Supreme Court Steps Aside, MPs Get Free Ride To Access D54.4 million Loan

Staffs of the National Assembly and Members of the Parliament will likely lay hand on the sum of 54.5 million dalasis they allocated themselves as a loan, purportedly to develop some plots of land they benefited from the Executive. The Supreme Court of The Gambia has this Wednesday ruled not to grant an interim injunction to block the disbursement of the parliamentarians’ loan as sought by Gambia Participate and the Center for Research and Policy Development, two organizations of the Gambia Civil Society.

The civil suit defeated today at the Supreme Court was filed by the two CSOs arguing that the approval of the annual estimates of the revenue and expenditure for the year 2021 with the inclusion of the sum of D54.4 million as a loan for National Assembly Members and its staff is “an usurpation of his powers” and “a violation of the National Assembly standing orders”.

The Civil Society Organizations asked in their suit that the Supreme Court issue an injunction for the 54.5 million dalasis not be accessed by the clerk of the National Assembly as first Defendant.

The injunction sought by the CSOs would have requested that the Auditor General, second defendant, the ministry of Finance and Economic affairs, 3rd defendant and the Attorney general as the 4th defendant do each whatever in its capacity to block the release of the money to National Assembly Members and their staff.

As it is now, nothing stops the MPs to access the 54.5 million dalasis despite the huge outcry from the average Gambian asking the members of the legislative to seek loans from the banks instead of filling their pockets from the tax payers’ approved annual estimates of the revenue and expenditure.