By Tabora Bojang
Bakary Badjie, the National Assembly Member for Foñi Bintang asked his fellow parliamentarians to reject the salary increase for lawmakers proposed in the 2026 draft budget.
According to the 2026 budget estimates, the National Assembly’s budget will increase from D422,062,476 approved for 2025 to D569,160,811 for 2026. Basic salary is also proposed to increase from D74,864,476 approved for 2025 to D115,070,811 in 2026. This is in addition to several other allowances such as responsibility allowance, robing allowance, basic car allowance, residential allowance, sitting allowance, special allowance, telephone allowance and constituency allowance.
Debating on the budget estimates Wednesday, Badjie, a presidential aspirant, urged his colleague lawmakers not accept a butut of increase on their salaries given the dire straits the economy is in and the economic hardships the population especially junior civil servants such as nurses, teachers and security officers are facing.
“The salaries of teachers, health care workers, security officers and agricultural officers are not up to standard and we have not looked at increasing them but we are in a position to increase salaries of National Assembly members?” he questioned.
“I am not part of any salary increase for National Assembly Members. I will not be part of it today, tomorrow and forever. Just as I said about the judiciary remuneration bill [The Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, Etc) BilI], I am not part of this move as well. It is not justifiable with the current situation that we are facing as a nation. We cannot at this point in time increase our salaries. I am not a party to it and I will never be a party to it.”
According to Badjie, the lawmakers should instead look at ways to upgrade salaries of other low cadre civil servants and address the heavy arrears at ministries, agencies and departments.
“I will maintain this position even if I stand alone. Sometimes, it is better to stand alone. I did not come to this assembly to get the support of any member, I did not come here to have the support of any cabinet minister, I did not come here to have the support of any staff of the National Assembly. I am here to speak the truth and to represent the interest of the Gambian people, that is what I swore to and that is what I am going to stand for” NAM Badjie told his colleagues.
He also criticised the allocation of “millions into ICT wiring” in the National Assembly as misplaced.
Badjie also blamed the government for overseeing a poor economy marred by wastage of public resources, misallocation of funds and excessive spending. “The nation cannot be crying while the president is wasting money. Debt service alone is going to consume D13 billion in this budget. That is more than the allocation given to any ministry. For a long time we have been accumulating debt and here we are today facing reality. Our currency is constantly depreciating. One Pound Sterling in the exchange market today is D98. We have seen the price of commodities escalating every day. These are the realities we face as a nation,” he lamented.
