Mr MOD. Ceesay, chief of staff, office of the president, is another senior Civil Servant who’s a silent shareholder of NIRO, joining the ranks of the other members in the like of the Vice President, Momodou B Jallow, Civil Service Minister, Baboucarr Bouy, Trade Minister, Baboucarr Ismael Joof and former APRC Education minister, Fatou Lamin Faye.
Please read the details share below from our Whistleblowers on the insider information trading from the then Permanent Secretary at the Works Ministry (MOD Ceesay) Carried out by taking the GIA business strategic plan and using it to support their company (NIRO), undermining the GIA (a state-owned enterprise) business’ interest in favour of their interest!
Mr. MOD Ceesay is currently serving the strategic position as the chief of staff, office of the president, which gives him a lot of leverage and influence on the president and the decision-making mechanism of the state for him to continue advancing their company’s (NIRO) interest.
It didn’t come as a surprise that NIRO, a new company without any competence or experience in the aviation industry, managed to take over the market share due to its silent shareholders’ influence, giving them the vast advantage of having an entire state apparatus giving them unfair support at the expense of the GIA.
Indeed, this is an unleveled playing field with unfair competition favouring a private entity over this state-owned company with over two decades of operational experience and a vast amount of expertise in the aviation operations industry.
MOD. K. CEESAY, Chief Of Staff, Office of the President!
Mod K. Ceesay, the current Chief of Staff of the government, has recently opted out of GIA’s Board membership. Mod, who was a Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Transport Works and Infrastructure, is also the leading man who is part of the cartel and who is also influencing and misinforming President Barrow about all these happenings.
When Mod K. Ceesay was the P.S. at Works, he, together with Mamburay Njie, the former Finance Minister, were the two key people to bring the Securiport deal to life. They facilitated this partnership by influencing the president to sign and ensure that the partnership contract between Securiport and the Gambian Government did not go through the Directorate of PPP at the Ministry of Finance for scrutiny and evaluation.
The same Mod, a shareholder in NIRO, was a Board member of the GIA Board of Directors while NIRO was setting up to the time it commenced its operations. Until recently, he opted to leave the board when NIRO was finally on its feet. Being at the helm of affairs of the highest governing body of GIA, Mod can be termed as a traitor to GIA and an insider trader for NIRO, as he has been privy to critical strategic decisions that GIA has been putting in place to enhance its operational efficiency and business continuity. Mod has also convinced Barrow that NIRO needs a chance because GIA cannot handle flights coming to the Gambia, which is far from the reality.
NIRO initially applied for a license to operate only Flight Catering. When they opted to do ground handling, despite their inexperience and incapacitated workforce, the Gambian Government, through GCAA, granted them a license and even went further to protect NIRO by giving them a ten (10) years monopoly on Catering services at the airport, meaning no other company is allowed to compete with them on the inflight catering services for the next ten years to come. How unfair is it for a government to decentralise ground-handling services from its national entity and yet grant a monopoly to a private entity?
There is a total lack of nationalism from this Barrow government! This monopoly of the NIRO even goes against the ICAO Laws and Regulations on Competition and anticompetitive Behaviours (icao int).
It was in GIA’s strategic plan to start flying, and communications with potential partners such as Ethiopian Airlines were ongoing until the vice president’s office hijacked them in favour of NIRO. And now, NIRO plans to fly the national flag and is supported by these top selfish and corrupt government officials who have shares in the company. They have a letter from the State House mandating them to hold discussions with potential partners about aircraft operations at Banjul International Airport and managing the new airport that will be created after the decoupling of GCAA.
The question is, there is already an established national company (GIA) mandated by law to provide this particular service, and they are actively working towards it. And now, you are empowering a private company to do the same? Whose interest is this government safeguarding?
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