By: Kebba AF Touray
Gambia’s Finance Minister, Mamburay Njie, has asked the National Assembly to give them more time for him to prepare quarterly reports and make comprehensive analysis on the actuals on the country’s annual budget and the debt portfolio.
Minister Njie made this request on Monday 15th March 2021, at the National Assembly during his appearance before the legislative body to deliver a quarterly report on the country’s appropriation budget and debt portfolio.
The exercise aims to provide a comprehensive report for legislators to know how the money appropriated for national development purposes is utilized and the state of the country’s debt portfolio.
“What we generate for our reports are quarterly reports and we always make a comparative analysis at the end of the quarter. So we have another week or two for the end of March and it will also coincide with the March report on the country’s debt portfolio report,” he said.
“So we are respectfully requesting for us to be allowed to report in first week of April so that we will provide both the actuals for end of March quarter, allow us to do the comparative analysis and we will also report on the country’s debt portfolio.”
He said their request, if granted, will permit them to do the reconciliation to ensure that whatever they are reporting will not be half paged.
Meanwhile, the speaker of the national assembly, Mariam Jack-Denton, said the Standing Orders are very clear on widening the session, stating that it will be still within the session. She reminded the lawmakers that standing order 48(6) states that after the statements have been delivered, questions will be allowed on the statement but the questioning period should not exceed one hour.
“Let us comply with the rules and regulations so that we will all be together,” she told the Finance Minister.
Minister Njie’s request was granted and he was subsequently rescheduled to reappear before the assembly to deliver reports on the appropriation budget and the nation’s debt portfolio before the end of the current session.
