By Omar Bah
The National Audit Office (NAO), a respected institution in financial oversight, has expressed concerns about the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority’s spending of a substantial D63 million on travel and overseas training. The NAO’s 2021 Performance Audit report on GCAA budget management revealed that the Authority needed help managing budgets, especially in 2018 and 2019. According to the NAO, the GCAA’s administrative budget experienced significant overruns, ranging from D28 million to D76 million during the period under review.
The Director of Finance attributed budget overruns to unfavorable foreign exchange rates for the Gambian Dalasi against major international currencies. The NAO reported that 2019 budget overruns for travel and overseas training amounted to sixty-three million Dalasi, while in 2022, it was fifteen million Dalasi. This contradicted the Finance Director’s explanation that foreign exchange movements caused the budget overruns. The NAO also noted that GCAA produces quarterly management reports to compare actual spending with budgeted amounts but needs explanations for the differences. As a result, management cannot fully understand the reasons behind the budget overruns and implement effective remedies, ultimately contributing to GCAA’s losses.
Based on the audited financial statement, GCAA experienced a loss of D38 million in 2019, partly attributed to a D63 million budget overrun on travel and overseas training. The report noted that if these budgets had been managed effectively, GCAA could have achieved a profit of D25 million. It was also highlighted that management must thoroughly investigate the factors causing budget discrepancies and take necessary corrective measures.
As per the NAO’s recommendations, the GCAA Director General should implement stricter controls over discretionary expenses, such as travel and training, to ensure that spending stays within budget limits. Additionally, the NAO suggests that the GCAA Finance Department should conduct thorough investigations and report on the reasons for significant variances as they arise to enhance accountability and learning.
In response, the management stated that they have implemented and strengthened cost control measures in response to the impact of COVID-19. They emphasized that despite the budget overruns, the expenditures were incurred mainly due to unforeseen operational and safety requirements at the airport, which necessitated urgent intervention. For example, in 2019, following a safety assessment, significant deficiencies were identified in training personnel for the Airport Fire and Rescue Services Unit. Consequently, to prevent the downgrading of fire coverage, which would have impacted the airport’s ability to handle specific aircraft, more than 45 personnel were urgently sent for specialized firefighting training in Douala, Cameroon, and engineers were dispatched to the USA for training on the maintenance of fire trucks at the airport.
The NAO expressed concern in response to the GCAA Management’s explanation for budget overruns. The NAO found it troubling that management attributed the overruns to financing unplanned activities due to urgent operational and safety deficiencies. This raises questions about how GCAA identifies budgeting activities from 2018 to 2022. The NAO noted that the need for detailed budgets made it difficult to assess the extent to which unplanned activities were financed. The NAO recommended that specific details should be provided in departmental budgets to address this issue. They also hoped that their recommendation to include reporting on the causes of budget variances would provide real-time information to management, the board, and the Finance Department about why budgets differ from actual spending.
