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My Daily Observer Ordeal
Sunday, 19 June 2011 13:57
(JollofNews) - We recently published an article, relating the role of people who called themselves journalists who connive with government
operatives in Gambia to persecute journalists; one such prominent individual being Pa Malick Fye, the Managing Director of the Daily Observer.Nanama Keita, the latest victim of Pa Malick Fye`s crude attitude, have sent us a detailed account of his side of a problem that began with the publication of an article accusing the Observer management of corruption on the US based Freedom Newspaper.
The article, as published below, verbatim, gives account of how Malick connives with GRTS` Director General, Momodou Sanyang, to have Nanama detained by the highly feared National Intelligence Agency (NIA) of the Gambia.
Mr Keita is worried for his safety.
Please read the letter we received from Keita and the accompanying attached statement, below.
Dear Editor,
I am Mr. Nanama Keita, 27 year old journalist from The Gambia. Until May 2011, I had served Deputy Editor in Chief and head of sports desk at the Daily Observer Newspaper. Presently I am entangled in some problem where both the company's Managing Director Pa Malick Faye and GRTS Director Momodou Sanyang, have and continue to use their so-called influence to threaten me.
Already the duo have reported me to the National Intelligence Agency accusing me of filing a report to the US-based Freedom newspaper.
Attached is a piece that touched on some of the happenings before and during the start of the problem, and I would be grateful if you would consider ruling the piece as either opinion or news.
Kind regards,
Nanama Keita
PREAMBLE
Due to the ongoing intense in-fighting among the senior members of staff at the Daily Observer amidst allegations of financial malpractice, I humbly write this letter for your kind attention and consideration. The write-up entails my role and commitment to the progress of the company. It also touched on how my stand on responsible and transparent management of the company was misinterpreted by some staff, who went as far as labeling false allegations against me in order to not only boot me out of the office but also to send me to jail.
INTRODUCTION
I joined the Daily Observer Company in 2003 shortly after completing my secondary school education. I rose through several ranks from reporter to columnist and now the Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Sports Editor.
As Deputy Editor-in-Chief and head of the Sports Desk, I am also a member of the company’s Senior Management Team (SMT) as well as one of the four signatories to the company’s bank accounts.
The primary role of the SMT was to guide the Managing Director in the company’s major decision making processes. I was a keen contributor to this sub-management committee until lately when some of my views and comments were taken out of context and portrayed as a way of challenging authority.
One such comment that started the fall-out was made sometime in August 2010 when the company’s cashier, Mr. Fenteh Baldeh, who was stepping in for the out-on-maternal-leave accountant Yassin Fall, brought me a cheque for signing.The cheque was for a cash payment of D40, 000 (Forty thousand dalasis) purportedly being an advert commission to our former marketing manager, Mr. Lamin Dibba, who had at the time resigned from his position and left for the USA almost three weeks earlier.
Before signing the cheque, I enquired from the cashier why we’re paying an advert commission to not only a marketing manager, but also to the one that is no more on our payroll. But the cashier, who was only instructed to cash the cheque and handed over the money to the Managing Director, said he had no idea.
To avoid any confrontation or misunderstanding with the Managing Director, I decided to sign the cheque and was done with it.
Barely two weeks later, I received another cheque for signing. This time was for the payment of an advert commission to the new marketing manager Ms Amie Manka. I signed the cheque without making any complain to the cashier, but I later decided to meet the Managing Director to give him my opinions with regards to payment of advert commission to marketing head.
During my discussion with the MD, I suggested to him that advert commission payment should be limited to only marketing agents at the time, since we were struggling to boost our bank accounts. Another reason I put forward to back my suggestion was the numerous privileges enjoyed by the marketing manager, which include, among others, a healthy monthly salary, an official vehicle with fixed weekly petrol allowance and a post-paid mobile phone.
All these privileges, I suggested to him, are meant to motivate the marketing head to bring advert for the company, hence paying him/her an extra commission for adverts from traditional advertisers like Africell and Gamcel would mean ‘eating ones cake and having it’.
