By Olimatou Coker
Lamin Dibba, Executive Director of the Center for Budget and Macroeconomic Transparency (CBMT), has warned that public participation in The Gambia’s budget process remains persistently low.
Speaking at a three-day workshop in Bakadaji aimed at strengthening the capacity of Gambian civil society organisations (CSOs) for effective budget tracking, Dibba said citizen and CSO engagement in the national budget has “remained really, really low” for years. He cited the International Budget Partnership’s latest Open Budget Survey, which gives The Gambia a score of 26 out of 100 for public participation — a rating the partnership classifies as insufficient.
“That score shows citizens and civil society have very limited opportunities to meaningfully engage in the budget process,” Dibba said. CBMT organised training to improve CSOs’ readiness to engage across the budget cycle — formulation, approval, execution and oversight. “Registered citizen groups can and should participate at every stage, but to do so effectively they must understand budgeting basics: how budgets are formulated, approved, executed and monitored,” he added.
Dibba emphasised the national budget’s importance to Gambians and the economy, noting the government is working with a resource envelope of roughly 50 billion dalasis for development. He said strengthening CSO capacity will enable representative groups to demand accountability, ask the right questions, and secure better development outcomes.
Aji Fatou Bah of the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice described the training as timely and necessary. “CSOs represent communities and push for accountability, but many lack sufficient knowledge of public financial management and budget monitoring,” she said. “There is a huge gap in budget tracking and implementation within civil society, and I personally have limited knowledge of the full budget process from formulation to implementation.”
