By: Hadram Hydara
Deputy Youth Adviser to President Adama Barrow, Lamin K Saidy, has raised concerns about the legality of Brikama Area Council (BAC) Chairman Yankuba Darboe’s decision to appoint 26 young people as voluntary compliance enforcers who are supposed to monitor the effective collection and lodging of revenues by the BAC market collectors, saying the move “could lead to corruption and abuse” of public funds.
On Friday, August 25th, the Brikama Area Council announced on its official Facebook page the induction of twenty-six young people as voluntary compliance enforcers in the daily collection of market fees (duty). These individuals, according to the statement, will act as watchdogs over the council’s market duty collectors, ensuring that they properly collect and lodge the revenues they collect daily.
Saidy, who previously worked as the regional youth coordinator at the Ministry of Youth and Sports and currently serves as the youth adviser to the Gambian president, stated that the recent action taken by the BAC chairman should be opposed by both the [Local Government] Ministry and the BAC councillors.
“Hiring professionals as revenue collectors and attached volunteers to serve as watchdogs is ill-intended and must be rejected by both the Ministry and councillors of Brikama Area Council. How can volunteers enforce? What are they enforcing and on what basis?” he quizzed.
According to him, the chairman should have focused on implementing strategies that would enhance revenue collection and prevent financial losses.
“Before recruiting 26 youths who am sure will be given stipend/allowance, it’s better to improve on revenue collection mechanisms to minimise linkages. In doing this, [the] council should consider the remuneration of collectors to control corruption”.
He raised concerns about the possibility of volunteers engaging in minor acts of corruption, which could eventually lead to more serious offences.
“These volunteers can taste the daily D100/200 and later graduate to big-time corrupt individuals resulting in more revenue losses. They can also at some point abuse the privileges accorded to them by the chairman,” Saidy said.
The presidential youth adviser further told The Fatu Network that youth employment initiatives must be approached carefully to avoid disastrous outcomes.
“I will appreciate the appointment of those youth because it will contribute to reducing unemployment, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fatal consequences.
“If we want to empower youths, it has to be in a manner that will not expose them to risk; the risk is that it will give them powers that are not legitimate, and this can result in abuse which can be a challenge in courts.
“Sometimes revenue collectors are involved in physical confrontations,” he said.
