Africa-Press – Gambia. Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, has clarified that the majority of international trips undertaken by government ministers are fully funded by host countries, placing no financial burden on Gambian taxpayers.
Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Dr. Ceesay dismissed public concerns that ministers travel abroad merely to claim per diem allowances. He stressed that most of these official trips are entirely sponsored by the inviting countries or organizations.
“The issue is that one, ministers don’t sneak to travel; there is no reason to sneak, and there should not be any backlash because these travels are mostly fully funded,” Dr. Ceesay explained.
Responding to the notion that some officials only began traveling after their ministerial appointments due to financial benefits, Dr. Ceesay firmly rejected the idea. He emphasized that when trips are fully funded, no per diem is provided.
“I think that the notion of per diems is wrong in the sense that, when travels are fully funded, there are no per diems. When you travel, and it is fully funded, if accommodation, travel, and everything is paid for, the government gives you no money to go,” he clarified.
He further explained that per diems are only applicable when the trips are not fully funded. “Why would you give the per diems for what? The purpose of the per diem is to pay for your hotel, your feeding, and your local transport. If that is covered, how would you give them the money,” He Said.
Dr. Ceesay further illustrated this point with an upcoming trip to China, saying, “I will be traveling to China very soon; the government of China will write to me an invitation, and they will put in the invitation that travel costs and accommodation are fully paid for by the Chinese government. That letter cannot be used to get money from anywhere. It will not even pass your internal audit inside the office, let alone go to the auditor general for you to be paid to the Treasury,” he said.
He stressed that per diem allowances are only issued when the host country does not cover expenses, and noted that officials often bear personal costs during these travels, such as purchasing gifts, effectively making some trips financially disadvantageous to the officials themselves.
“In fact, you go at a loss because when you go, people expect that you have to buy a present from your own pocket; sometimes most of these travels are at a loss to government officials,” he asserted.
Dr. Ceesay also clarified that when per diems are granted, they are calculated based on standardized government rates and are strictly limited to the number of nights spent abroad.
“Now the money they give you if it is not paid for by the host country, if it is going to be paid for by the government, it means that they only pay you those days that you sleep out, and every night the hotel you pay for is what they give you,” he emphasized.
He added that “people need to understand that it’s a false notion, thinking that okay, the travel is separate, and every travel there is per diems. There are no per diems,” he said.
Reflecting on his own travel record, Dr. Ceesay noted that since his appointment over a year ago, at least seven out of ten of his official trips were fully funded by host countries, with no additional payments from the Gambian government.
The Minister acknowledged the importance of transparency and committed to improving communication with the public regarding the purpose and benefits of ministerial travel.
“We should communicate better because we are serving the Gambian people, We need to be more transparent even if the travel comes at a cost to the government, we need to tell people that we are traveling, we are going to do X, Y, Z, and this will benefit us. We’ll improve in that communication,” he concluded.
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