| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Momodou |
Posted - 06 Oct 2025 : 16:18:45
Why You Must Focus on the Audit Reports
By Madi Jobarteh
Apart from the Constitution, the most important law of the land is the National Budget. Together, they define the governance of our nation – one provides the legal foundation for our freedom, rights, and duties, while the other determines how our collective wealth is created, allocated, and spent. The Budget represents the pulse of national life, the instrument through which our taxes and resources are transformed into schools, hospitals, roads, and salaries. To disregard it, or to allow its abuse, is to compromise both the Constitution and our very existence as a people.
This is why the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Audit Reports deserve the highest attention from every Gambian. These reports are not mere documents filled with figures and technical jargon. They are national mirrors, exposing how the state manages our common wealth. They tell a story; a tragic story of how public funds meant for our welfare are misused, mismanaged, and in many cases, outrightly stolen. They expose the rot in our governance system, the collapse of accountability, and the normalization of impunity.
To allow the plunder of national wealth without accountability is as dangerous as allowing the overthrow of the Constitution. Both are acts of national betrayal. They destroy public trust, weaken state institutions, and embolden corrupt leaders to act with arrogance and impunity. The result is dictatorship, not necessarily by the gun, but by the gradual erosion of law, morality, and justice.
We must understand this very clearly. For purposes of clarity, let me repeat: to allow the abuse of public funds is as dangerous as tearing up the Constitution. Both acts erode the foundation of our Republic. The Constitution guarantees our rights, while the Budget determines the quality of our lives. When the Constitution is disregarded and the Budget is plundered, dictatorship becomes inevitable.
At the heart of this crisis is Corruption, the greatest threat to our Constitution, our economy, and our collective dignity. Corruption is not just about stolen money; it is about stolen opportunities, broken systems, and shattered hopes. It breeds incompetence in public service, fosters inequality, and entrenches poverty. It explains why our hospitals lack essential medicine, our schools decay, and our youths risk death across the Sahara and the Mediterranean. It is Corruption that nurtures lawlessness and human rights violations because it rewards those who abuse power while punishing honesty and integrity.
Corruption, therefore, is not merely a moral failure; it is a national emergency. It turns the state into a self-destruction machine where loyalty to the corrupt replaces merit, and where greed becomes a measure of success. It destroys the moral fabric of society, replacing solidarity with selfishness, patriotism with patronage, and justice with impunity. This is how nations collapse, not through external invasion, but through the internal decay of corruption and moral bankruptcy.
Sadly, this has been the story of The Gambia since 1965! From one regime to another, corruption has been encouraged, protected, and rewarded by those who occupy the highest office. The pattern remains unchanged. President Adama Barrow’s recent statements that corruption is “as old as mankind,” and that audit reports are “mere opinions” are a shocking declaration of indifference. When his ministers dismiss corruption findings as lacking “strong evidence,” they are not defending the truth, they are defending their own crimes. These are not slips of the tongue; they are reflections of a leadership that has surrendered to corruption.
The Audit Reports expose this moral decay in the heart of the Government. They reveal a culture where accountability is absent, where officials treat public funds as personal property, and where institutions meant to enforce integrity are compromised. The reports show everything that is wrong with The Gambia: a government that cannot manage, a bureaucracy that cannot serve, and a political elite that cannot reform.
This is why every Gambian must read, discuss, and demand action on the Audit Reports. Civil society, the media, and ordinary citizens must insist on accountability. The reports are not about numbers, they are about justice, about the dignity of the taxpayer, and about the future of our nation.
To ignore them is to accept corruption as our destiny. But to confront them is to defend our Constitution, our wealth, and our future. The Audit Reports are a call to conscience. A call to reclaim our nation from the hands of the corrupt, and to restore integrity as the foundation of governance.
If we fail to act now, history will not forgive us.
For The Gambia, Our Homeland |
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