GAMBIA' S INTERNATIONAL GATEWAY HURDLE

The word MGI in the Gambia is synonymous to broad day robbery and mystery.  This company's  existence was somehow virtual and indifferent to the Gambian way of life during Jammeh's regime.  A company that has been parasitic in terms of looting the public coffers and short changing Gambians in terms of pricing Gambia out of range as it relates to call termination rates inbound to destination #GM220. Driving past the bustling roundabout of Brusubi on my way home and coming across a tent with MGI Paraphernalia displaying their benevolence to poor Gambians during the holy month of Ramadan makes me feel irate for it reminds me of the sucker Gambia has chose to be in front of a despicable parasite who cares less about our wellbeing or prosperity. Am sure by now, my readership are curious as per who MGI are. Well MGI is a TELECOMMUNICATION voice gateway provider who terminates inbound international traffic on behalf of the Gambia. This company's existence has for long been shrouded in mystery as the stakeholders in the market ( Qcell, Africell, Comium and the general public) were not privy with the terms and conditions of their contractual obligations with the contracting party (Gamtel). After the fall of Jammeh, the cat has been let off the bag and the general public and telecom operators were made abreast of the plunderous arrangement entered by the state with MGI. 

We have all been patient hoping that the government will draw down the curtains on this exploitative relationship with MGI. This arrange has placed the operators, government of the Gambia and the general public in a disadvantaged position that called for immediate remedial action for the following reasons;
1. The government of the Gambia has a fiduciary responsibility to assure that revenue accrued to government ends in government coffers inorder to finance government fiscal operations.
2. The operators invested heavily in the telecommunication sector with explicit guarantees from government to operate in the country unfettered. Well this promissory accord by government have been violated thereby causing financial harm to operators and to a point it affects capital reinvestment in the sector by operators.
3. The Gambians telecommunication service users have been taken to the cleaners by MGI for charging a prohibitive termination rate that puts the subscribers at a disadvantaged economically and in terms of quality of service delivered. Callers into destination Gambia were either blocked from accessing Gambia due to high termination rates or their calls were high jacked by illegal terminators who saw a lucrative opportunity to steal inbound calls to the Gambia.
Based on the above, the stakeholders of the telecommunication sector wanted government to sever commercial ties with MGI for the interest of the greater good. The general public patiently waited for 6 months for a definitive resolution of this broad day robbery by MGI. To date, the government of the day is either pussy footing or dragging the termination of the MGI contract for reasons best known to them. We the general public are hereby reminding government of their responsibility to protect the public's interest by terminating this atrocious arrangement with MGI. Failure to do so within a reason time frame will lead to dire  consequences that may pitch government against the very people they vowed to serve. I am of the view that the operators are now at liberty to arrange for their own termination links in order to deliver an efficient service to their esteem subscribers. They unlike government are duty bound to serve their subscribers effectively and the laws governing our telecommunication sector permit them to operate gateways in furtherance of their business operations. This arrangement is guaranteed by the MOU signed by the ACE Consortium and the government. Something has to give in and it should be the riddance of MGI in our telecommunication sector. The million dollar question that begs for an answer is whose interest is this government serving by prolonging the robbery orchestrated by a vile and heartless company like MGI? You be the judge but #DeesTake on the issue is simple and resolute. We must have #ZeroTolerance for economic exploiters. We welcome bona fide investors in Gambia not parasitic corporates who prey on our vulnerabilities to milk us dry.