Officials of Gamtel-Gamcel have been summoned by the National Assembly to reappear in December with audited reports of the company’s transactions for the 2017-2019 financial years.

The company failed to produce audited reports to the Public Enterprise Committee on Wednesday during a sitting at the National Assembly.

However officials of the company sought permission from the lawmakers for more time. Their request was granted and would now reappear before the committee on December 16 with detailed audited reports for scrutiny.

The officials claimed that they were new to their posts and were working to address the challenges facing the company.

“The decision is made that you will submit the activity report and financial statement of the year ended 31 December 2018 on the 16 of December 2019 for presentation and ultimate review,” Halifa Sallah, chair of the Public Enterprise Committee told the officials.

Mr Sallah said the work of the Parliamentary Committee was to ensure that the state owned enterprise was run in a transparent, efficient and viable way.

He added that the Committee was also concerned about the security of tenure for workers at the company.

“We look at the issue from the angle of oversight … what is the best means of ensuring security of tenure so that the appointing authority will not simply remove those appointed on no just basis.

“Because we believe that if the controls are there and there is an adequate oversight, then there is greater independence in the decision-making process of the board.”

Gamtel-Gamcel board chair Amdou Tijan Jallow assured the Committee that they will reappearing with the audited reports on December 16.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba