By: Binta Jaiteh
National Assembly Members (NAMs) Monday asked the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Seedy Keita to reveal the total expenditure of all government ministries and agencies.
The questions were raised shortly after Minister Keita’s presentation of the 2025 first quarter report on the annual budget implementation and monitoring.
NAM Sainey Jawara from Lower Saloum stressed that the report was not submitted on time due to that fact lawmakers would find it difficult to scrutinize the report.
“If there are objections in the report, how can we know without going thoroughly through the document? We want to know the actual expenditure spent by every department and agencies in the first quarter of 2025,” he queried.
“We have series of complains from departments, ministries and agencies regarding funding. We only see written documents without knowing whether the implementation was done accurately. This is a parliamentary work because it needs transparency and accountability,” he said.
For her part, the Banjul South NAM Fatoumata Njie reiterated that the Minister should provide all the expenditure of the various ministries and government agencies so that they can be monitored by the parliament.
She urged the minister to provide the complete report of the first quarter and second quarter of the budget. “I am worried about the increase in total revenue from taxes. The tax has increased drastically and that can have implications for the citizens. The citizens are paying more taxes while their living standard is still poor and expensive,” Hon. Njie said.
Lawmaker from Banjul Central, Abdoulie Njie questioned government’s expenditure increment by 25% year by year despite efforts to curtail spending. “There is mismatch between high revenue collection and rising deficit,” he observed.
Responding to queries and questions, Minister Keita admitted that government’s expenditure increment year by year was due to programs.
“The budget is nothing but a reflection of government policies. The payroll has increased and so with the infrastructure space. The non-tax revenue is a concern and action will be taken,” Minister Keita assured.