As Committee Issues Raft of Recommendations
By: Binta Jaiteh
The Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of the National Assembly has made a recommendation to the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) to settle the D30,000,000 and D32,000,000 in respect of WAEC and School Improvement Grant (SIG) arrears.
Following a thorough review of budget submissions from various institutions, ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), FPAC came up with a string of recommendations which, the committee said, were the outcomes of careful consideration of recommendations put forward by various committees.
The committee, among other recommendations, recommends that D10,000,000 be allocated to the Ministry of Health; D5,000,000 to personnel emoluments and D5,000,000 to operational cost for Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital.
“An amount of D2, 000,000 be allocated to the SWEDD+, D2,000,000 to Specialized and Technical Materials for the disabled, and D2,000,000 to Family Strengthening Program under the Ministry of Gender, an amount of D200,000 be allocated to the Ministry of Interior for Rehabilitation of Juvenile Inmates, an amount of D2,200,000 be allocated to the Ministry of Youth and Sports under the Songhai Initiative Project and that an amount of D500,000 be allocated to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for Domestic Cooking Energy,” the committee recommended. It also recommended that an amount of D3,000,000 be allocated to the Ministry of Information under education services and 2,000,000 to the Information Service Program, D7,000,000 be allocated to the Gambia Prisons Services for uniforms and protective gear for inmates and services, D2,000,000 training for both officers and inmates, D1,000,000, and vehicle for the transport of inmates.
“An amount of 2,000,000 be allocated to Fire and Rescue Services under the Ministry of Interior for fuel and lubricants, an amount of 100,000,000 be allocated to the National Roads Authority for road rehabilitation,” FPAC recommends.
The committee further recommends that the chairpersons of all committees must attend subsequent validation of the FPAC Consolidated Report on the budget bilateral.
“Moving forward, all MDAs must submit their staff nominal roll, fixed asset register, and all other relevant supporting documents to the National Assembly, at least 30 days before their budget bilateral with committees, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) should conduct a comprehensive revenue review across government institutions, with a particular focus on self-generated revenues by MDAs, and implement measures to improve domestic revenue mobilization before the 2026 budget bilateral, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) should spearhead an initiative to replace existing streetlights nationwide with solar-powered alternatives to reduce the government’s electricity expenditure,” the committee also recommends.
FPAC recommends that the National Audit Office (NAO) should consider conducting a thorough revenue audit across all MDAs.
“The budget submitted by the Office of National Security (ONS) should be restored by the Ministry of Finance. However, the Operating Costs, totalling D61,980,000 should be reduced to D49,480,000 and the Capital Expenditure D12,500,000 should be reduced to D8,000,000,” recommends FPAC.
“Going forward, the budget line for the Civil Service Staff Loan under Centralized Services needs to be moved to the budget of the Personnel Management Office (PMO), the Ministry of Finance should create a budget line for Arbitration and Court Awards under the Ministry of Justice, rather than under Centralized Services, the Emergency Relief budget line under Centralized Services should be transferred to the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) under the Office of the Vice President, the total amount of 436,000,000 under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the settlement of arrears should be moved to Centralised Services, exchange Concession Allowances (ECA) under MoFEA should remain untouched.”
The committee further recommends that budget of the National Population Secretariat under the Office of the Vice President be increased from D15,170,000 to D18,600,000 to cover the cost of two International Training Programs scheduled for 2025.
‘The budget for the Ombudsman be augmented by D8,000,000 to purchase vehicles which was previously budgeted and omitted by MoFEA, the PE of the National Social Protection Secretariat amounting to D22,000,000 be restored by the Ministry of Finance, an allocation of D6,000,000 be allocated to the National Assembly for the purchase of a staff bus and D3,136,747 for Office Equipment (for middle and lower-level staff),” FPAC recommends.
“Under the Ministry of Trade, The Gambia Standards Bureau is to be allocated 4,100,000 to augment their PE[personnel emoluments], the PE for WALIC under the Ministry of Agriculture be allocated with D16,000,000 and the PE for DLEAG under the Ministry of Interior be augmented to D18,000,000 [and] under MOHERST, the budget line for Open Scholarships be increased by D47,000,000 and School Bus Service (GTSC) be increased by D36,029,209,” it recommends.