After sharing my views with him, the MD said he would look into the matter and I then thanked him for allowing me to express my view before resting my case.
Barely two months after that, came another issue that attracted my attention not only as a member of the senior management board, but also a signatory to the company’s accounts.
The issue was about the sharp increment in the remuneration of the marketing manager – Ms Amie Manka - without any notice to the SMT.
When Ms Manka took over from her predecessor, Mr. Dibba, she was given a monthly salary (D8, 600) and Dibba’s official car with a weekly fuel allowance of D1, 300 and a post-paid mobile line were deservingly handed over to her as the new marketing head.
But just few months after, and while I was signing some cheques for the payment of monthly salaries, I realized that Ms Manka’s salary was instantly increased from D8, 600 to D9, 900 and her fuel allowance increased from D1, 300 to D2, 000 per week, despite living just a few kilometres from the office [Bakau] compared to her predecessor who was living at Pirang Village in West Coast Region. Her post-paid line was also upgraded to allow access to international call facility.
When I realized these increments, which was never discussed at any management meeting as should have been the case, I asked the cashier when was the increments effected and he said just recently.
Concerned that such move could provoke unnecessary side-talks among senior members of staff if made public, I decided I should meet and advise the Managing Director on the matter, albeit my first port of call was to Amie Manka herself as a colleague.
When I met her, I first made her to understand that I blessed her appointment and promotion as the new marketing manager even though I only heard it from a colleague staff as it was never discussed at any senior management meeting.
I then informed her that I had some concerns regarding her recent status in the company vis-à-vis the sharp increments in her remunerations without the knowledge of the senior management team. I put to her that I would like to discuss the matter with the MD, and that she should not think I hold her any grudge if she’s told.
From there, I went to the MD and laid my views before him in a very humble manner. I also informed him about the state of our bank accounts, which was deteriorating at the time due to higher expenses coupled with low incomes from the daily advertisements.
Before the MD could justify his decision for the increment, he suggested that my own salary, which was pegged at D8, 200, should be increased with immediate effect. But knowing that this was not the reason why I came to him, I insisted that my salary should stay as it is. I later told him that I only came to him to apprise him of my views and not to change his decision as he is the Managing Director and can do at will what he likes.
TELEVISION SETS
Months after this encounter, came another encounter involving the purchase of a flat screen television set from LG Electronic Shop. While signing cheques for weekly payments, I came across a cheque for about D40, 000 [I can’t recall the exact amount] being payment for a flat screen television set that was purportedly delivered to the company.
Since there was no such television set at the office at the time, I asked the cashier the whereabouts of THE TV set and he said it was the MD who requested for it for his home use. I then signed the cheque after the clarification.
Just a few days later, it appeared someone had hinted the MD that I had requested to know the whereabouts of the TV set before I could sign the cheque. After this, the MD quickly summoned me into his office before asking me to go LG Electronic Shop and take whatever I want at the cost of the company.
I then told him that someone must have misinterpreted to him what I told the cashier. I added that I only asked the cashier because I don’t want to sign a cheque involving such amount without knowing thedetails.
Despite this, the MD insisted I should go to LG and take something, adding that the privilege is opened to all members of the senior team. While I agree to his request based on the assumptionthat all members of the senior management are to benefit from the privilege, I however advised him that he should fix a ceiling rather than asking any senior member to take anything.
One week later, I was handed a 28-inch LG TV set which cost the company D9, 600. After receiving the set, I enquired from the marketing manager whether everyone else has their own, and she replied in positive, saying she also too similar set. Thinking that every senior member of the team have had their own, I was baffled when the accountant later revealed that she did not only have one but also was never informed about the transactions. After this revelation, I then realized I was only given the TV set to please me. I then went back to the Managing Director to express my shock at such act, before he asked me to forget about the TV saga.
