The
country’s pioneer daily newspaper company, the Daily Observer, has come under
fire from its own staff who are calling for the resignation of their managing
director and the editor-in-chief.
Ministry
of Justice has also secured an order from the high court of The Gambia,
yesterday, to freeze the newspaper company as part of the assets of former
President Yahya Jammeh.
The
government is effectively putting the company under the management of an
accounting firm, Augustus Prom.
On
14 May 2017, Observer’s offices were closed by the Gambia Revenue Authority, a
consequence of tax evasion by the paper over the years.
The
newspaper staff, in a petition delivered to the press yesterday evening, said
it was “humiliating and disheartening for the staff of the company”.
“We
are calling for the unconditional resignation of our managing director and
editor-in-chief with immediate effect,” the Observer staff said in a petition
read by Musa Ndow, one of the editors.
The
petition was signed by over 80 per cent of the staff. One of the staff said only those of the
‘errand boys’ of the management refused to sign. The company has a staff of over a hundred,
according to its management.
“We
have lost confidence in their ability to lead us further and for us to continue
to transform this paper, we need a leadership that is independent-minded and
would not undermine the credibility of the staff, particularly the
journalists,” Mr Ndow said as he read the petition.
Pa
Modou Mbowe was appointed managing director of Daily Observer on 19 December
2016 at the height of the crisis. Momodou Saidy, who is the editor-in-chief,
was also appointed the same day.
“All
these happened at the height of the political crisis… their appointments came
directly from the office of the then President, Yahya Jammeh. That is where their loyalties still lie,” a
senior staff of the paper said.
After
the closure, the country’s press union stepped in to negotiate dialogue between
Daily Observer and the Gambia Revenue Authority. After several weeks, it was
stalled without any success. The Gambia Press Union blamed the paper’s
management for not cooperating in bringing a solution to the tax problem.
“We
are in total disapproval of his negotiation skills over the matter; for it did
more harm than good and the effects of such behaviour is hanging in flames for
the staff,” the staff said.
The
alleged further that they did not receive pay for two consecutive months which
they blame on the MD’s “lack of competence to be at the helm of affairs”.
When
contacted at about 9pm yesterday, Mr Mbowe said he had not received any
petition letter from his staff to be able to know what their problems are.
“We
were shut down in the middle of the month. That has affected our ability to pay
the staff and recover our monies from numerous debtors,” he argued when asked
about non-payment of two months’ salaries as decried by staff.
Mbowe
said he would be willing to sit down with the staff to discuss these issues and
find solutions.
“I
always listen to them. I operated an open door policy and may be that is what
they want to abuse because they never enjoyed that before,” he said.
However,
he said he will not step down as managing director without any tangible reasons
as the staff did not appoint him at the company’s head.
