2021 Budget: Understanding your budget
By Ndey Jobarteh
Auditor Said “The Books Are Not Correct”
The Auditor General looked at Government’s accounts for 2021 and gave an Adverse Opinion. That means: “These accounts cannot be trusted. They don’t show the true picture.”
Story of the Missing Rice
Government paid D64 million to buy 58,500 bags of rice.
But only 17,096 bags were delivered.
The rest 41,404 bags never arrived.
Money is gone, rice is missing.
This is taxpayers’ money. Instead of feeding people, it disappeared
Bank Accounts with Problems
Some government bank accounts had negative balances, but they were still reported as if they had cash.
Over D5.7 billion in receipts and D2.5 billion in payments could not be reconciled.
Transit accounts holding D1.1 billion were left uncleared since 2019.
Imagine running a shop and you don’t know where billions of dalasi went. That is what government did.
Fishing and Mining Money Lost
Fishing fines: About D8.7 million from illegal fishing was never collected.
Sand and mining royalties: Over D79 million not recorded.
No proper system to monitor how much black sand was exported.
Our sea and our sand are being taken, but government is not collecting the money for the people
Strange Accounting Tricks
Over D2.7 billion was wrongly classified as “payables” when it was not.
Big differences between cash balances reported in 2020 and 2021.
Even “opening balances” were put in the wrong place.
It looks like the government was hiding holes in the accounts instead of fixing them
Cattle and Court Sales
724 cattle were sold by the Sheriff Division of the High Court.
They should have raised D8.3 million, but no receipts were shown.
Nobody can confirm if that money reached
Debt Getting Bigger
By 2021, The Gambia’s debt was already over D50 billion.
The Government kept borrowing while these leakages continued.
What This Means for us
Food money was stolen. 41,000 bags of rice were paid for, but never seen.
Our resources were looted. Sand and fish money not collected.
Government books are a mess. Billions missing in reconciliations.
Debt is growing. We borrow more, but money keeps leaking.
Ordinary Gambians pay the price: higher cost of living, poor hospitals, and bad roads.
Know your budget!! Next will be 2022!!
Source: Management-Letter-2021-GoTG-Financial-Statement and GoTG-2021-Financial-Statements-Audit-Report-and-AG-Certificate-1-1
