By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
The Gambia is undergoing transitional change under a government expected to implement reforms and a new constitution. Many are asking if the country is implementing a system change or regime change. The day President Adama Barrow announced that all Government Ministers were to declare their assets, New Gambia’s rising sun glittered on the horizon. Sadly though, the beacon of hope (to address corruption) became overrun by dark clouds in the shape of deadline postponements and finally blotted out by a U-turn announcement. The President’s Office finally conceding to pressure announced that all asset declarations will be made to the Office of the Ombudsman. This left many scratching their heads asking ‘what was the rationale for asset declaration if they could not be made public?’
If the Gambia is to have any chance to even monitor and combat corruption the New Gambia needs to equip itself with all the necessary tools to counter this menace. Unlike many West African countries, The Gambia does not have an anti-corruption unit dedicated to combatting corruption in the vast scale being unveiled in the Janneh Commission. It is in every citizen’s interest to avoid a reoccurrence of the corruption orchestrated by the previous regime. In the absence of a Freedom of Information Act, there are no clear means for citizens to access information and hold public officials to account. This article looks at some tools to combat corruption in The Gambia.
The national assembly acts as the second branch of the Government and plays a key role in implementing progressive legislative reforms. During a ‘Dialogue with the People’ in London on 14th October 2017, Gainako’s Flex Dan had the opportunity to pose a question to National Assembly Member Hon. Halifa Sallah. You can listen to the audio version here.
Flex Dan – Corruption in The Gambia and what are we doing about it? Today everyone is counting the millions of Dalasis stolen via the Janneh commission. Time is of the essence because, in today’s world, money is easily moved around into offshore accounts. Revelations by the Panama Papers highlight millions of dollars in accounts named under Jammeh’s close associates. Why is this important? We all in the West know how asset declaration is supposed to work. What is your opinion on the asset declaration of Government ministers which has not been made public? Although you’re not in the cabinet are you ready to set an example by making your assets public to inspire other leaders to do likewise?
Hon. Halifa Sallah – Well I’ll start with the last question, I’m ashamed to declare my assets. But if you insist I will definitely be very willing to declare my assets. We’ve already declared it at the IEC, it’s just a question of making it public. We’ll stand at the corner I will definitely be very proud to declare my assets as an example. But in terms of asset declaration that is the object, it’s a requirement. Nobody can be a National Assembly Member or a President without declaring one’s assets to the IEC and without also Payments having tax clearance. Those are provisions of the constitution and it has been done. There is nobody who is a National Assembly Member or a President who has not yet declared their assets. What is important is to use that to be able to gauge after a person finishes ones mandate what has been accumulated during that period.
So it’s very easy to be able to conduct asset evaluation after a person leaves office to be able to identify whether the person has accumulated more than what one legitimately should have accumulated at that time. And that’s why many people will divert their assets and put it under wives and other relatives and etc. So it is a useful instrument in public service an instrument that I support and I agree 100% with you. That after every declaration once you finish office that declaration should be made public and you should be made to also declare another asset as you are leaving public office so that people will be able to gauge what you have gained from public office. That will be one instrument controlling diversion of public assets.
Number two in terms of the current situation what is important is that the government has taken over a country the starting point for me for me is auditing all public enterprises to know what we have inherited. I’ve constantly emphasized that in parliament am sure if you’re following the national assembly. That the starting point for me is precisely that. So that you know what you have and as you audit all enterprises you will actually see whatever hole exist there and all revelations will come.
In the same vein, the person who is incumbent has declared his assets to the IEC. This is a good opportunity to make that declaration public. To know exactly what that person owns and if there is any other wealth anywhere that is not declared, that’s undeclared assets so it means that does not belong to the individual unless the individual goes to court and tries to prove that those assets belong. So those are starting points if you want to deal with the past in order to move towards a better future. Because the objective is to prevent a reoccurrence and as long as you have not audited the public enterprises which exist it means that what is happening cannot be known. And therefore reoccurrence cannot be completely prevented. I, therefore, say that observation is enlightening. We hope that Government will take issue with that and active work will be done to ensure that all public enterprises are audited as quickly as possible so that the starting point to prevent a reoccurrence.
1 Comment
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