Following his bilateral meeting with NAMs over his Ministry’s budget where a reported D75M allowance arrears owed to soldiers was raised, Defence Minister Baboucarr Joof admitted to The Standard he is losing sleep over the matter which he described as “painful” and “unimaginable.” But he said his ministry is doing everything to clear the arrears.
Joof appealed to the soldiers concerned to understand that everything is being done to fix it
Asked what these allowances are, Minister Joof said these are monies owed to officers who go for capacity building missions abroad.
“When soldiers go out to participate in these training programmes, they are supposed to receive some allowances provided for in the army’s terms and conditions of service (TACOS) and they are supposed to be paid while they are either on the training or on their way there.
“Like any public servant travelling whether sponsored or not, there are allowances that are prescribed in the policies. So these monies accumulated over the years and some of them are legacy issues, meaning we inherited them,” Joof explained.
The minister expressed his conviction that an allocation would be made in the new budget this year to settle parts of the arrears.
“My idea is for us to have a payment plan. I told the budget approvers that if they cannot clear the D75 million this year, let us come up with a method for it to be paid within months or maximum by the end of 2027. But most preferably, a one off payment of D75 million will complete it all ,” Joof stated.
The minister said this sort of thing is a general problem that happens to even ministers and permanent secretaries.
Asked if the MOD’s budget of over D1 billion in the previous budgets could not have covered the unpaid allowances, Minister Joof replied that maintaining a military of this caliber requires a lot of spending
“There are other areas where we need a lot more money to get the military to the level we want or desire. It is a question of competition among the priorities within the ministry,” he said.
Asked if he is not concerned that the issue could lower motivations in the army, the minister replied that it was that concern that drove him to raise the matter with lawmakers to ensure the arrears are settled.
Joof disclosed that plans are also underway to create a training academy for the defence and security forces so that some of the courses can be domesticated.
