Commissioner General, Gambia Revenue Authority
Salikenni, the biggest village in the Baddibus, has given The Gambia many distinguished sons. Among them is Alhaji Turo Darboe. He gained fame and renowned across the length and breadth of The Gambia for his philanthropy. On 18 February 1965, the day The Gambia finally broke the yoke of colonialism, Alhaji Turo and his wife Aja Tida Conteh were blessed with a bouncing baby boy they named Yankuba.
Several years later, Alhaji Turo uprooted his family from Baddibu to settle in Banjul joining a growing number of Baddibunkas settling in the capital.
Yankuba recalled those early years: “Originally, both my parents came from Baddibu, and my father, Alhaji Turo Darboe, was a well-known Gambian. Because of my father’s fame, my elder brother is called Turo Darboe instead of his real name, Momodou Lamin Darboe. So, he has taken my father’s name. Even though we have siblings, we are the only two brothers [in our family] who share the same mother and father. My father came to Banjul when we were very young, and we spent most of our lives here. From Banjul, we moved to Faji Kunda. Our father was very strict, to the point that my brother and myself had the impression that he didn’t like us due to his strictness and what he put us through. I remember those days when my father bought a whole street in Faji Kunda and then put a sizable house at one corner where we were staying, and the rest was a garden full of mangoes, oranges, and bananas. Every evening, unless something happened or we travelled out of town, my brother and me would water everything. We were watering over a hundred trees. I remember that even when we went to the field to play football, at 6pm, we would leave our friends and rush to the house to water the garden. On a number of occasions, we would go to our mother and tell her that our father didn’t like us, but my mother would laugh and say no, he loves you; he just wants you to be good. Even when I was in my room studying and my friends came to see me, my father would tell them I was sleeping or had gone out. So that is how we grew up, and it has really prepared us well for the world.”
After obtaining a GCE ordinary level certificate in 1986 from Gambia High School, Yankuba got a job at the Customs & Excise department as an administrative clerk in 1988.
He explains: “It was not something I planned. I never intended to be a tax collector. I have never been to the Customs or port area during my school days, but you know, sometimes destiny takes you where you never imagined. So, when I finished my schooling, there was this advertisement placed in newspapers by Customs saying that they wanted to recruit some officers, and one of our neighbours in Banjul asked me to apply. I applied together with Njobo Baldeh, who is now the valuation manager at GRA, and one Lang Ceesay. We were called for an interview, and luckily, we were shortlisted. I remember this being the time of Daddy Jobe [renowned Customs & Excise head). I can still recall when I went with my papers, he looked at them and said yes, this is the kind of people we are looking for. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. We were sent to the jacking section under the audit unit. The audit section is where all the transactions end up, and there was this young gentleman at the time called Abdoulie Badjie, a son of former minister Alieu Kama Badjie. Abdoulie taught us what to do, and that is how everything started.
“I worked there for three years. Because of that, I was able to understand a lot about how Customs operate because that is where we pack all the documents, and then the auditors look at everything. I was later moved to the long room where the transactions were done. When people bring their containers, we look at their documents to make sure that they were in order and the proper rates and values were captured. That is the kind of vetting that we did. At the time, there was no computerisation. From there, they moved me to the seaport, where my responsibility was to examine containers, vehicles, and the boarding of vessels. I spent another three to four years there as a young officer, and then they moved me to the airport. At the airport, I worked in both the cargo and bargaining sections for a number of years, and then they moved me again to the head office, but this time to a different section responsible for the bonded warehouses and the factories. So they were moving me to different sections. I didn’t know why they were doing that, but with the discipline instilled in me by my father, I didn’t complain. I was later sent to Giboro as CPO Manager and then to Farafenni, Basse, and in Basse. I was first posited at Nyamanar, Sabi, and then Saré Ngai. I remember the first time they sent me to Saré Ngai, I told my father that I was confused because I had never travelled outside of Banjul [since my childhood]. How was I going to cope in that place? But he looked at me and said: “Just go. You will be fine.” I had never been to Basse until then. I remember a friend called Baba Leigh, who was working in agriculture, taking me on his motorcycle. When I got there, I was lost, but I found some colleagues like Buba Ceesay and Haruna Gassama. I didn’t have much trouble because I was always with my books, which were keeping me company, and I always got myself some newspapers, and that made me comfortable because there wasn’t much to do except during the lumo. When I woke up, I would do what I needed to do and go under one big tree, read my books, and drink attaya. At the end of the month, I will come for a week. This was how I spent my life there. One fine day, I received a call from the main office that I had a letter indicating that I had been transferred back to Banjul. The following morning, I woke up very early and rushed to Banjul. When I got the letter that I was transferred to Banjul, I didn’t even return to Saré Ngai to collect my belongings. I just called Buba Ceesay and asked him to take everything I left there. So, in short, there was no place in this country where I have not worked under Customs, and I have an idea about how they all operate. I remember there was a time when I was among officers sent to a military barrack to be trained ahead of The Gambia’s 25-year [silver jubilee] independence celebration.”
In his 35 years at Customs, Yankuba Darboe rose from being an admin clerk to working at the auditing & accounting unit; holding management and supervisory positions at the Customs posts at Gambia Ports Authority and Banjul International Airport; serving as valuation manager; acting deputy commissioner in charge of technical Services; commissioner of Customs and Excise; deputy commissioner general and head of Customs; and finally in March 2015 becoming commissioner general of GRA, the post he still holds.
Along the way he had undergone professional and academic development trainings in Nigeria, Senegal, the United States, England, Tanzania, China, South Africa, Switzerland, Zambia, and Benin including a tax analysis and revenue forecasting programme at Ivy League Duke University, revenue planning & taxation at the University of Connecticut, specialist training on Asycuda (computer programme), and World Customs Organisation fellowship on valuation and management.
Yankuba Darboe also obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics & International Development Studies from Saint Mary’s University, Canada in 1999 and an MBA in Finance from Webster University, US in 2007.
Hassoum Ceesay, a college mate of Mr Darboe, told The Standard: “I have known Yankuba since March 1995. He is a keen learner with intellectual curiosity which is why he was among the first then Customs officers to attend university. He eschewed the perks associated with Customs officers at the time to go to university and did not receive the support of his bosses at the time who said ‘Customs need money collectors not book people’. He finished his bachelor’s and then went on to study for an MBA.
“He is a team builder. His success at the GRA is largely due to his penchant for working with people he trusts and knows. This is a good management practice he has cultivated over the years. He has brought institutional stability to the GRA. It was hitherto an arena of hyenas where staff ate each other, so to speak. Now GRA is a model of tolerance and cohesion. This partly explains the fact that the GRA collects more revenue each year on.”
As a testament to his outstanding capability, Yankuba Darboe has been serving as the Chairman of the West Africa Tax Administration Forum since 2021 and is a Member of African Tax Administration Forum Council since 2021.
A devout Muslim and dedicated family man, Mr Darboe is married with several wives and many children.
