The reason (s) for the dissolution of the board members by the ministry is not clear to The Point.
However, the minister of Tourism and Culture confirmed the dissolution of the board’s governing council to The Point.
“The GTBoard’s governing council has been dissolved, Abdoulie Hydara, former director general (Gambia Tourism Board) has been moved to (Foreign Affairs) as deputy ambassador to Nigeria and Aboubacarr Camara is now appointed as the acting director general,” Minister Bah confirmed.
But the reason (s) behind the dissolution of the board of the GTBoard, redeployments and appointments is still not known as it was not disclosed by the ministry.
However, members of the dissolved board of directors of the GTBoard claimed they were not served with any letter to inform them about the dissolution.
In the meantime, Minister Bah disclosed that a new governing council for the board will be sworn in soon.
Meanwhile, the entire staff of the Gambia Tourism Board, effective from 1st June, have been placed on half salary by the minister of Tourism and Culture who defended he was acting responsibly.
The payment of half salary to the said staff will continue for the next six months, ‘until something changes.’
According to the FatuNetwork online, Minister Bah disclosed that he took certain measures to cut costs. “This is taxpayers’ money. I don’t send anybody on redundancy; I don’t send anybody on leave without pay. I said, ‘stay home, you’ll be paid half salary.’ You will be paid half salary and park your vehicle. No cost to the board.”
Receiving this directive is like a thunderbolt on management and staff who were not happy with the development; subsequently, a board meeting was convened on Thursday, 4 June to find an antidote to the minister’s unexpected package for them. However, after some hours of deliberation the meeting was adjourned to Thursday, 11 June before the recent development on Wednesday. The GTBoard staff have been pursuing to resolve the matter through the board, which is now unfortunately dissolved as the staff would now wait to see what is next for them.
It could be recalled that the Ministry of Tourism and Culture under the watch of Minister Hamat N.K. Bah, Thursday, 17 January, 2019 inaugurated the dissolved board of directors for the Gambia Tourism Board and Abdoulie Touray was appointed the chairperson and members included Malleh Sallah, Babucarr Suwareh and Catherine Niang among others.
