“Social security is a right to every citizen,” said MD Saloum Malang, who doubles as a member of the Bureau of International Social Security Association (ISSA) in Geneva, Switzerland, and a member of a sub-committee selected to review the constitution of ISSA.
Mr Malang raised the possible inclusion of the informal sector for social security benefits with great concern, pointing out that in The Gambia, social protection was only limited to those working in the formal sector, whereas there are women gardeners, farmers, fish mongers, welders, drivers and carpenters among others who have all been left behind, and who would reach an age without social security benefits.
MD Malang revealed that the most significant plan for the SSHFC is the commencement of the informal sector project in 2024.
MD Malang disclosed these developments in an interview with The Point on the overview of the SSHFC’s managerial activities in the year 2023, in which he also discussed challenges faced, achievements registered and SSHFC’s implementation plans for the year 2024.
He noted that the institution’s achievements include the informal sector, digitalisation and the Project 59, as well as the expansion of the formal sector registration.
MD Malang thanked all his predecessors who had served the institution, saying the achievements registered by the SSHFC under his leadership would continue.
He said the project for the informal sector which he created this year was an effort to ensure that the informal sector also duly benefits from the social security.
He said he had already selected a team which is currently on the ground in places like Tanji community to engage personnel in the informal sector for possible registration with the social security.
He revealed that SSHFC plans for next year also include investment in lands in the Greater Banjul Area and communities like Mandinaba with 54 hectares, Gunjur and Basse for housing with the aim of a decentralised development.
Other proposed plans for 2024, he revealed, include erecting a commercial complex in Banjul and also possibly constructing a 15-story building, through consultation with the Gambia embassy, in Senegal to raise more revenue.
He added that the achievements include the transport sector with the Public Private Partnership (PPP) to alleviate the challenges of the transport sector with the provision of 70 new buses, financed by the SSHFC on a government loan.
He recalled that the SSHFC also secured 33 buses at the end of 2022. The digitalised transport system is one of the SSHFC’s achievements, he said, adding that the SSHFC has already signed contracts for the construction of 52 housing units in Brusubi.
MD Malang, who is currently undergoing social protection courses, said he would like to initiate a business project proposal to help finance the informal sector, especially women.
The project, he said, would be linked with agricultural productivity where employment could also be created and inter-trade expanded from the rural to the urban areas targeting women gardeners and farmers.
This, he added, would also help to discourage youth from going through the back-way and to instead venture into agriculture.
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