For three years, the Auditor General has shouted one message through hundreds of pages:
” The system is leaking, and nobody is fixing the holes.”
We have traced the missing billions, followed the ghost assets, named the deals, and broken down the numbers.
Now the story moves from accounting to accountability.
This final chapter is not about figures but about our Republic’s future.
- The Pattern Is Clear
2021. 2022. 2023.
Each year, the Auditor General gave the same verdict: Adverse Opinion.
That means the government’s books can’t be trusted.
And yet, every year, the same weaknesses reappear:
• Missing vouchers.
• Untagged assets.
• Unretired imprests.
• Unpaid SOE debts.
• Hidden waivers and unrecovered loans.
• Cash issued beyond monthly plans.
• Projects awarded without tenders.
Three years, three warnings, one silence.
2. The Price of Silence
When the Treasury loses track of billions, it’s not abstract; it’s personal.
Every dalasi missing is a life deferred:
• The *D6.1 billion* cash gap could have built 600 classrooms.
• The *D857 million* no-tender road could have lit half the rural schools.
• The *D241 million* timber proceeds could have stocked every clinic with medicines.
• The *D449 million* unverified PVs could have paved feeder roads and bought ambulances.
*Corruption doesn’t steal money, it steals hope.*
3. The Road to Accountability
If the National Assembly’s Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) wants to restore trust, it must stop 
treating audits like *annual rituals.*
FPAC must:
1. Hold open hearings, broadcast in Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, and English.
2. Demand time-bound action plans from every ministry and follow up quarterly.
3. Name officials who fail to submit PVs, asset registers, or loan repayments, and recommend surcharges.
4. Require the Accountant General to publish quarterly Receipt → Bank → IFMIS reconciliations.
5. Enforce Treasury Circulars on 25 % remittance for seconded officers and loan recoveries.
6. Table a new Public Finance Accountability Bill mandating sanctions for non-compliance.
Accountability is not politics; it’s the maintenance of trust.
4. Citizens: The New Auditors
Audits mean nothing if citizens don’t read them.
So here’s what every Gambian can do:
• Ask your NAM: *” What did you do with our Constituency Fund?”*
• Ask your council: *” Where is the asset register for our trucks?”*
• Ask your ministry: *” Where is the proof of every fee we pay?”*
• Ask your imam or pastor: *” Can integrity be preached and not practised?”*
You are not powerless.
Every question asked publicly becomes an act of patriotism.
5. Donors & Partners: No More Blind Transfers
Between 2021 and 2023, The Gambia recorded D29.7 billion in undrawn grants and D4.65 billion in loans sitting idle in projects.
Donors disburse, ministries delay, and citizens lose.
The next phase of cooperation must be conditional transparency:
• No second tranche until the first is audited.
• No new project until old accounts are cleared.
• No signature without published implementation reports.
True partners demand proof, not promises.
6. The Next Generation’s Duty
Audits don’t just expose corruption; they preserve memory.
If Gambians forget, the next generation will repeat the same mistakes.
Universities, civil-society groups, and the media must turn these reports into living textbooks, teaching civic courage, not cynicism.
*Let our youth see that integrity is not old-fashioned, it’s revolutionary.*
7. The Moral Bottom Line
A government that hides its spending is like a man who eats in the dark; he may fill his stomach, but never his soul.
The Auditor General’s office showed us the mirror.
We can either clean the reflection or keep pretending it’s fog.
Final Note — Gratitude, Faith & The Gambia’s Reckoning
Alhamdulillah.
From the very first line of this journey, I prayed that these publications would not just expose numbers but awaken hearts.
To Allah (SWT), the All-Seeing, the All-Just, thank You for the courage to speak truth and for protecting those who demand honesty from power.
To the Gambian people, at home and abroad, thank you.
You read, shared, debated, and refused to look away.
Every like, comment, and conversation meant the world, proving that citizens are no longer passive spectators to their destiny.
To *Mr Ben Suwareh and the entire Open Gambia Platform*, I say “A jaraama sanne”
You opened a space where ordinary people could speak, learn, and hold leaders accountable without fear or filters.
What began as a few posts became a national dialogue, across Bantabas, mosques/churches, WhatsApp groups, TikTok, radio, etc.
To the journalists, youth activists, civil servants, auditors, and honest public officers who quietly passed facts and encouraged truth, history will remember you as patriots.
A Thought for Posterity
Someday, a young Gambian will read these reports and ask,
*” How did they let this happen?”*
And I hope another will answer,
*” They didn’t. They woke up. They demanded answers. They changed course through ballot boxes .”*
Accountability is not an insult; it’s an act of love for the country.
Transparency is not rebellion; it’s obedience to Allah’s command to uphold justice, even against ourselves.
And truth is not dangerous; it is the foundation of every lasting republic.
To our leaders:
The audit trail is a mirror.
If it shows dirt, clean the face; don’t break the mirror.
To our citizens:
The fight for accountability doesn’t end with one series of articles; it begins with every receipt, vote, and question we dare to ask.
May Allah bless The Gambia with leaders who fear Him, civil servants who respect the people’s trust, and citizens who never again sell silence for crumbs.
May this generation be remembered not for its complaints, but for its courage.
*” The Gambia belongs to us all, let us guard her wealth as we guard our faith.”*
Jallow Modou, Washington D.C., USA
Making the Audit Speak for the People