It was after this saga that the Managing Director together with the marketing manager and some members of the senior management started sidelining me. From that moment, they started to keep me out of the loop on most financial transactions.And since I was not the accountant, I took my exclusion from major decision making processes in good faith and concentrated atworks onmy sports desk.
PRINTING PRESS MACHINE
Despite their snub, there was a day when my services were needed to endorse a cheque for D500, 000 (five hundred thousand dalasis) purportedly being part payment for a new printing press machine that was ordered from France by one Senegalese man Ali Lam for on-ward sale to Daily Observer at the tune of D1, 400, 000 (One million, four hundred thousand dalasis)
Before heading to the office to sign the cheque, I received a phone call from the accountant Yassin Fall who advisedme not to sign the cheque. According to her, the agreement the management had (I was not in the meeting) with the Senegalese was that he would only be paid his money when the machine is installed, tested and declared satisfactory.
The accountant added that the machine only arrived at the ports and was not yet delivered and that it would be a loss for the company if we pay the man and the machine turns out to be ‘no good’. After hearing her out, I agreed to do as she advised. But when I arrived at the office, I realized that the accountant herself had already signed the cheque. After realizing this, I then told her that if she didn’t want me to sign the cheque, then she also should not have signed it. I said to her that since she, as the chief finance officer, had signed the cheque, then I would have no choice but to sign it before the MDthinks I am not cooperating with him.
Before signing the cheque however, I tried to remind the MD about the ‘PayAfter Delivery Agreement’ they had with the Senegalese but he insisted that we should take the risk and sign the cheque, assuring me that the machine would be a good deal.
I later signed the cheque and the machine was delivered to the office the following week. Since I was not mostly concentratingon issues outside my sports desk at the time due to my previous experience, I didn’t bother to know whether the machine eventually worked or not.
Almost a month after the installation of the machine, the accountant informed me during a casual discussion in my office that the machine never worked. According to her, the small machine that accompanied the main machine which wasalso meant for a gift to the company was the one that eventually functioned.
I then told hersince that was the case, then we should not pay the remaining balance. And since that day, I didn’t bother to know anything surrounding that machine. I did this because I never wanted to be dragged into any controversy, more so when what I always thought to be frank views and comments on matters surrounding the progress of the company were seen as a way of challenging authority.
ALLEGATIONS OF FINANCIAL MALPRACTICE
Almost five to nine months after all these palavers came a case in April 2011.
There was a report on US-based Freedom Newspaper. The letter, which was purportedly written by a Daily Observer insider, alleged a gross financial mismanagement involving the Managing Director and some members of his senior staff.
The writer also mentioned, in the letter, the printing machine we bought from France which purportedly turned out to be dysfunctional.
When this story came out, the Managing Director, alongside the marketing manager, deputy editor in chief Alagie Jobe, Production manager and the company’s IT specialists immediately convened a night meeting at the office.
In what was a co-incident, I also passed by the office early that night with a colleague to lock my office door, which was left open the whole day under the instruction of the Managing Director to allow the painters to paint the place.
When I reached the office that night, I walked straight into the building while my colleague waited in my car. Upon arrival at the reception, I surprisingly saw one of my colleagues Alagie Jobe with another junior staff seated at the waiting desk. I was surprise to see them because that day was a non-working day; hence I was expecting to see only the security.
I then greeted them both and went up the stairs to lock my office before taking my leave.
Just two hours later, a friend in Senegal called me to inform me of an article on freedom newspaper regarding financial mismanagement at the Daily Observer. The person went ahead to tell me that my name and photo, as well as that of the MD and my co-deputy editor Jobe, also featured in the article hence the reason why he’s calling to inform me.
From there, I concluded that this article must have prompted the night meeting at the office, before I immediately headed for office. But before I could arrive at the office, our IT specialist was already asked to hack into my official computer and after finding nothing that could link me to the article; they decided to reach me on my phone asking me to come over to the office for a brief meeting.
