The Director General of the Gambia Immigration Department (GID), Ebrima Mboob, has fired about 40 immigration officers, JollofNews can report.
Some of the officers were yanked following their convictions for corrupt practices whilst others were sent home for deserting their duty posts longer than necessary, this medium has gathered.
“I fired officers, who have travelled outside the country and stayed longer than necessary,” DG Mboob told JollofNews on Tuesday.
“I also fired officers convicted of corruption in relations to the Civpol case,” he added.
The issue of immigration officers, overstaying overseas is not a novelty at the GID but according to DG Mboob, he has been doing something about this long-standing institutional culture.
“The issue of staff overstaying overseas has been inherited by my administration because there were people, whose salaries have been going on for two years. So now, the truth is that if anybody wants to receive a salary, you come to the finance and HR departments,” he explained.”We fired more, including people with rank, who are not working on any arrangement that could have been made for them to travel without following civil service procedures. These are the people I am dealing with. And for those found wanting of corrupt practices, those have also been fired.
I have taken the stance to ensure something is done about these issues.”
Mr. Mboob further explained that the GID has followed up with the PMO to ensure the department cleanses the nominal roll of the convicted officers the PMO needs to clear.
“I did this because we cannot have ranks pending or people shouldering and they are interdicted on half salary and now the government has taken a step[convictions]. I put in place a proper channel of communication between me and PMO to ensure these things are put to an end,” DG Mboob told JolllofNews.
To the GID boss, interdicted officers should know their fate at a certain point in time.
“People should, after all, know their fate. So, this is ongoing. We are just waiting for the PMO to clear them. They are off the salary now. We have created vacancies of which later, either by the end of the year, we will promote a lot of junior officers, who have been more than 15 years on a rank or getting to 10 years and above. So you can imagine the benefit that’s going to bring,” he posited.
