By Kebba AF Touray
The Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of the National Assembly has recommended that the Accountant General be sanctioned should he fail to provide supporting documents for government expenditures totalling more than D1.27 billion, as detailed in its report on the 2020 audited accounts of the Government of The Gambia.
Tabling the report before lawmakers on Thursday, 3rd July 2025, FPAC Chairperson Hon. Alhagie S. Darboe said the findings pointed to grave lapses in financial accountability and transparency.
The Committee noted that twenty (20) payment vouchers on other charges and thirty-two (32) payment vouchers on capital expenditure — amounting to D27,360,324.10 and D1,517,329,882.42 respectively — lacked the required supporting documentation.
“The Committee recommends that the Accountant General should provide sufficient documents supporting the payment vouchers… failure of which the Accountant General shall be sanctioned,” Hon. Darboe said.
The report also exposed issues relating to transfer accounts. According to Hon. Darboe, a review of the Trial Balance revealed that certain accounts were not mapped to any disclosures in the financial statements. Specifically, four accounts had not been cleared to zero by 31 December 2020, with a cumulative balance of D1,006,493,482.00.
FPAC has asked the Accountant General to provide the Committee with full details of an investigation conducted by a Taskforce within the Ministry of Finance within 30 days from the date of the report’s adoption.
FPAC found that $227,210.63, representing 35% of total US Dollar collections for the period under review, had been transferred to the Central Bank’s Dollar account, but questions remain over how the funds were monitored. In light of this, the Committee recommended that the Central Bank of The Gambia provide the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) with user access rights or regular statements to enable reconciliations.
A further discrepancy of D646,959.50 was discovered between daily accumulated collections and amounts transferred to the Escrow account at First International/VISTA Bank, based on scanning fee records. FPAC directed the AGD to investigate and furnish evidence to the Committee within 60 days.
Hon. Darboe told Parliament that revenue collections amounting to D5,097,141.85 from the Departments of Geology and Fisheries were not accompanied by adequate supporting documentation. He said D2,991,957.85 of that amount remained unresolved, particularly within the Fisheries Department. FPAC recommended that the Accountant General complete a thorough investigation and submit the findings within 30 days.
On procurement practices, FPAC flagged two single-source payments totalling D649,300.00, which breached the GPPA (Gambia Public Procurement Authority) thresholds. The threshold for single-sourcing is D20,000 for goods and services, and D50,000 for works. However, no GPPA approval was presented for these transactions.
Hon. Darboe reported: “The Committee recommends that the Accountant General and Vote Controllers be held accountable for all unjustifiable payments that are in breach of the laws and regulations.”
