The Ministry of Youth and Sports has been allocated D113.397 million dalasi in the 2020 budget passed by the National Assembly last night.
As usual, the allocation is one of the least among all the ministries.
Over the years sports fans and indeed youth sector enthusiasts have complained about the allocation which is widely seen to be grossly inadequate for the many programmes and projects in the sector.
However, in an interview with The Standard minister of finance Mambury Njie said the youth and sports sector is very much catered for this year with the introductin of the sport levy which he said will raise at least D120 Million.
“For every call made in The Gambia, 0.21.cent of each dollar is set aside for the sports levy in addition to 30 percent of Government’s share from the gateway fees. These are all clear manifestation of the Gambia government’s commitment to fund the programmes of the youths,” the minister said.
A GSM company insider once told The Standard his company alone could collect hundreds of millions of dalasis per annum for the sports levy fund.
Several youth and sports sector officials contacted yesterday urged the government to ensure that all monies allocated fro sports and or youths go directly to the sector.”There are dozens of sports associations a few of them making good progress, and they hardly get any money from the ministry. I implore the ministry to give all their due,”one commentator said.
