Honorable Mambury Njie, Minister of Finance has told the National Assembly that the Diaspora voting in the coming general elections might have some budgetary implications since it’s not budgeted for by the IEC.
The Gambia Diaspora is considered the country’s eighth region as estimated 200,000 eligible voters are living outside the country. Economically, they are contributing over 30 percent of the country’s GDP.
However, they have always been disenfranchised by both the electoral systems put in place by successive governments since independence. The Gambia Diaspora has never voted in Gambia elections.
“The IEC did nothing about Diaspora voting for the four years they had after 2016-2017 elections cycle. All year round, they just lick their pay checks and go home. Sometimes you go to their office and find nothing going on. This is deliberate act to re-disenfranchise us again,” said an irate Diaspora Gambian.
Meanwhile, the Elections Bill 2021 which was tabled before the National Assembly was carried out on the basis of the Elections Act 1996.
Under Section 14 of the Bill, it talks about “Registration of Gambians Living Abroad”. However, the Minister of Finance said today (Monday, 26th April, 2021) this franchise can only be possible when Government goes into Supplementary Appropriation Bill, or when donors are ready to fund it.
According to the Minister of Finance, the Diaspora voting wasn’t budgeted in the 2021 budget of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
“The section isn’t only dealing with registration of Gambians living abroad, but also availing them the opportunity to vote as Diasporas. However, if the authorities want to proceed with this, and it is not already factored on the IEC budget, then we will consider it as a SAP item provided a detailed cost breakdown is provided by the IEC,” Honorable Mamboury Njie explained.