I was just few minutes away from the office at the time of the call and when I arrived, I went straight to the MD’s office where I found everyone seated intense mode. The MD then started to relay the content of the freedom article before concluding that I was responsible.
When I asked why he suspected me, he answered that most of the things said in the article were things I had complained to him some six to nine months back. He also added that the grammar used in the article could only come from someone as good in writing as I am.
I then told him that was not enough ground to conclude that I am responsible. I informed him that I have no idea about the article and that I could defend myself anywhere since my conscience is very clear.
The MD then said I have two choices to make; that is either to take his phone and call the Freedom Newspaper publisher Pa Nderry Mbye at that spot and tell him that everything is well at Daily Obsever, or he would report me to the NIA where I would become another Chief Manneh (the missing journalist).
After these threats, I insisted that I have a very clear conscience and would be glad if he can take the matter to the right authorities to investigate and if possible prosecute the real culprit.
The meeting went late into the night (2:00am) where I was also harassed physically by both the marketing manager and my co-deputy editor-in-chief Alagie Jobe who all insisted that I should not leave the office until I call Pa Nderry as requested by the MD.
Unhappy with what happened on that night, I decided I should meet the company’s board chairman Alhaji Momodou Sanyang to ask for his kind intervention on the matter. On the evening of Saturday, April 23, I went to the GRST building where I was escorted to Mr. Sanyang’s office by my colleague sports reporter at GRTS Baboucarr Senghore. When I met Mr. Sanyang, I first told him that I was not in his office to report anybody but to ask for his kind intervention in matter that appears to be tearing the company apart.
I told him what was reported on Freedom Newspaper and the tense meeting that followed the publication before pleading with him to kindly talk to the Managing Director to carefully handle the case in order to avoid any fight among the senior team.
Mr. Sanyang gave me his words that he would reach the MD and that I should not worry myself with the matter. I then went home hoping that the MD, after hearing from Mr. Sanyang, will handle the matter with care and professionalism.
One week after my meeting with the board chairman however came another scenario at the office where I found myself being bombarded with all sort of insults by the marketing manager in the presence of the Managing Director. Unhappy with the way the manager handled the matter, I decided I should go back to Mr. Sanyang to kindly urge him to call the MD and the solve the matter once and for all.
As I arrived at the GRTS building on that day, I saw the MD alongside the marketing manager and my co-deputy editor-in-chief Alagie Jobe right behind me.
I then packed my vehicle before walking straight into Mr. Sanyang’s office. When I entered the office, I told Mr. Sanyang that since the very people I have come to talk about are also here, I would prefer to wait until they are seated before I could say a word.
When they arrived, it was the MD who first spoke and I was shocked when he twisted everything by labeling all sort of allegation against me before concluding that I should be fired from the company.
And what was more terrifying for me was when Mr. Sanyang, who refused to hear me out, said he would take the matter to the NIA for me to be prosecuted, saying that all security chief in the country do call him uncle. After hearing all these threats, I was dumbfounded, but since my conscience wasclear I hold on to the firm belief that a ‘truth crushed to the ground shall one day rise up’.
As I walked out of Mr. Sanyang’s office, I received a phone call from someone who turned out to be the husband of our accountant whom I only know as Fanding. When I answered the call, Fanding informed me of an in-fighting in the office where I and his wife are prime targets.
According to him, he has called me to specifically furnish me with some financial irregularities in the office which I can use to defend myself in case someone wants to incriminate me. Among these financial irregularities, he added, was the diversion of a Daily Observer fund amounting to D200, 000 under the instruction of the Managing Director.
According to Fanding, this sum was a part payment of a contract signed between Africell Company and Daily Observer. After hearing this revelation, which wasnews to me, I then asked him whether he has evidences to back his claims, and he insisted that his wife, who was the accountant, has evidences.
