The Board of Directors and members of Banjul International
Airport Co-operation Credit Union (BIACCU) yesterday expressed dismay over what
they term as the incessant indebtedness of Gambia International Airlines (GIA)
to the credit union whose membership is mainly drawn from among its staff and
those of Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). GIA is said to owe the credit
union a balance of over D450,000.00 (Four hundred and fifty thousand dalasis).
in the payments of its staff members' monthly contributions and loan deductions for February, March and April.
This revelation was made during the Banjul International Airport Co-operative Credit Union's Annual General Meeting held yesterday, 24thApril 2008 at the old terminal complex of Banjul International Airport.
Speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Banjul International Airport Co-operative Credit Union, Mr Babuccar Fatty, said that G.I.A. has in recent times been in the habit of delaying payments to the credit union, adding that in the past three months repeated efforts to get GIA to pay up have borne little fruit.
He explained that it was as a result of this seemingly intractable dismal state of affairs that the matter was taken before the National Association of Co-operative Credit Unions of The Gambia (NACCUG) to intervene for the resolution of a worsening situation. Mr Fatty further lamented that as a consequence the union has been affected adversely as it finds it difficult to carry out its functions adequately. While acknowledging GIA's generosity in providing the union essential facilities, Mr Fatty nonetheless informed a packed hall that the union can hardly afford to go on if such bottlenecks persist. He then reiterated the board's appeal for NACCUG, the apex body, to address the situation.
For his part, Mr Yaya Colley, Programme co-ordinator of NACCUG, stated that the matter has just been reported to his office. He assured that by next week, his office would consult G.I.A management to pay the money as soon as possible.
Mr Kebba Ceesay, the longest serving board member of the union, advised the committee to persevere in doing good work and be ready to sacrifice, warning that without such there could never be any meaningful progress towards achieving their set goals. He thanked all those who attended the occasion for making it a success.
At the end of the meeting, Mr Sulayman Jabang and Abdoulie Jaiteh, both of GCAA were nominated to be part of the board while Bintou Njie-Nyang of GIA was nominated into the Supervisory Committee.
