Gambian lawmakers have been tasked to scrutinize the estimates of revenue and expenditure for the fiscal year 2027 with objectivity, responsibility, independence, and fiscal discipline.
The lawmakers were also strongly urged not to utilize the budget bilateral as an opportunity to be “defense lawyers” of their respective line Ministries, Agencies, and Departments.
These calls were made on Saturday, 26th September 2026, during the opening of the 2027 pre-budget retreat by the National Assembly.
Mrs. Anneta Mahoney, Programs Director of Gambia Participate, told lawmakers that “the national budget is one of the most consequential documents any government produces. It is not merely a set of numbers. It is a statement of priorities, a reflection of values, a roadmap on how our resources entrusted to the state will be used to improve the lives of citizens.”
She said that decisions made in the course of this retreat will shape the resources available for healthcare, education, agriculture, infrastructure, security, and many other sectors that Gambians rely on daily.
“They will also shape how ordinary citizens experience the presence or absence of government in their lives over the coming year,” she added.
She reiterated the commitment of Gambia Participate to supporting the National Assembly in fulfilling this role, whether through research, technical support, capacity-building engagements, or by helping create platforms for dialogue between citizens and their elected representatives.
In his welcoming statement, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Khalipha MM Mbye, said that no tax may be levied and no public expenditure may be incurred without the authority of the National Assembly.
“Yet, this power can only be exercised meaningfully if it is backed by knowledge, preparation, and rigorous analysis. It is for this reason that this Retreat has, over the years, become an indispensable feature of our budget calendar,” he said.
Clerk Mbye drew the attention of the lawmakers to the fiscal pressures presented by the budgets of certain independent institutions, some of which represent significant and growing pressure points on the national budget.
He thus encouraged the members to pay close attention to the presentation by MoFEA, stating that the objective is to deepen collective understanding of the fiscal pressures within the budget and the difficult choices that may arise.
He pointed out, “The reality is that, without carefully managing these pressures, the Ministry may face increasing difficulty in balancing the national budget without making significant reductions in other critical sectors. This is therefore an important area for informed parliamentary scrutiny.”
As the parliament approaches the budget bilateral, he underscored the significant role of the lawmakers in those engagements and cautioned that “these engagements should not be approached as an opportunity for Members to lobby on behalf of particular sectors or to advocate for the expansion of individual budgetary allocations.”
He stressed that “the constitutional responsibility of the National Assembly is to scrutinize the proposals placed before it, interrogate the assumptions and priorities underpinning those proposals, assess their value, sustainability, and alignment with national priorities, and ultimately make informed recommendations.”
“Our Committees must therefore approach these engagements with objectivity, independence, and fiscal discipline. We must listen carefully to the case presented by each sector, but we must also ask the difficult questions,” he tasked lawmakers.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Fabakary Tombong Jatta, said that from the 2023 budget to 2026 appropriation, the parliament has dealt with, scrutinized, and debated complex fiscal issues, budget allocation issues, and national priorities across political divides, and worked persistently “to promote the welfare and interest of the Gambian people.”
As the parliament stands on another threshold of the budget cycle, he told lawmakers that “the sovereign people of The Gambia look to us once more, and they expect us to complete this legislative journey, not with fatigue or complacency, but with the highest measure of diligence, rigor, and responsibility.”
Furthermore, he told the legislators that the country is entering an electoral season, and political winds across the country will soon gather strength, appealing to members to rise above partisan politics.
“When we sit in the Committee of Supply to examine the national budget, we do so first and foremost as representatives of the Gambian people, and the needs of our citizens must not be discriminated along political lines,” he told lawmakers.
“Let our scrutiny therefore be thorough, rigorous, constructive—not for partisan destruction but for national interest.”
