By Binta Jaiteh
Yaya Menteng Sanyang, Lawmaker for Latrikunda Sabiji who also doubles as the chairperson of the national assembly’s committee on monitoring of Government projects emphasized that the National Assembly of the Gambia is controlled by partisan tricks of governance which can lead to effective oversight of the executive which may lead to catastrophy.
In an interview with The Voice, he said this is not good as a developing country and the 2023 budget is expecting increment of high taxation, increase in fuel, price of basic commodities, and scarcity of foreign exchange among others.
He alleged that the budget failed to address major burning issues to better the lives and livelihood of the Gambians but instead it was designed to favor the president, Ministers, and National Assembly members.
“This is very sad and uncalled for and this is the main reason why all the United Democratic Party (UDP) lawmakers voted against the budget for the interest of the poor people. The 2023 budget is bad news for Gambians. It shows that this government lacks the economic wisdom to embark on any meaningful development, they have huge spending plans but no money to execute those plans. This easy passage of the budget is also an indication that Gambians should start to think and devise ways to recall and commence the process for incompetent NAMs before we will have another wasteful five years of parliament process and proceedings,’ he warned.
However, he said there are some lawmakers whose sole interest is to serve the government and doesn’t care about the welfare of the Gambians, forgetting that they are representatives of people from different constituencies who elect them to work effectively and wipe the tears of the people.
‘We are parliamentarians and our core mandate is to represent the people in the interest of the country,’ he advised.