I then told Fanding about our meeting in Mr. Sanyang’s office where I was incriminated by my colleagues who wanted me out of the company for speaking against their lavish spendings. I informed him that though I am not aware of the Africell deal, I might be aware of some other irregularities, but that the only reason why I did not take the matter up with the right authorities was that I wasn’t sure whether his wife, who is my sole witness, would put her job on the line to corroborate my claims. Fanding then insisted that his wife is willing to come forward with evidences.
After that phone conversation with Fanding, I sat down to reflect on the false allegations made against me in Mr. Sanyang’s office and decided I should clear myself before I am prosecuted for the wrong reason.
My first port of call was to the Director of Operations at the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA), Mr. Foday Barry, whom I called to hint him on the matter before requesting to meet him in his office the next day to fully brief him.
Mr. Barry asked me to come over to his office at 10:00am the next day [Tuesday, May 3, 2011], which I agreed to do so. I visited the NDEA offices the following day but I could not meet him as he was out of office at the time. I then reached him on his cell phone and promised to check on him later before heading to the office.
When I reached office on that day, I was informed by the cashier that the accountant was handed an indefinite suspension and when I asked why he answered in negative. I then headed for my office and just few hours later I was called into the Managing Director’s office where I was handed a dismissal letter by my co-deputy editor-in-chief Alagie Jobe in the presence of the Managing Director.
After going through the content of the letter, which didn’t state any reason for my dismissal, I enquired from the MD as to what must have prompted such move. The MD said I should just take the letter quietly and stay at home and await his call, adding that nobody should know about my dismissal.
As I left the office, I also got the information that the accountant’s suspension has been rescinded. While in my house on that evening, I received a phone call [for the first time in weeks] from the accountant who acknowledged receipt of the copy of my dismissal letter. She later enquired whether I had eventually met Foday Barry at the NDEA and when I answered in negative, she advised me that I should delay my meeting with him and concentrate on how I could come back to work.
After hearing her out, I the assumed that since her job is safe, she might not after all come out to corroborate my claims should I choose to take my case to the NDEA for possible investigation.
While I decided to delay my going to the authorities with the fear that I might not have a witness to defend my claims, I went back to the office the next morning to meet the Managing Director to protest my innocence. During my meeting with him, the MD said there were two more publications on the freedom newspaper about the company. He however, added that most of the things mentioned in those articles could only come from the accountant or someone close to her as he [MD] admitted that I was not privy to such information as the Sports Editor.
One such information I was not aware and yet featured in the freedom publication was the buying of a used lesser jet mini-printer in the same month of April, which the MD claimed to be D40, 000 (Forty thousand dalasis), when the actual price was D20, 000 (Twenty thousand dalasis).
These facts, the MD said, were only known to the accountant since the man who sold us the printer was her ex-class mate and that it might have been the same man who must have confessed to her that he sold the printer for D20, 000.
He then maintained that for him to rescind my dismissal, I must write an official letter and state why I should not be dismissed. I then went home and drafted the letter protesting my innocence.
After receiving my protest letter, the Managing Director, confirmed I was not behind any publication, reiterating his earlier comments that all the allegations in the articles, notably the Africell contract issue, DSTV for the MD’s house, and the over-pricing of Lesser Jet printer were only known to him and the accountant.
Without a second thought, the MD immediately dismissed the accountant, but what follows after the accountant’s dismissal signaled a sign of guilt from the Managing Director. Moments after her dismissal, the accountant’s office was immediately ransacked by the Managing Director and his team, before her office locks were replaced.
Moments after, I was also invited to a meeting by where the MD promised to rescind my dismissal but not until after I had sided with them in case the accountant pursuits her dismissal case with the authorities.
I then told him that I only want my job back since I have not done anything to warrant my sacking as he himself had earlier attested. I added that in as much as I want my job back, my conscience won’t however allow me to lie against the accountant to achieve my desire.
