Africa-Press – Gambia. Njundu Fatty, the newly elected President of the Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), has raised serious concerns over what he described as the growing burden of duplicate taxes on Gambian businesses.
Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Fatty warned that overlapping tax demands from different government bodies and local authorities are undermining business expansion, job creation, and national wealth generation.
“There is so much duplicity of taxes you pay; look at the area councils. All the area councils are now increasing their tariffs for businesses. Trade licenses are so high; the national education levy, the central government taxes, so the taxes are not only high, they are so much duplicated,” Fatty explained.
According to him, many businesses that should be expanding and creating jobs are instead being held back by multiple levies, leaving them with little room to reinvest or drive national development.
“I am not so aware that they are helping the private sector to generate income and plow back those incomes to grow and create opportunities for employment and create wealth,” he said.
Fatty emphasized that sustained dialogue with government and other stakeholders will be central to his leadership agenda at GCCI.
“We have to keep talking to them; we can never stop talking to them in a diplomatic way, but we have to continue engaging government and not only government but all other stakeholders so that the environment that will be created will be more enabling to really make the private sector the engine of growth they claim it to be,” he noted.
Outlining his six-point Hexa Pro Agenda, Fatty highlighted key priorities for his presidency, including inclusivity and diversity, enhancing value for members, strengthening advocacy, ensuring the chamber’s financial sustainability, promoting cross-border trade, and advancing employer representation.
As part of his vision, Fatty also revealed plans to transform the GCCI Trade Fair grounds into a modern business hub featuring hotels and shopping centers. He said the initiative aims to strengthen the chamber’s financial base and reduce overreliance on membership subscriptions.“This chamber is a membership organization, so we get a lot of subscriptions from members, but that cannot be our only source of revenue; no institution is strong until it has the financial base to deliver the services that it wants to deliver,” Fatty stressed.
Looking outward, Fatty underscored the importance of leveraging The Gambia’s strategic location within Senegal and the wider ECOWAS region to promote cross-border trade. He urged the government to work closely with neighboring countries to ensure Gambian businesses are able to compete beyond national borders.
“Unless we really leverage regional integration, the ECOWAS protocols, and the Africa Free Continental Trade Area, our growth may be greatly limited,” he cautioned.
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