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Today: October 22, 2025
October 17, 2025
1 min read

Auditors Reveal GMD 34 Million in Undisclosed Government Arrears

 

 

By: Fatou Krubally

The 2023 Management Letter of the Auditor General has exposed significant financial irregularities across government ministries and departments.

This includes undisclosed arrears, payroll anomalies, and lapses in procurement processes.

Auditors found that government entities failed to disclose outstanding arrears totalling GMD 34,078,472.42, raising serious questions about the accuracy of official financial reporting.

The report further highlighted a sharp increase in contingent liabilities, with government litigation payouts rising from GMD 9.8 million in 2021 to GMD 112.4 million in 2023. Potential liabilities pending for 2023 alone stood at GMD 3.6 billion, signalling growing fiscal risks.

Several payroll irregularities were identified. These included unearned salary payments totalling GMD 480,738.30, dual payments of basic car and transport allowances amounting to GMD 2,066,000.00, and double salaries to some seconded officers of GMD 215,866.00. Auditors also noted that 50 personal staff files were not presented for review, while retrospective retirement of imprests with backdated receipts amounted to GMD 193,000.00.

The audit further reported an unrecovered “1×6” loan of GMD 2.5 million, highlighting weaknesses in financial control and monitoring mechanisms.

Non-tax revenue operations at the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) were also flagged. The auditors criticized the Nick TC-Scan concession, valued at USD 23.1 million, for being procured without independent cost verification and bypassing due procurement processes. A variance of GMD 96,122.83 was recorded due to the use of fixed weekly exchange rates instead of daily market rates. The auditors also reported being denied access to ASYCUDA World, GamtaxNet, and Nick TC-Scan systems, limiting their ability to fully verify operations.

The Management Letter calls for urgent corrective measures to enhance transparency, strengthen financial discipline, and prevent recurrence of such irregularities. It emphasizes the need for stricter oversight of payroll, arrears management, and concession agreements to safeguard public resources.

Auditors warned that without immediate action, these lapses could pose serious fiscal and operational risks, underlining the need for government institutions to enforce accountability and strengthen internal control systems.

The report concludes that enhancing compliance, verification procedures, and public financial management is critical to protecting government funds and sustaining public confidence in national governance.

 

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   By: Fatou Krubally The 2023 Management Letter of the Auditor General has exposed significant financial irregularities across government ministries…
The post Auditors Reveal GMD 34 Million in Undisclosed Government Arrears appeared first on . 

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