As a consequence of the meeting held on 25th with the Vice-President of the Republic, H. E. Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, in which alarms were raised regarding mismanagement and irregularities in the awarding of contracts and the recruitment and hiring of the personnel in the Ports of Malabo and Bata, on 30th August, in response to the mandate issued at that meeting, the Prime Minister of the Government, Charged with Administrative Coordination, Francisco Pascual Obama Asue, met those responsible for the administration of both ports, with the aim of shedding light and transparency on this new scandal.
On the basis of the information revealed at the previous meeting, in which evidence was shown of the irregularities detected both in the awarding of maintenance contracts signed by those responsible for the port administration, and in the recruitment of personnel, where there has been an increase in levels of 55%, there is a common denominator: they are all people close to or recommended by members of the current management and, apparently, have been hired without the performance of any selection process, to which must be added the arbitrary nature of the setting of salaries.
The Prime Minister, in his capacity as President of the Steering Committee for the Restructuring of Autonomous Bodies and Public Companies, described the situation as unacceptable, as it not only undermines the efforts led by the Vice-President of the Republic to “clean up” and restore the operational capacity of our ports, but also undermines the procedures established during the restructuring process.
Therefore, with the aim of correcting this situation and ensuring the continuity of port operations, the Head of Administrative Coordination, seconded by the departmental minister, Rufino Ovono Ondo, agreed to establish a new procedure to be followed, This involves the creation of a commission to which the contracts awarded since the current management took office must be referred, and which will be responsible for directing amendments to the imbalances caused, starting with the verification of the services provided by the companies awarded the maintenance and other contracts; These contracts will, in principle, cease to be valid until such time as the new commission so determines.
With respect to personnel, the mandate focuses on devising an “ideal” staffing level, reflecting the functional organisation chart, the estimated number of employees, the sections to be covered and the profiles required in order to cover them, and consequently, any unnecessary staff will be removed.
Source: Official Web Page of the Government