By Tabora Bojang
A budget line of D19.6 million has been set aside for lease of a property in London used by the Gambia High Commission in the UK.
The budget, a significant increment from the D500,000 allocated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was recommended by the National Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs and adopted by the plenary.
The majority leader Billay G Tunkara, who is also a member of the Assembly foreign affairs committee, explained that The Gambia owns 4 properties in the UK, all at prime locations. He said the property in London was worth 2.5 million Pounds Sterling “but now due to a few years left on its lease, we have to pay 800,000 Pounds which is equivalent to D20 million’.
But Kiang West lawmaker Lamin Ceesay, criticised the allocation arguing that D19 million is too much to be allocated on leasing of a property when that money could be put into other priority areas.
The Speaker of the National Assembly Fabakary Tombong Jatta reminded lawmakers to be cautious with embassy expenses when dealing with the budget. “Sometimes you feel embarrassed when you visit some of our embassies. Yes, we are a small country but we should not be seen as beggars. If we had not got properties in London, we would have been paying a lot of money, even more than the D19 million or D20 million we are talking about. These are some of the mistakes we made after independence,” Speaker Jatta said.
Alhagie Mbow, from Upper Saloum, expressed concern that the D19 million is included in the budget earmarked for maintenance of buildings. “The leasing of this property in London cannot be charged under maintenance of buildings; it must be charged under rents and rates. These are monies paid to councils where the property is located,” Mbow explained.
In response, the Majority leader Tunkara, who agreed that the allocation should be included in the rent and rates budget noted that it was advised by the Ministry for it to be included in the maintenance budget.
