The National Assembly’s Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) has recommended a D6 million reduction in the Office of the President’s 2027 budget, with the funds redirected to the National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) to strengthen its development programs and personnel support.
The proposal was contained in FPAC’s consolidated report on the 2027 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, presented to lawmakers on Monday by Committee Chairman Alagie S. Darboe.
According to the report, the proposed cut includes D4 million from the president’s recurrent budget and D2 million from its development allocation. “The Committee examined the Estimates for the Office of the President and proposed a reduction of the sum of D6,000,000 (D4,000,000 from the recurrent budget and D2,000,000 from the development budget) and redirected it to the National Council for Civic Education to support its development initiatives and personnel emoluments,” the report stated.
In addition to the reallocation, FPAC recommended transferring D8.481 million from budget code 3111203 to code 3112118, earmarked for furniture and fittings, which had received no allocation in the proposed estimates.
Beyond the D6 million transfer, the committee proposed an extra D17 million in funding for the NCCE. This includes D14 million for operational and development needs and D3 million for personnel costs. The operational funding would cover the purchase of a pickup truck, an official vehicle for the council’s chairperson, and the commencement of construction of the NCCE’s office building.
The recommendations underscore FPAC’s emphasis on strengthening civic education as a cornerstone of democratic governance, while trimming allocations to the presidency in favor of institutions tasked with public awareness and citizen engagement.
