National Assembly Members today recommended that public officials who are convicted of corruption should serve a 3 year jail term or pay a fine of D500,000.

The anti-corruption bill, which was first submitted to parliament in 2019, is expected to curb the rampant corruption in the country.

The Gambia ranks 130th out of 180 countries and territories in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (2017).

The anti-corruption legislation will bring the Gambia in line with international standards and best practices.

According to the draft bill “any person who receives anything which has been obtained by means of a criminal act within or outside The Gambia and is liable to conviction on the confiscation of the proceeds of the crime and a fine of D500,000 or imprisonment for three years. 

“A person who accepts or obtains or attempts to accept from any person for himself or herself or any other person any gift or consideration as an inducement or reward for doing or having done forbearing to do or having done forbearing  is liable to a fine of not less than D300,000 and not exceeding D1,000,000 or imprisonment for not less than 3 years and not exceeding 5 years or both.”

In his State of the Nation address in September 2018, President Barrow set out his government commitment to fighting corruption including the creation of an Anti-Corruption Commission. 

Reporting by Adama Makasuba