The
youth sector is one of the most vulnerable sectors when it comes to government
budget allocation and this is manifested in the 2020 national budget, former
presidential affairs minister and an economist has said.
Out
of the D21.2 billion approved by the National Assembly as the budget of the
government for the year 2020, D113.3 million is for the Ministry of Youth and
Sports (MoYS).
Momodou
Sabally said this is a manifestation that the government is not taking youth
issues seriously because the allocation to the youth sector is among the least
in the 2020 budget.
In
an interview with this medium, Mr. Sabally advised government to focus on
development programmes and projects that can create jobs, particularly for the
youth, in order to address challenges such as irregular migration.
Mr. Sabally further cautioned government to
consider increasing the budget allocation for the youth sector.“If we do not
address youth issues, we will continue to witness incidents like the recent
boat tragedy of which over 60 Gambian youth died.”
The
economist, however agrees that the government of President Adama Barrow is
confronted with financial challenges.
“As
a result of this, the government looks into its priority programmes and gives
allocation based on that and this is why some ministries get their budgets
cut,” he said.
The
amount of money allocated to MoYS in the draft budget has been slashed by one
million dalasis in the final approved budget for 2020.
For
Sabally, this is a signal for us to know that the government is crippling to
pay debts, salaries and other expenditures, saying this is why the government
needs to focus more on development programmes.
Half-baked
cake
Mr.
Jawo, deputy permanent secretary, MoYS, frowned at the 2020 budget allocated
for the youth sector, describing it as small compared to other ministries when
the country has a youthful population.
Statistics
have shown that over 60 percent of Gambia’s population is youth.
“This clearly shows that the youth sector
deserves a bigger budget but MoYS receives half-baked cake from the government
allocations,” Mr. Jawo said. “Whenever,
we present our budget to the Ministry of Finance, we’re regarded as a small
ministry when that is not the case.”
The deputy permanent secretary pointed out
that the reduction of MoYS 2020 budget would “greatly affect” the
implementation of planned youth programmes on irregular migration and skills
apprenticeship.
“Addressing these programmes by the ministry
and its satellite institutions would be affected,” he said.
He added that one of the main challenges of
MoYS, in addition to the budget shortfall, is that the allocated funds are
hardly released on time.
“The ministry finds it very difficult to
receive funds from the Ministry of Finance, our funds are not disbursed
timely,” Jawo lamented.
According to him, in some cases, the
ministry’s satellite institutions will send a request to MoFEA, but before the
funds are received, the deadline for the planned activities would have elapsed.
The four satellite institutions of MoYS are:
National Youth Council (NYC), National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS), National
Enterprise Development Initiative (NEDI), and the President International Award
Scheme (PIA).
“It is always a stumbling block for MoYS and
its satellite institutions to get its already approved budget from the Ministry
of Finance,” he said. “This should not
be the case; why do we have to be following-up a request for weeks or months?”
Consolidation
Mr.
Jawo noted that there is a need for other ministries that have programmes for
youth to merge these programmes.
For example, he said, there are programmes for
youth focusing on agriculture through Ministry for Agriculture, so it would
have been prudent for the ministries of agriculture and that of youth to
consolidate their youth programmes to maximize resources with the outcome in
favour of youth.
As part of the internal consolidation drive,
the MoYS policy and all other acts governing MoYS satellite institutions would
be matched to minimise costs.
DPS Jawo disclosed that The Gambia Songhai
Initiative (GSI) in Chamen, North Bank Region would be replicated in Kundam
village, Upper River Region.
Crossroad
A youth activist, Saiba T. Susso, said the
country is at a crossroad as a result of heavy dependence on grants and loans
to develop the economy.
“This is not sustainable,” he said, adding
that the impact of all the grants and loans the country is receiving from
development partners is hardly felt on the youth, in terms of creating the much
needed employment and essential vocational skills.
“Mismanagement of funds through corruption has
become an order of the day,” Suso said.
“Considering the grants and loans received by
the government, the poverty level in this country should drastically reduce,”
Mr. Suso said. “But the contrary is
true; the poverty level is increasing daily.”
Not proportionate
The executive director of the National Youth
Council (NYC), Mr. Lamin Darboe, said the budget allocation for MoYS “is not
proportionate at all.”
“The budget allocation to the youth is not
enough and the government needs to do more for the young people,” he declared.
“If our young people do not have opportunity
here, there will be more from rural to urban or from urban to other parts of
the world for greener pasture,” he said.
Mr. Darboe expressed concern on the fact the
total amount of funds approved for MoYS and its satellite institutions for 2019
were not disbursed.
“We did not receive the entire funds allocated
for the NYC in 2019 and it has been the case throughout,” he lamented.
“Last week [11 December, 2019] all the
satellite institutions of MoYS were at the Ministry of Finance requesting for
our allocation because we need it to spend on our services but up to the time
of this interview, we’re yet to receive the money.”
The NYC Executive Director further stated that
the Council’s subvention from MoYS for salaries and other logistics is small,
and therefore, their support to youth groups is limited.
“This
is not even enough at all,” Darboe affirmed.
“That is why even though the budget has been increased, I’m not excited
simply because the increment does not mean the funds will be disbursed on
time,” Mr. Darboe.
Going forward, the NYC executive director said
the institutions planned programmes for 2020 include running a National Youth
Volunteer Programme and Job Matching.
This
programme, he said, is initiated to positively impact the lives of young people
but the key challenge the institution has been grappling with is, approved
budgets are not disbursed.
“It is difficult to create opportunities for
young people if resources are not available or not disbursed when the need
arises,” he said.
