By Kebba AF Touray
Hon. Suwaibou Touray, the National Assembly Member for Wuli East has called for proper management of the Gambia’s debt during the recent debate on the 2025 budget estimates without which he said, the country’s economy will not kick-off. Hon. Touray made this call on Wednesday, 27 November 2024, during the debate on the 2025 budget estimates and the consolidated report of the Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) at the Legislative House in Banjul.
On the delay in laying the budget estimates, Hon. Touray cited Section 110 of the constitution which empowers the National Assembly to hold a particular Minister for contempt of the Assembly, and liable to reprimand or admonition by the Assembly, adding that the constitution has clearly stated what they can do as legislators in such situations.
“If we are to determine whether our economy is on a firm trajectory, we should be able to reduce the amount of interest we pay to international lenders in order to save money to invest in the productive areas of the economy. But failure to do this, we will continue to face the same challenges we continue to face since independence,” the Wuli East Lawmaker asserted.
He challenged his colleagues to do their utmost and limit the number of loans that the country continues to accumulate so that we can invest to maximize income from non-tax sources which will in turn, will help the government to engage in further investments. He analyzed that since the country cannot wean itself from loans, “our debt interest payments will continue to spiral and will compel the country to commit much of its budget to debt services.’’
This, he said, is the very reason why the country must pay debt collectors more than 11 Billion Dalasi, for the year 2025. Hon Touray expressed concern regarding the management of the country’s debt, adding that if the country’s debt is not properly managed, the economy will not take off. He said if they want the enormity of the debt crisis or want to know whether it is sustainable or not, they would have to look at the allocations to various Ministries in comparison to the amount allocated to debt services.
Touray then cited the allocations to the following Ministries as Agriculture:- D389 million; Tourism-D54.2 million; Transport and Works-D2 billion; Basic Education-D5 Billion; Gender-D97 million; Fisheries and Water Resources-D58 million; Health-D2.6 billion and Interior D2.0 billion.
“The allocation to debt services is almost equal to all the allocations to these Ministries combined. These are the areas that require much investment if the economy is to pick up. Instead, it is to invest in loans rather than investing in the productive sectors of the economy,” Hon. Touray said.
On taxation, Hon. Touray said the Assembly should focus on the tax levied on the people, as everything seems to be increased. He cited a few items that have increased exponentially such as motor vehicle license (registration), ordinary number plates from D19.6 million-D26.3 million; and driving licenses from D31 million-D67 million. The items he cited also include Immigration fees of D33 million-D89 million; passport fees of D114 million-D127 million; and ID Card sales of D15 million-D80 million, which he said all these would impact the lives of the citizenry.
Hon. Touray asked the Minister to explain how these increments have been done because everything is lumped together instead of being disaggregated for them to know whether it is the cost that goes up.
On Salary increment, he thanked the Minister for answering their call on the issue of salaries for low-income earners. He said they have been clamoring for restructuring salaries since 2017, acknowledging that even though this may not solve the problem, it is better than nothing and is commendable.
On the Senegambia bridge, Hon. Touray said the non-tax revenue expected from the bridge amounts to D3.5 billion (50 million US Dollars), as the second tranche of the Asset Recycling Program. He argued that the agreement is an international agreement as per Section 79 of the Constitution, and said this is required to be tabled before the National Assembly for approval, which has not been done.
“Embedding this tranche receipt in the budget again will simply inflate the estimates because one does not know if it will be approved by the parliament or not,” he said.
Hon. Touray raised the question as to what is happening to the mining of minerals and sand and said the amount expected from quarrying royalties amounts to only D181 million, while mining royalties is D188 Million dalasi. This, he said, appears too minimal.
