The
permanent secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Buah
Saidy, has described as ‘‘transparent, honest and accountable’’ the efforts of
his ministry in the resource mobilisation and distribution of the national
covid-19 relief fund/package.
PS
Saidy, who is one of the leading and most experienced economists in the
country, made the remarks during a lengthy discussion on the Good Morning
Gambia breakfast show on GRTS, where he discussed the government’s covid-19
emergency fund as well as the emergency food support initiative.
‘’The
covid-19 emergency response fund [D500 million dalasi] is totally independent
of the budgetary allocations of the Ministry of Health. The funds are in a
separate project account and it is managed by an independent committee
co-chaired by the permanent secretaries of the ministries of health and
finance’’, PS Saidy said, indicating that the intergovernmental body was
established to ensure accountability while enabling the state to respond to the
pandemic quickly with limited bureaucratic red-tape.
‘’It
also comprises of different stakeholders such the Accountant General, Director
General Gambia Public Procurement Authority, Director General Internal Audit
Office, and the Director of Health’’
Mr.
Saidy added that the entire D500 million emergency fund was sourced
domestically by cutting the budgetary allocations of the various government
ministries, agencies, and departments.
“As
of Friday, the total expenditure from the D512 million was D160 million. The
expenditure is mostly on medical equipment, supplies, training, purchase of
ambulances, pick-up trucks for frontline workers, hotel accommodation for
quarantined individuals, repair of health facilities, among other needs,’’ he
further explained.
The
Finance PS also clarified that the $10 million from the World Bank was never
handed to the Gambia government; instead, it was used, in collaboration with
the World Bank, to purchase vital medical equipment like ventilators,
ambulances, medical supplies, etc. from the Republic of Turkey.
Monitoring
Food Support Fund
When
asked about the management and control mechanisms to ensure the proper and fair
utility of the Emergency Food Support Funds, PS Saidy said the Ministry of
Finance has put in place adequate measures that would ensure transparent and
accountable spending.
‘‘We
do not provide resources and set it on autopilot and sit down..armchair
financing. We are very much involved [in managing and monitoring the finances]
because, at the end of the day, when the dust settles, we have to go back to
the people and the National Assembly to explain how the funds were spent. With
that in mind, we have set up committees to procure the food supplies and also
create the necessary infrastructure to distribute the food to the people
fairly. come with this food basket. It includes World Food Programmes, Gambia
Bureau of Statistics, NaNA, the Department of the Strategic Planning at the
presidency.’’
Mr.
Saidy, who once worked at the IMF in Washington D.C. as senior advisor to the
executive director, said the fallout from the pandemic will have global
ramifications, particularly for small economies like ours.
As
soon as the viral outbreak was declared a pandemic, he explained that the
Ministry of Finance did a preliminary assessment of the potential effect of the
pandemic on our economy and briefed the National Assembly accordingly. The
Ministry’s assessment projected a decline in real GDP growth of the economy
from 6.2 percent to 3.2 percent. It was realised that it would lead to
disruptions to key sectors of the economy such as tourism, trade, FDI,
remittances, employment, among others, which informed the government’s decision
to initiate these relief packages.
Nfally
Fadera
Media
and Communication Advisor, MOFEA
