Sidia Jatta has lambasted the Barrow government for refusing to seek parliamentary approval for the D700 million food aid package to poor and vulnerable Gambians during the coronavirus lockdown. 

The National Assembly member for Wuli East made the stinging attack at the National Assembly today when the Finance minister Mamburay Njie faced lawmakers seeking answers on the government’s aid package. 

Mr Jatta said the government’s action was “illegal” and “fraudulent”. 

The Gambia government raised the D700 million used to purchase rice, sugar and oil through a financial practice called virement – the process of moving money from one financial account or part of a budget to a different one.

But Mr Jatta said the virement action was not “legal”.

“The issue is – how legal is it what you have done? And I am saying (the government’s action) technically it is not legal.

“When we were making law to allocate expenditure, that was done by the authority of parliament and it was law.

“When we decided that this amount (of) million is for travel for this particular ministry or particular department, that was the law that we made.

Mr Jatta added: “So technically, that law can only be changed by us, not by you because you’re not a lawmaking institution. 

“The decision to allocate to a particular sector is law, that’s why you brought an Appropriation Bill and that was made into a law and that law authorised the spending department to do this and do that.

“So if you want to change from what it is, or you want to withdraw that amount allocated that particular sector, you don’t have that authority. 

“You have to come back to the lawmaking institution. For me the virement is a fraud. It does not go with any law.”

Last month President Adama Barrow announced a D734 million dalasi package of welfare support to Gambians amid the coronavirus crisis.

The President Barrow said the support will come in the form of basic essential food items like rice, oil, and sugar to help poor and vulnerable Gambians in lockdown.