We have received with deep concern the news of the takeover of the Banjul Port by the Turkish company, Albayrak effectively on 14 February 2025 under a concession agreement between the Gambia Ports Authority and the company. We consider this concession to be illegal which also constitutes a huge social and economic loss to the people of the Gambia. The Banjul Port is a vital national asset which is a viable enterprise if run according to the law, professional standards and ethics and accountability by the Gambia Ports Authority.
In the first place, we note with concern that the concession of the port to a foreign private enterprise was not approved by the National Assembly. It must be noted that GPA is a statutory body as it was created by an Act of the National Assembly in 1972 to operate the port facilities. The GPA Act has not provided for a concession of the port. Hence where the port is to be handed over to another entity, it requires the review of the GPA Act hence the approval of the National Assembly. Secondly, the Gambia does not have a public private partnership (PPP) law to guide the concession of a national enterprise to a foreign entity. In fact, at this moment, there is no national PPP policy as the last policy expired in 2020. In its website, GPA described the concession as a PPP initiative. In light of the foregoing, which law or policy does this port concession rely on?
In October 2024, EFSCRJ wrote to GPA to request the concession contract document in line with the Access to Information Act 2021. GPA responded to say they were prevented from providing the document publicly due to a ‘condition precedent’ in the contract. Instead, they said the document would be uploaded on the GPA website in January 2025. As at the time of issuing this public statement, there is no presence of the contract document on the GPA website as promised. Their failure to provide the contract document is a direct violation of the Access to Information Act 2021.
Apart from the illegality of this concession, we are further concerned about the plight of the staff of GPA. According to the new port manager Mr. Cem Öztürk, speaking to the Standard newspaper, said the entire GPA staff “with all their rights, salaries, pensions, etc.” will be transferred to Alport Banjul which is now the new name for the Banjul Port. He said no staff member would be laid off.
We do not find this statement satisfactory. A concession of one company to another or a merger must be based on clear agreements and laws to protect the rights of workers, among other issues. We are concerned that this concession has not provided adequate security for staff who stand at the mercy of the new operators of the port.
The Alport Banjul port manager, Mr. Cem Öztürk went further to also state that his company would have 80% of shares of Alport Banjul, which means the Gambia has only 20% shares. We are concerned as to who negotiated this arrangement and on what basis?
Considering the issues of staffing, shares and operations, EFSCRJ therefore demands transparency as to which authorities spearheaded the negotiations for this concession. Why were the relevant institutions such as the National Assembly, and the staff not involved in this process? We are equally concerned that GPA has refused to make the concession agreement public.
We wish to therefore register our objection to the handing over of Banjul Port to this Turkish company or to any other private entity. We strongly believe that the Banjul Port under the Gambia Ports Authority, and indeed all our public enterprises are viable businesses that could serve the public effectively and efficiently as well as provide sizeable dividend to the Government. The challenge facing public enterprises is not that they cannot be efficient and profitable simply because they are state-owned. Rather our public enterprises are merely being grossly mismanaged by those in charge of them.
Our public enterprises, just like all other public institutions, suffer from poor governance, mismanagement, and lack of transparency and accountability because of a lack of accountable leadership. There is limited to no political will at the highest level to ensure that public enterprises perform and deliver and are profitable. Rather, over the years and decades, public enterprises have been turned into serving political interests, hence suffer immense interference, patronage and corruption.
EFSCRJ therefore calls on the SOE Commission to perform its tasks with urgency and diligence to bring effective and efficient management and governance into public enterprises. The Commission has a duty to ensure that public enterprises are performing, delivering and making profit for Gambians. The Commission should ensure that the culture of corruption, inefficiency, waste and self-enrichment which is deep and widespread among public enterprises comes to an end.
Furthermore, we call on the Chair and Members of the Public Enterprises Committee (PEC) of the National Assembly to intervene urgently to reverse this concession and maintain the Banjul Port under the full ownership, control, and management of the Gambia Ports Authority. Furthermore, we call on PEC and the National Assembly as a whole to play their oversight function more effectively by holding GPA more accountability in performing its duties to efficiently operate the Banjul Port.
Above all, we call on Pres. Adama Barrow to intervene urgently to halt this concession agreement between GPA and Albayrak company. This concession does not serve national interest. Rather it only rewards corruption and mismanagement thereby paving the way for many more public enterprises to be sold out. Officials who run and mismanage public enterprises must be held accountable and not to be rewarded with concession agreements.