By: Kemo Kanyi
The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, has disclosed that the government of The Gambia has allocated one hundred million dalasi for The Gambia’s Diamond Jubilee independence celebrations.
He dismissed as false romours that the government has injected more a D100M into the celebrations.
Dr. Ceesay explained that the allocation was not confined to the Independence Day activities alone but included expenses on gears for the security forces, other equipment and a whole range of activities undertaken by the State as part of the commemorations.
“Claims were circulating that the government spent over D150 million dalasi. I have also seen someone using an Artificial Intelligence voice, saying that the government has spent two million dollars on the independence celebration. I can confirm that these are false. What the government has allocated, according to the figures we have, was D100 million for the Diamond Jubilee Independence celebration,” the information minister said in an interview on Coffee Time With Peter Gomez.
“This celebration does not only stop on the 18th of February. This is an important year for The Gambia and the celebration will go throughout the year. The inaugurations and commissioning of the projects, new uniforms for the security and other necessities when all these were put together it is capped at D100 million dalasi,” he added.
He emphasized that the current government, under President Adama Barrow, is the most transparent in the history of the country, stating that they [government] have nothing to hide from the public and they are delivering as expected.
