{"id":48323,"date":"2023-12-01T07:10:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T07:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?p=48323"},"modified":"2023-12-01T04:31:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T04:31:20","slug":"nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour","title":{"rendered":"NAMs, Finance Minister, Deputy Speaker Split Over Meet-The-People Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Some opposition lawmakers have described President Adama Barrow\u2019s current countrywide tour as a platform for feathering his political nest and a waste of public resources but the deputy House speaker said the tour will give the President a bird\u2019s eye view of the problems confronting Gambians.<\/b><\/p>\n

The finance minister said his ministry would provide funds for the tour as a constitutionally-sanctioned engagement.<\/p>\n

There was an intense debate this week at the legislature over the President\u2019s current tour of the country as some opposition members raised concerns over its financial implications and spoke passionately about their perceptions of the tour as a political platform.<\/p>\n

The debate was sparked at the consideration stage of the 2024 estimates of the country\u2019s expenditures and revenues.<\/p>\n

The NAM for Busumbala Constituency, Muhammed Kanteh, argued that the purpose of this year\u2019s Meet-The-People tour was defeated as, according to him, President Barrow has been using it as a platform to make political gains.<\/p>\n

He also maintained that despite the tour being constitutionally sanctioned, it\u2019s worth noting that the country is operating within a tight budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cInasmuch as it is a constitutional mandate, it is also important to note that we are constrained as a country in terms of budget,\u201d the Busumbala NAM stressed.<\/p>\n

Wading into the debate, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Seedy Njie, pointed out that he was surprised to hear from the Wuli East NAM that the President should tour the country only once when, according to Njie, the tour should be conducted at least twice each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 1997 Constitution states it… which is clear. I am not sure which constitution you are referring to. I advise you to read the Constitution because, if you are raising constitutional issues as a Member of Parliament, you must not come to the chamber based on Bantaba discussions,\u201d the deputy speaker argued.<\/p>\n

He further argued that the tour would allow the President to interact with the masses and learn about the challenges in agriculture, health, education, and other sectors to enable him to find solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to deprive him of meeting the people as a constitutional mandate, then we are going to create a problem and whether we accept it, we cannot stop him,\u201d Njie contended.<\/p>\n

\u201cInasmuch as it is a constitutional mandate for the President to meet the people twice, we also believe that it is the responsibility upon him to ensure that he downsizes the delegation,\u201d the lawmaker for Janjanbureh Omar Jammeh argued.<\/p>\n

However, according to finance minister Seedy Keita, the President was cognizant of the cost implications of the tour as he [President] has trimmed the size of his delegation for the tour this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot, as a ministry, tell the President that he can\u2019t travel because the Constitution mandates him to do so. So, if he uses the constitutional mandate to travel, it is our responsibility to provide the funds,\u201d the minister told the House.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Some opposition lawmakers have described President Adama Barrow\u2019s current countrywide tour as a platform for feathering his political nest and a waste of public resources but the deputy House speaker said the tour will give the President a bird\u2019s eye view of the problems confronting Gambians. The finance minister said his ministry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":48322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-48323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nNAMs, Finance Minister, Deputy Speaker Split Over Meet-The-People Tour - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some opposition lawmakers have described President Adama Barrow\u2019s current countrywide tour as a platform for featheri ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NAMs, Finance Minister, Deputy Speaker Split Over Meet-The-People Tour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some opposition lawmakers have described President Adama Barrow\u2019s current countrywide tour as a platform for featheri ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-01T07:10:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/12\/sm_1701392378.360915.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"NAMs, Finance Minister, Deputy Speaker Split Over Meet-The-People Tour\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-01T07:10:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour\"},\"wordCount\":513,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/12\/sm_1701392378.360915.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-finance-minister-deputy-speaker-split-over-meet-the-people-tour\",\"name\":\"NAMs, Finance Minister, Deputy Speaker Split Over Meet-The-People Tour - 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