The Municipal and Area Councils in The Gambia on Tuesday June 9, 2015 celebrated the news that the erratic President has given directives for the immediate stop of collection and management of council’s revenue by the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) and the return of such to the council administrations. The decision to revise an earlier miscalculated action on the side of Jammeh’s government to take over the collection and management of council’s revenue was transmitted to them through the Ministry of Lands and Regional Administration.
The letter also warned the leadership at the councils to be more judicious in the spending of tax payer’s monies. The councils have been accused of mismanagement of funds, suppression of revenue and corrupt practices over the years, thus rendering them inefficient in delivering services to the local tax payers.
It could be recalled that last March, the fickle and self-centered President Jammeh ordered for the Municipal and Area Councils across the country to hand over its revenue collection and management of finances to the GRA without prior consultation. In that arrangement, GRA was tasked with the role of collecting all payments of rates and taxes such as trade license, market fees and compound rates among others. This ill-fated decision was against the dictates of the Local Government Act, which empowers local councils to be autonomous in their finances.
Since March, when GRA took over from the councils, the staffs in the revenue units were uselessly coming in and out of the councils as GRA brought in their own collectors and monies were deposited in a special account at the Central Bank. For several months, staff and Ward Councilors were not paid their salaries on time and work wasn’t effective due to lack of fuel, stationeries and other needs for the effective functioning of the administration. Sources in KMC confirmed that at a point senior staff of the most populated council were not regular in their offices because NAWEC disconnected the electricity supply due to lack of payment of bills. The Serrekunda market was without refuse collectors for weeks posing health risk to the vendors and visitors of the market. Mayors, Governors and Chairmen across the regions have made several attempts over the past two months through the Ministry of Lands and Regional Administrations and authorities at GRA to convince their boss to change the decision but Yaya Jammeh refused their request.
It is gathered that dictator Jammeh’s sudden change and directing the GRA to return the collection and management of revenue to the councils was due to complains by the political bigwigs of the APRC on how this decision has affected their politicking. His recently concluded tour was not well attended compared to past years and mobilizers didn’t attribute it to his dwindling popularity but to the fact that councils could not provide money for the hiring of vehicles to transport people from different villages to the meeting venues, a burden they shouldered over the years. A source informed us that some National Assembly Members and Chiefs have advised Jammeh while on tour to revised the decision as councils not having access to funds will pose a risk to their mobilization and build up to the 2016 election
