaries to ensure the continent's security and humanitarian development.

During a three-day conference in Nairobi that brought together UN agencies, NGOs, officials of numerous governments and several private sector companies, PMCs said they had much to offer in terms of logistics, personnel and expertise.

Doug Brooks, the president of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), an industry body for PMCs, said that while such contractors would not replace existing peace missions, they could enhance peace and stability in regions plagued by protracted conflict such as Sudan's Darfur and Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu.

"The West has been an unreliable peacekeeping operations partner in Africa and this has made the peace missions diverse, unsupported and ineffective," said Brooks.

"It is significantly cheaper to hire expertise and equipment from companies than it is for militaries to attempt to maintain them for years or decades."

PMCs have seen their businesses grow considerably in recent years, thanks largely to contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, they have recently suffered a barrage of bad publicity and criticism from human rights organisations.

A recent Amnesty International report accused the Angolan government and PMCs of resorting to extreme violence to evict squatters from several suburbs of the capital, Luanda, over the last two years.

Ghana-based African Security Dialogue and Research executive director Professor Eboe Hutchful says private security firms are "a factor in the growing depth of crime and related issues" in his country.

In the face of such criticism, Brooks said it was up to host governments to ensure that PMCs operated within a clearly defined legal and regulatory framework. He stressed that IPOA had a code of conduct which its members signed up to.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced on 23 October that her department planned to tighten the regulations governing the PMCs it contracts to bring their rules regarding the use of force more in line with those of the regular US military.

The move came in the wake of the highly publicised fatal shooting of 17 Iraqis in September by guards employed by Blackwater USA, a PMC that participated in the Nairobi meeting.

According to a report prepared for Rice by a US diplomat, PMCs in Iraq currently “operate in an overall environment that is chaotic, unsupervised, deficient in oversight and accountability, and poorly coordinated”.

Mindful of the dangers of impunity seen in Iraq, some analysts in Africa are also pushing for tougher rules.

That the private [security] sector is here to stay is beyond question and because it poses a major concern to Africa, it must be controlled and regulated," a senior researcher with the South African-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and human rights lawyer, Sabelo Gumedz, said.

The ISS is researching the role of PMCs in South Africa, Uganda and DRC with a view to establishing a continent-wide regulatory framework.