Former Minister of Finance and Trade, Hon Amadou Sanneh has criticized Minister Seedy Keita on his recently revised budget after the latter was quoted as saying his budget is non-inflationary as it contains a reduction of almost one billion.
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However for Mr Sanneh, the revised budget tabled before Parliamentarians contains an increment on beverages, personal taxes, duties on oils among others; saying all these levies will further worsen our inflation.
“I disagree with the Finance Minister about his non-inflationary claims because all the aforementioned taxes will lead to further inflation” Hon Sanneh.
Mr Sanneh who last served as Trade Minister before his relief in 2019; expressed disappointment over the recent salary increment on grounds that it wasn’t done in good faith.
“The highest earning public servants will continue to be richer while the executive have been complaining that they are the least paid compared to their colleagues in the sub-region.
“The reason why I kept dragging my feet on salary increment during my tenure as Finance Minister was that it is unsustainable and I wanted a complete overhaul of the salary structure before i can give any due consideration to it” he said.
Sanneh, an Accountant by profession blamed the Current Finance Minister for reducing the NAO’s budget line claiming that will lead to leaving some institutions unaudited which is a statutory requirement as it can seriously raise accountability issues about the government.
“Am not sure whether the Minister understood the kind of budget he tabled. It looks like a cut and paste budget which will serve no purpose” the former Minister said.