By Tabora Bojang
The National Assembly Finance and Public Accounts Committee have queried the decision of the Minister of Fisheries who allegedly directed the release of at least three fishing vessels which were arrested for fishing within a prohibited zone, without them paying the stipulated fines.
The parliamentary committee discovered this anomaly in the auditor general’s report on the government financial statements for the year ended 2021. In that report, the auditors revealed that the three vessels were supposed to pay a minimum fine of D750,000 each as required by the Fisheries Act, but they were released on the orders of the minister without making any payments. They also noted that the Minister of Fisheries does not have the powers to release these vessels and therefore the fines should be recovered and the situation should be regularised by November 2024.
Yesterday, the parliamentary committee chairman Alhagie S Darboe asked the Permanent Secretary at Fisheries Buba Sanyang about the issue and the PS confirmed the arrest and release of the vessels but said he would not know why they were released because he was not at the Ministry at the time. Sanyang also noted that his current minster was also not at the ministry at the time.
“What is material here is to recover the funds and we have now engaged the affected vessel companies and informed them of the infringement and the matter will be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice,” Sanyang explained.
The parliamentary committee chairman Darboe argued that recovering the money is one thing but the act of the minister in releasing the vessels without paying is the question here. “What authority did the minister relied on to do that?” Darboe asked.
Sanyang replied: “I will not be able to state that. This was sometime back. I would not know what the minister at the time relied on to do that.”
Chairman Darboe said his committee will further dig into the matter.
PS Sanyang also informed the committee that there are several other vessels that were found illegally fishing in Gambian waters and are yet to pay fines levied on them.
“We have written to them to pay but the payments are not effected up to the deadline given to them. So we are compiling a list to forward to the Ministry of Justice for legal action,” he said.
