Gambians from all walks of life have condemned lawmakers over their D100,000 clothing allowance. 

National Assembly members have awarded themselves pay rises and allowances amid a cost of living crisis and joblessness. 

The move has been widely condemned and many took to social media to express their views. 

Ebrima B Sanneh said: “we voted the National Assembly members to represent us in the parliament and address issues facing the country at constituency levels, but not to be earning high wages and allowances that will benefit only them and their families.”

According to him, public money should be to alleviate suffering “as the country is going through a lot of hardship and those money allocated could have been put into good use.

“Considering the fact that cost of living is high, poor wages, students suffering to pay tuition fees and poor health care system, it amazed me to see the government not tackling these problems.”

According to MC Cham Jnr said: “this country has a lot of vulnerable people so if such things are happening through the people we trust. 

“We select as role models and they are the people that should pave ways and others look up to them, if they are to choose to do this during economic hard times it’s definitely going to be worrisome for me.

“How could you allocate such amount to the MP’s when people are suffering to provide a single meal for their families in a day.”

Aboubacarr Sidiqq said: “We are here suffering in the market, businesses are low because people don’t have money to buy from us, and we pay stores monthly with or without sales yet the government is not making efforts to solve our issues but thinking of themselves and how they can improve their wages, this is very sad,”

He added: “we cannot compare our country with other countries because we are not in the same level. Thus, other countries provide more for their MP’s than the Gambia but we should also consider the economic status of our country before considering such budgets.”

Reporting by Adama Makasuba