Gainako can authoritatively confirm that Muhammad Manjang Director of SSHFC has been sent on one month administrative leave with pay so that a special commission set up by the President can investigate the issue at the Corporation.
The commission includes Mr Lamin Samateh of the PSC (Chairman of the Commission), Mr Alieu Ngum former SG under former President Jammeh, Crispin Grey Johnson former Foreign minister under former President Yaya Jammeh, Mrs Nelly Taylor, Mr Nyanlow Barrow The Commissioner of labour and one Mr Tamou Njie.
It was deemed necessary to send Mr Manjang on leave to ensure independence of the investigation because according to them, Manjang cannot be investigated while still serving as MD. Mr Momodou Camara the staff representative on the SSHFC board has also been suspended with full pay.
In a related news Gainako can also confirmed that Abdoulie Cham has been appointed Interim MD at Social Security Housing Finance Corporation. Mr Cham is being investigated by the Commission of inquiry for aiding and abetting former dictator Yaya Jammeh to loot millions from the pension funds. Cham himself is accused of depositing the pension funds to the banks and personally withdrawing the huge interests made for personal gains. As Gainako develops this story names such as Graham, Sirah Wally Ndow etc appear as part of the conspiracy to get rid of Manjang.
“He sold investments to all the banks…he will place a fix deposit and then demand for money…say he gives you D40m.. in turn u will give him half a million..he opened up a deposit in GT in his name..at the end of maturity he collected the interest and place another deposit..meaning the principal belongs to SSHFC and the interest he clocks in his pocket..when Manjang came in, with his Financial knowledge he took away d investment from Lie Cham..this didn’t go down well with him..hence the beginning of the gang”. claimed a source close to the organization.
The SSHFC saga has been going on for over six months. Readers may recalled that staff of the SSHFC went to the State House to lodge a complain. The President’s office intervened at the time and Manjang and his staff were encouraged to open a dialogue. The problem was never resolved and information relating to malpractice has been leaked on social media implicating some senior staff and MD Manjang. Documents are being circulated on social media to authenticate some of the allegations on both sides. The SSHFC case has created a huge issue for President Barrow and his government. There seems to be total lack of engagement to see an immediate solution to this crisis. Citizens have sided with both the staff and Manjang claiming one thing or another. What is apparent is that there is huge crisis at the organization that may be a tip of the iceberg and similar issues might be happening in other departments. These can confidently be attributed to two decades of civil service and government dysfunction by the Jammeh administration.
MD Manjang recently made a lot of gains at the SSHFC showing remarkable profits for the organization compared to previous years. His supporters point to this as his good management skills and ability to reform the organization. His critics on the other hand blamed Manjang for wanting to reform the system while maintaining some of the incentives that were allocated to his office without cutting those. At the end of the day, the SSHFC situation is dire and the President and his office need to show backbone in making firm decisions and stand by the consequences. One of the worst mistakes a leader can make is to show apathy and lack of interest in resolving such issues quickly and with confidence. This seem to be a major issue within the Barrow government. Many people attribute this inaction to people serving the President who are allegedly tainted or were the custodians of the very system that created all the chaos. A clear example is the current secretary General Habib Drammeh who until his appointment as SG was the managing Director of GTSC which is a subsidiary of the SSHFC. Mr. Manjang himself was a board member of GAM-PETROLEUM which was also heavily involved in financial scandals. Although he has a good record in the Banking industry, he may have been compromised by serving on a board that oversaw several alleged financial mismanagements. The situation is complicated and it will once again test the leadership of President Barrow and his government…
Written and Compiled by MamaLinguer Sarr and Gainako’s special reporter