If the IMF, WB and EU could give Gambia money but with strings attached, they can equally help it deal with corruption.
The apparent laisez faire attitude of these financing institutions towards the deepening public perception of official corruption in the country has yet to be understood.
Despite pumping millions of dollars or euros into the country for the prosperity of its people, the IMF,EU and World Bank do not appear to give two hoots about how their money is being spent.
Isn’t this puzzling?
Why deprive EU citizens of their tax money only to be spent here in The Gambia for personal development?
Why would IMF and World Bank stuff our coffers with dollars as budget support to cushion the impact of the Ukraine war and the lingering effects of Covid yet food prices continue to balloon on daily basis?
Yet IMF and World Bank seem unbothered about how their money is being spent.
Isn’t this enough to beat one’s imagination?
The Barrow government has apparently shown no will to get tough on corruption.
The government is currently sitting on audit reports and, at a time when the masses expect it to rise to the occasion.
Public concern has been mounting over suspected procurement malpractices, which many believe, could be engendering financial haemorrhage in the system.
Huge sums of public money have been spent on frivolous affairs such as the money allocated to the health minister for a visit of families of AKI victims, the D10m for President Barrow’s recent Meet The People Tour, government ferrying illiterates and semi-literates to the UN General Assembly, government officials driving tax payer-funded cars worth D3m, President Barrow’s bumper salary, the unaccounted Covid-19 funds, incessant international travels by government officials as means for personal aggrandizement and, things we could not mention here, should make our partners in development sit up with concern.
The penny wiseness and pound foolishness of our government must stop.
And, EU, IMF and World Bank could help in this direction.
