By Yankuba Jallow
The National Assembly Member for Foni Bintant Karanai, Hon. Bakary Badjie, has raised concerns over The Gambia’s rising public debt, saying the growing cost of debt servicing is putting pressure on essential public services and limiting the government’s ability to meet the needs of ordinary citizens.
Speaking during the National Assembly’s debate on the 2027 national budget, Badjie said the country’s debt had risen from D47 billion in 2017 to D144 billion, an increase of D97 billion, questioning whether the country was managing its finances in a way that would benefit its people.
“In 2017, the debt of the country was at D47 billion. Today, the debt of the country is at D144 billion,” he said.
“Within a period of 10 years, we are able to accumulate a debt of D97 billion and we are proudly saying this is the growth and this is how we want to run our nation.”
Badjie said the amount allocated to debt servicing had become a major concern, arguing that it was taking up resources that could otherwise support education, healthcare and other key sectors.
He said the government’s budget for the year stood at D66 billion, with D16 billion allocated to debt servicing.
“Most of our budget, we are having this year, D66 billion as a budget. And D16 billion out of that D66 billion, all is going into debt servicing,” he said.
“Debt servicing has become too costly for us to run, far more than any ministry, far more than four of the most sensitive ministries in the country.”
He compared the debt servicing allocation with the combined budgets of the ministries responsible for basic and secondary education, health, and higher education, saying the amount spent on debt servicing exceeded their combined allocations.
“Join the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education. Join the Ministry of Health. Join the Ministry of Higher Education and put all these ministries together. What we are using for debt servicing is far more than what we are budgeting for these various ministries,” he said.
The lawmaker urged the government to acknowledge the scale of the problem and work towards practical solutions, saying the country could not address its challenges by refusing to confront the facts.
“Now, the reason as to why we are facing challenges in the health sector, in other sectors, is because some of the people, as I always say, are allergic to the truth,” he said.
“If we accept this reality in our own ways, then we find solutions. But if you see the reality and you negate it, you reject it, you are allergic to the truth, then we will not have solutions to the problem that we face.”
He added: “But we must admit it in our hearts that this is the truth and let us work to have a solution to the matter.”
Badjie also highlighted outstanding payments within the education sector, saying arrears owed by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education were approaching D1 billion.
He said the outstanding bills covered several areas, including transport and tuition fees, and called on the Ministry of Finance to explain how the government intended to settle them.
“Honourable Speaker, looking at the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, their areas as it stands today is nearly close to a billion dalasi,” he said.
“The areas for the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, ranging from transport, ranging from tuition fees, ranging from different sectors.”
He warned that the unpaid bills were affecting educational institutions and training bodies, including the university, the University of Education and the Gambia Technical Training Institute, referred to in his speech as GTSC.
“These are the challenges that we must have solutions to and the Ministry of Finance must tell us how they want to actually settle these areas,” he said.
“These are areas that are handicapping the university, they’re handicapping the University of Education as well, handicapping GTSC, and these are things that we as a nation must be ready to solve once and for all.”
The lawmaker also referred to scholarship arrears under the Ministry of Higher Education, saying the outstanding amount was about D180 million.
“The Honourable Member here also spoke about the Ministry of Higher Education having an area on scholarship, an area of around D180 million,” he said.
“This is definitely too much and we must have solutions to all this.”
Badjie questioned whether the national budget was doing enough to improve the lives of people facing poverty and unemployment, urging lawmakers to consider who ultimately benefited from public spending.
He said the budget should not serve only those already employed by the state or holding public office, but should also address the needs of unemployed young people and poor households.
“Now, when we draw budgets, for instance, when we have a budget, what comes to mind? Why are we budgeting? Who is benefiting from the budget?” he asked.
“Is that old woman in Bolibanna benefiting from the budget? Is that Gambian youth going to benefit from the budget? The one who is not employed, is the individual going to benefit from the budget?”
He challenged the government to explain what opportunities its spending would create for people without jobs.
“Or this budget is merely for the members of parliament, ministers, and all those that are employed. What about those that are not employed? What kind of job do you want to create for them?” he asked.
“This should be the thinking for a nation to progress.”
The lawmaker also criticised spending on workshops, arguing that the budget should focus more directly on the needs of ordinary citizens.
“And we cannot have all our budgets on workshops and workshops on things that we already know that these are things that exist, but we are there to discuss things that we know to distribute money among ourselves,” he said.
“This is an injustice and this is painful and we must try to reflect.”
He called for a budget that gave greater attention to poor people and ensured citizens could see how public spending would improve their lives.
“The budget should now try to reflect on the people of our country, those that are poor, and everybody should be able to see yourself in this budget that we are actually passing,” he said.
The Foni Bintant Karanai lawmaker also criticised civil service salaries, saying the pay received by teachers, police officers, nurses and agricultural workers was inadequate to meet their daily needs.
He described the situation as unjust and warned that continued low wages could have serious consequences if the government failed to address the problem.
“Honourable Speaker, when it comes to salary increment, I am someone who believes that the salaries, the way the Gambians are paid, the civil servants from the teachers going to the police officers, going to the nurse, going to the agriculturists, it’s all injustice,” he said.
“And injustice is painful and can lead to anything in the long run.”
Badjie said many civil servants earned less than €200 a month, with the average, according to his estimate, falling below €150.
“Now, how much are we paying them? This is less than €200 per month, most of them. In fact, the average is less than €150 per month,” he said.
He urged the government to find ways to generate more revenue and improve public sector pay, arguing that the 2027 budget did not provide for a salary increase.
“The Gambia is ranked among the lowest salary-paying countries in West Africa. This, we must work out of it, and we cannot be celebrating things that are not achieved,” he said.
“Now, solutions must, we must work out to generate more funds so as to increase the salaries of the civil servants.”
He added: “And in this year’s budget, 2027, there is no setting where there is a need or where they want to increase salaries.”
Badjie said restructuring salaries would help improve the living conditions of workers and enable them to contribute more effectively to national development.
He argued that investment in roads and other infrastructure should be matched by better pay for the people expected to use and benefit from those developments.
“Because if you build roads, if you build whatever you are claiming to build, you need good companies, and you are not building their houses for them. So they need to have money to be able to build their houses,” he said.
He said some workers struggled to afford even their daily transport to work and were forced to borrow money to survive until the end of the month.
“In fact, the money that you are giving to them, they are unable to transport themselves to work. And in fact, it’s not, it’s unable to sustain them,” he said.
“Before another month’s end, they are on loan, and loan, and loan.”
Badjie called for a lasting solution to the problem, saying the country needed to improve workers’ living conditions rather than allow them to remain trapped in debt.
“So it’s a process where we must stop enslaving our people and find a permanent solution towards this, and on this problem that we continue to face,” he said.