Gambia Health Minister Lamin Samateh is left seething over inclusion of his name without his knowledge on the Covid-19 staff allowance roster.
It turned out a list for the emergency committee and finance procurement staff was drafted detailing allowances of staffs working in this unit.
The list, it emerged, contained name of the minister and was shared by the permanent secretary and director of planning Gibril Jarju and his deputy Haddjie Badjie.
Samateh’s anger was revealed in a leaked government document dated 1st April this year on the subject in which the aforesaid personnel were severely warned.
Below is full text of the leaked document going viral
“This memo is in connection with the proposed staff list for the payment of allowances in respect of COVID-19, shared by the Permanent Secretary via email to members of the COVID-19 Emergency Committee on Finance and Procurement.
“It has come to notice that despite categorically rejecting the inclusion of his name in the list and his instructions to the Director of Planning and Information Gibril Jarju never to add his name to any list of this nature, the Hon. Minister Ahmadou Lamin Samateh is shocked, disappointed and upset that his name was included in a list proposed for allowance payment.
“The Hon. Minister Considers this to be utter negligence and deliberate on the part of the Director Gibril Jarju and the Deputy of Planning Mrs. Haddy Badjie for including his name and the Permanent Secretary Mr. Muhamadou Lamin Jaiteh for sharing the list without his prior review.”
“Members of the above named committee are hereby informed that the Minister’s name was included even though he had from the onset told them his name should not be included in any payment in whatever form as he does not wish to be paid any allowance, honoraria etc, and therefore not a party to the decision,” the memo
“The said Officials responsible are hereby Strictly warned against any repetition failure of which serious consequence will follow. The shared version of the document is hence to be retrieved with immediate effect.”
This trajectory have triggered unsubstantiated claims of a possible munching of public funds by government officials though how true remains to be seen.
