By Kebba AF Touray
The Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) has recommended the allocation of seven hundred million (D700 Million) to capitalize the Gambia Groundnut Corporation (GGC), now called the National Food Security Processing and Marketing Corporation (NFSPMC). It further recommended D16 million for WALIC’s PE and OC that was omitted to be from the savings made by FPAC and to tap D20 million from the Centralised Services and pay it as NARI’s arrears to social security.
The Committee explained that the Select Committee has thoroughly reviewed and scrutinized the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture with a focus on ensuring the allocation of resources needed to meet the Ministry’s objectives.
According to FPAC, during the process, the Committee could not make any deduction from the Ministry’s budget. However, they recommended an inclusion below the budget lines, PEs, and OCs, for the subvented institutions that were omitted. These recommendations from FPAC are contained in their report on the 2025 estimates of revenue and expenditure for the Gambia.
“FPAC recommended that GGC’s areas of D553 million be tapped from the Centralized Services to pay the debt. An allocation of D700 million for the Capitalization of GGC for the year 2025, be considered by the National Assembly,” the FPAC Chairperson said.
He said the Committee recommended an allocation of 60 million on the reparation budget line and support for victims.
“Consequently, the committee recommends the reallocating of D3,500,000 under the recurrent budget to various budget lines,” he said on Ministry of Youth and Sport.
Regarding the Tourism Ministry, he said the committee also recommended that the D2,000,000 under the recurrent budget be redistributed to various budget lines, adding that this redistribution is born out of their observation that budget line 2221124 (Operating Costs) for the Ministry, appeared in both the Recurrent and Development Budget.
On Fire and Rescue Services, he said an amount of D2,000,000 is needed to increase the purchase of fuel and lubricants in the budget line (2213101) to D11,000,000.
“Additionally, an amount of D500,000 is required to augment the estimated amount to D3,500,000 under the travel expenses budget line (2211101),” Hon Darboe said.
On Prisons, he said an allocation of D7,550,000 is highly required to be distributed to the previously unallocated items such as maintenance of equipment D150,000; uniforms, and protective clothing D2,000,000 (D1,500,000 for officers and 500,000 for inmates).
He added that the items also include a budget of D1,000,000 to support the training of officers at tertiary institutions and other capacity-building initiatives; D4,000,000 for the purchase of a new truck; support to Juvenile inmates’ rehabilitation, and D200,000 to support the training of juvenile inmates.
On the Drug Law Enforcement Agency-The Gambia, he said an additional amount of D44,259,000 should be allocated to the Agency to allow for the recruitment of more personnel.
