{"id":88477,"date":"2025-10-22T17:31:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/ceesay-addresses-misrepresentation-of-audit-figures"},"modified":"2025-10-22T18:28:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T18:28:00","slug":"ceesay-addresses-misrepresentation-of-audit-figures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-addresses-misrepresentation-of-audit-figures","title":{"rendered":"Ceesay Addresses Misrepresentation of Audit Figures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Chief of Staff and Minister for the Presidency, Mod K. Ceesay, has dismissed claims that the recently audited government accounts reveal missing funds, saying that critics have misunderstood the reported D110 billion discrepancy.<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview , Ceesay clarified that the figure does not represent unaccounted-for or stolen money but rather results from duplication and overlap in how auditors classified their findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no problem with the word \u2018discrepancy\u2019 because that is exactly what the auditors characterized it as, but they are passing the 110 billion as if it were an unaccounted-for, missing fund and corrupt, whatever word they would use. I am saying the average envelope for the three years would be around 30 billion Dalasi, so if you multiply that by three, the overall envelope would be somewhere around ninety billion,\u201d Ceesay said.<\/p>\n

According to Ceesay, the D110 billion figure reflects audit methodology, where certain findings\u2014such as missing documentation, procurement breaches, unaccounted funds, and unreconciled balances\u2014were repeated under different categories, leading to inflated totals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose were the numbers identified from 2021 to 2023 and put together. If a cluster falls on the missing item or missing documentation, they will also reappear on the procurement breaches and unreconciled numbers. If you do a general lumping and counting, then you will be doing some duplications,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ceesay further urged analysts to assess the audit results in context, noting that the reports show steady improvements in public financial management over the three-year period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you do analysis, especially for audit findings, you have to look at what the situation was in 2021 and what it is now. You would significantly realize that there is actually improvement in public financial management from 2021 to 2023; any serious analyst shouldn\u2019t fail to see that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that the audit concluded the government accounts did not \u201ctruly and fairly represent\u201d the state of affairs, describing it as a qualified audit\u2014a classification that, he said, has been consistent throughout The Gambia\u2019s post-independence history.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Gambia\u2019s independence, all government accounts have always remained qualified audits, but what we are saying is, what are the improvements? There are improvements that have been registered year by year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ceesay noted that The Gambia\u2019s debt-to-GDP ratio, currently around 70 percent, has seen a significant decline compared to previous years.<\/p>\n

He also dismissed claims of hidden debts, describing them as misinformed comparisons with Senegal\u2019s financial system. According to him, the D3.9 billion referred to as hidden debt is, in fact, money owed to the government, not to external creditors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose borrowings are already consolidated as part of central government debt and are part of the 70 percent already counted of GDP. It is not different, it is not isolated, it is not hidden; none of that is true,\u201c Ceesay explained.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Gambia. Chief of Staff and Minister for the Presidency, Mod K. Ceesay, has dismissed claims that the recently audited government accounts reveal missing funds, saying that critics have misunderstood the reported D110 billion discrepancy. Speaking in an interview , Ceesay clarified that the figure does not represent unaccounted-for or stolen money but rather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":88476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-88477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nCeesay Addresses Misrepresentation of Audit Figures - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chief of Staff and Minister for the Presidency, Mod K. 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