By Ebrima S. Jallow
An IMF Mission on Governance Diagnostics led by Olivier Basdevant recently paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Seedy K.M. Keita at his office in Banjul. The team comprises of public finance, macro-economic and legal experts among others.
The purpose of the visit was to present the mission’s agenda to the Minister which is to conduct governance diagnostics for the government to be coordinated by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs.The activities of the team will be cross-topical and will seek to identify governance vulnerabilities and possible options to address them. Relatedly, they will look at issues of public finance management, revenue administration, anti-corruption, and rule of law from an economic perspective with findings expected to last for two weeks beginning 10th January, 2023.
The Minister welcomed the team and assured them of the ministry’s unflinching support toward the success of their mission. He assured them of government’s commitment to fighting corruption.
He noted that the country enjoys a vibrant democracy with freedom of speech leading to an additional responsibility on the government to ensure transparency and public accountability for improved revenue mobilisation.
He expressed appreciation to the team for the willingness and desire to work with the government and promised the government’s compliance with the mission’s findings and to have them published for the benefit of the public.
On his part, the IMF Mission Chief, Olivier Basdevant acknowledged the government’s effort to advance many reforms.
He noted that part of their mission is to help the government design a comprehensive approach, a strategy with a vision towards addressing governance vulnerabilities with the provision of specific recommendations.
He went on to say that for democracy to effectively work, there needs to be solid public institutions that are transparent and accountable.
Momodou Juldeh Barry, IMF Resident Representative in The Gambia said anti-corruption law is important as per the mission’s objectives. He also noted that governance diagnostics can be very helpful in the day-to-day operations of a government.
He indicated that the mission is coordinating participation with other donor partners such as the World Bank, European Commission, UN Agencies in the country, African Development Bank, US Embassy, and British Commonwealth, etc.
The team comprises the following experts: Olivier Basdevant, Mission chief; SybiHida, PFM expert; Thabo Letjama, Revenue administration expert; Riaan van Greuning, Financial safeguards expert; AldonaJociene, Banking supervision expert; GomilukOtokwala, Rule of Law expert; Camilo Enciso, Anti-corruption expert; Indulekha Thomas, Anti-money laundering expert.
