By: Nyima Sillah
The 30 intakes of Gambian soldiers – who are now retired, have blasted Gambia Armed Forces for misleading statement over financial payment to their entitlement.
Speaking at a news conference, Mod Lamin Jarju told reporters that “the Gambia Armed Forces know the total amount that they should receive but they acted a foul pay by not telling them directly the amount they should receive for their entitlement. They just don’t want to tell us the truth but they already know what is going on the ground.”
“The reason why we retried is because we have further planned for this money. So if it is not implemented in the right way it will be difficult for us because if you go today and you are giving D5000 and wait until another three months before they give you another D5000 or less, how can we plan something for ourselves? He asked rhetorically and said “we want our money in cash.”
According to him, they have no hard feeling for the Gambia, “what we are facing regarding our money but if they give us our money, none of us will complain again.”
“They never want transparency between us, we want to know if this decision is from the Government and GAF because the issue is getting out of hand and if not solve, there are other batches that will also encounter a similar issue. Most of the retired 28 intakes, retired without knowing their entitlements. This is the first time in the history of the Gambia that GAF will gather and discuss issues like this. If we were sensitizing on how the payment to us will be done, none of this would have happened,” Dembo L. Jarju lamented.
Mori Kebba Camara said “the Gambia Armed Forces, on their social media page informed the general public and the affected soldiers that, as of the date of their publication, 80 percent of retirees have been paid their full benefits while the payment for the remaining 20 percent are being processed to be paid as soon as possible.”
