By Omar Bah
Finance Minister Seedy Keita has on Friday apologised to the National Assembly for violating the constitution in tabling the 2025 budget estimates.
The constitution was amended in 2023 to require the finance minister to present budget estimates to the National Assembly at least 60 days before the end of the year.
The amendment was proposed by the National Assembly Member for Upper Saloum, Alagie Mbow and it was meant to give NAMs more time to scrutinise the estimates and conduct more consultations on the estimates with stakeholders. This means for the 2025 budget estimates, the latest time for the finance minister to lay before the National Assembly was 1 November 2024.
However, Minister Keita presented the budget on November 15, 2024, two weeks after the constitutionally mandated timeframe.
When the ground was set by the Speaker for Minister Keita to table the budget, the minority leader, Alhagie S Darboe, interjected to raise a motion relying on standing order 86 (1) to question the legality of the minister’s decision to table the budget two weeks after the required date. He described the minister’s actions as ‘unconstitutional’ and suggested the laying of the budget estimates be rejected.
At that juncture, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Fabakary Tombong Jatta, intervened to ask the minister to explain rather than holding him accountable as per Section 75 of the Constitution. The Speaker’s failure to hold the minister accountable prompted a long delay as NAMs interrupted his attempt to get the minister to react to the Minority Leader Alhagie S Darboe’s queries.
However, following intense debate on the legality of the budget submission among lawmakers, Speaker Jatta eventually got the minister to explain the delay.
In his response, Minister Keita attributed the late submission to delayed donor consultations and the recent 30 percent salary increment which he said resulted in some adjustments into the budget.
Following the minister’s explanation, the Speaker ruled that he must apologise to the National Assembly for the delay and cautioned him against future delays. Minister Keita then apologised and assured the assembly that such mistakes will be avoided in the future.
