Although Parliamentarians failed to perform budget oversight, our latest publication on the government's expenditure reveals that the Office of the President has overspent by over D130 million for the first 11 months of 2024. More in our latest budget report.

Months after GAMCEL employees raised concerns over unpaid salaries, the Gambian government has secured a $10 million World Bank bailout to cover their arrears. Finance Minister Seedy Keita confirmed that the funds, part of a broader budget support grant, were used to pay staff for December 2024 and January 2025. However, with GAMCEL still operating at a financial loss, employees fear the crisis is far from over. More in the report.

As the government struggles to balance revenue collection and expenditure, a concerning trend persists with debt servicing continuing to consume a substantial portion of the national budget. More in the report.

This publication interrogates the question of whether Parliament and the Executive have violated the law with regards to budget implementation by making reference to legal provisions and highlighting instances when this legal requirement has been ignored. This leaves the door open for waste, fraud, and abuse to continue unabated in The Gambia.

The Minister for Public Service, Hon. Baboucarr Boye revealed that he saved D13.5 million monthly after temporarily stopping salary payments to ‘ghost workers’. According to Hon. Boye, his ministry has discovered 2,700 ‘ghost workers’ after 2,142 were uncovered from the Ministries of Health, Basic and Secondary Education, and Agriculture in 2024. More in this feature report.

Last week, a notice from the Gambia National Assembly’s Office of the Clerk addressed to Parliamentarians highlighted that finances for the 2024 Constituency Development Fund would not be disbursed. Our reporter managed to contact the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Clerk on the issue and also featured reactions from Parliamentarians on the cancellation. More in this feature report.

This publication reveals how Parliamentarians deducted over D740 million from the Draft 2025 Appropriation Bill and distributed the same amount on the Approved 2025 Appropriation Bill. Our calculations and research make use of Parliament’s report recommending cuts and additions. More in the report.

On the same week of the 2025 Budget Speech, two of the highest-profile officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) have announced that the lowest wage (take home) of civil servants will increase to D6,000 for the lowest Grade 1.1 from January 2025.

Our FactCheckers went to work and sought additional confirmation from the Ministry Of Finance and Economic Affairs Gambia - MOFEA who confirmed our figures for this publication.

Four Gambian Civil Society Advocates have filed a lawsuit against the state in the Supreme Court against the Finance Minister’s alleged failure to table the 2025 budget as mandated by the amended 1997 Constitution today, 19th December 2024.

During the tabling of the 2025 Executive Budget, Finance Minister Hon. Seedy Keita claimed wrongly that salaries have increased by 110% during President Barrow’s tenure. Our FactCheckers have investigated this and verified calculations with a senior government official and an economist showing this to be inaccurate.