By: M. Justice Darboe
The Commissioner General of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), Hon. Yankuba Darboe, has made an impassioned call on African countries to rethink their approach to revenue mobilization and prioritize self-reliance.
The GRA boss re-emphasized the need and urgency for African countries to wean themselves of aid dependency and look inwards for their development.
Hon. Darboe was speaking at the 11th International Conference of West Africa Union of Tax Institute (WAUTU) in Accra, Ghana recently.
The conference was held under the theme Domestic Revenue Mobilization in the Wake of Dwindling Aid Flows and Increased Debts…Strategies for Developing Economies.
According to CG Darboe, the theme of the gathering was both timely and critical for “our collective progress” as developing nations.
“On behalf of the GRA, I commend the organizers for bringing together key stakeholders, experts, policy-makers to deliberate on a subject of utmost importance-domestic revenue mobilization in an era of dwindling aid and mounting debt. As developing economies, we face a dual challenge, declaring external aid an unsustainable debt levels. This constraint demands we rethink traditional approach and prioritize self-reliance. Domestic revenue mobilization is no longer a choice; it is an imperative for financing development, reducing inequality and securing the future of our nations,” Darboe underlined. He added: “We cannot underplay this particular theme or topic. We have all realized what is happening in the world. Without trying to offend anyone, we’ve all realized the statement from the West, particularly the USA that all the aid will be stopped for almost all the developing countries. So, that has given us the opportunity, particularly the tax administrations as well as the ministries that are responsible for tax administration to look at ourselves and think deeply and change our approaches towards revenue mobilization for our development.”
He underscored the need for African countries to consolidate their domestic revenue generation capabilities to enable them exclusively decide how their money would be used.
“It is always good to create something for yourself rather than be depending on people to create something for you because that is not sustainable. If I have a father and depend on my father for my daily feeding, there will become a time my father will tell me…Go and look for something for yourself. So, we’ve got to that level now. We have to do something for ourselves as African countries to make sure that whatever we are able to create in terms of revenue, we will have the 100% right to use it wherever we want to use it, but if you depend on somebody dashing you something, he or she has to control where the money that he/she dashed you would go,” stressed CG Darboe.
“So, this is very important that we have a gathering here today and we are directing our discussions towards domestic revenue mobilization. In today’s evolving economic landscape, developing economies must strengthen their revenue generation frameworks to ensure sustainable development and financial resilience. The challenges posed by declining external assistance and increasing debt burden require innovative, home-grown solution to bolster domestic revenue mobilization. This conference provides a crucial platform for dialogue and collaboration in this regard,” he acknowledged.
The Gambia’s revenue mobilization boss further acknowledged that the carefully-selected theme underscored the urgency for developing countries to adapt their tax systems to contemporary realities.