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Momodou
Denmark
11823 Posts |
 Posted - 09 Dec 2009 : 13:30:17
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SIDIA ON THE REVENUE, RECURRENT AND DEVELOPMENT EXPENDITURE ESTIMATES
By Abdoulie G. Dibba
on 09-12-09
In his contribution to the debate on Monday on the estimates of revenue, recurrent and development expenditure for the 2010 fiscal year, the National Assembly Member for Wuli West, Hon. Sidia Jatta said tax alone should not be the basis for revenue generation for a country. He asserted that for a country to be on sound economic footing, it must rely on non-tax revenue to provide services and effect development. Sidia said development should not be a burden on people by over taxing them. He said if one looks at the estimates, one would discover that the economy of this country is based on taxation.
Sidia indicated that out of a total revenue of D5, 439, 000,000 (five billion, four hundred and thirty-nine million dalasis), tax revenue constitutes D3, 991,000,000 (three billion, nine hundred and ninety-one million dalasis).
This he said is a clear indication that the economy is sick. Continuing on his contribution, Sidia indicated that public corporations are supposed to either pay dividend to the government or invest their profit in the productive base of the economy. He said if one looks at the estimates, one would discover that the public corporations are paying the same amount of dividend year after year, or pay dividend one year and no dividend the following year. Hon. Jatta cited GPA and Gamtel as examples. He said in 2009, GPA paid D1, 000,000 (one million dalasis) as dividend to government and that in 2010, they are also to pay D1, 000,000 (one million dalasis). He asked the minister of finance to explain. He also indicated that GAMTEL paid dividend to the government in 2009 but going by the estimates, they are not going to pay in 2010. He also asked the Minister to explain why GAMTEL is not going to pay dividend.
Hon. Jatta pointed out that during the presentation of the estimates, the Minister of finance talked about slippages. He questioned the Minister to explain whether the slippages are in connection with the payment of salaries to junior Ministers which was never budgeted for and not even recognized by our legal framework (the constitution). Sidia also indicated that the Minister in his presentation talked about Royalties. He asked whether the royalties are in connection with sand mining or what? In his response to the questions raised by Sidia, the Minister of Finance, Hon. Abdou Colley, indicated that in terms of GPA, Government asked them to pay that amount because they are engaged in a project that requires funding. As for GAMTEL, the Minister stated that they have financial problems and therefore could not pay dividend. Regarding the slippages, the Minister indicated that they are spending that were not planned by the government. For example he said a loan was given to GIA for the 2009 Hajj preparation which was not budgeted for. In terms of the royalties, Minister Colley said that there is a parliamentary question on that and he would appeal to the member to wait for the answer if he wouldn’t mind. At this stage, Sidia nodded his head in approval.
Source: Foroyaa Online
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