He then asked to know the step I am ready to take should my dismissal stand, and I responded that I am giving them one week to reconsider the matter internally or else I would write to the right authorities to protest my innocence. But he threatened me that since the matter has to do with the freedom newspaper, I would go to jail if I take the matter up. But I put to him that I will leave that for the authorities to decide, and that I won’t sit and lay my hands for being wrongfully sacked without any tangible reason.
After hearing me out, the MD said I can take my leave and look forward to hearing from him, while reiterating that I should not relate to anyone about my dismissal or the happenings at the office.
Just a few days later, the Managing Director learnt through the marketing manager that the husband of the accountant, Fanding, is planning to write to the Office of the President to pursuit his wife’s case. Upon getting this tip off, the Managing Director invited me to a meeting at one of his friends’ restaurant situated around Palma Beach on Sunday, May 8, 2011.
Accompanied by the marketing manager, I drove to the place and found the Managing Director sitting with a friend. When I requested to know why I was invited to the place, the MD first requested to get hold of my mobile phone so that I won’t record him secretly.
I then handed over my phone to him before he started the conversation. He informed me that the accountant’s husband is planning to write to the Office of the President to report the matter as well as incriminate me, and that I should stand a firm ground that the accountant was the guilty one. He added that as soon as this is done, my sacking would be immediately rescinded. I then enquired whether he is waiting for a storm to strike before I could get my job back, and he said he’s just trying to save me from trouble, adding that despite the dismissal, my salary would still be paid.
I then told him that if he really cared about my safety as he claimed, then he would not have labeled unfounded allegations against me during our meeting with Alhaji Momodou Sanyang. He responded that he had made a mistake and that I should start trusting him.
I then advised him that since that’s the case, then he should invite both the accountant and myself to a meeting at the office to trash out the issue internally. But the MD insisted the accountant can’t come back and that I have a choice to either back him or join the accountant on the dismissal list as he enjoys the backing of the board.
Aware that he wanted to use me against the accountant before my dismissal could be rescinded, I told the MD that I would take my dismissal in good faith, but that I won’t rest until justice is done.
In the evening of the following day [Monday, May 9], while I was driving towards Brikama, I received a phone call from the MD requesting to see me immediately. I told him that I was around Yundum Military Barracks heading towards Brikama. And he said I should meet him at the Yarambamba Junction ahead of me for a brief discussion.
I decided to stop by at the junction to meet him and during our discussion, part of which is under record, the MD asked what I would like him to do for me. And I said I only want come and resume work since I have not done anything to warrant my sacking, which has given my poor mother in the village a sleepless night.
He requested to speak to my mother to assure her that everything would be fine, but I insisted that the only thing that would make my mother rest is when I call her and inform her that the problem is over and am back at work.
He asked me about the accountant case, and I maintained that’s not my decision to make since I can only prove my own innocence and not someone else. The MD then asked me to come over to the office the following day for my letter and added that I should remain quite if I am re-instated.
When I arrived at the office the next day, he started to give me other excuses that he’s still working on my return and that I should allow him to sort out some issues.Worried that he could either be destroying evidences that could incriminate him or plotting another trouble under the pretext of negotiating my return, I then decided I should forgo the play-game and I write to the right authorities for their kind consideration.
This is my bitter-sweet experience at the Daily Observer in the past one year and I believe I am victimized simply because of my firm stand on transparent running of the company, which has been a source of income and pride for hundreds of Gambians and non-Gambians alike.
Mr. Nanama Keita
Deputy Editor-In-Chief/Sports Editor
Tel: 9955958; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Comments
Nanama has won my sympathy and respect as well as thousands of others at the back seat.
You would have to conclude that under normal circumstances...the matter should be referred firstly to the GPU for arbitration...and secondly to the board who could instigate an impartial investigation.
That said...there needs to be an investigation. With written judgement accompanied by a proper account and appraisal with recomendations.
What I do find partiularly disturbing is the reference to Chief Manneh.
Does this implicate the Management of the Observer...in his disappearance?
..and if so...should the Manneh family insist on an investigation appointed by officers on the instruction of The Office of The President.
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