Momodou Tangara, Minister of Foreign Affairs
By Buba Gagigo
A recent audit report has revealed significant irregularities in The Gambia’s issuance of diplomatic and service passports, with nearly two thousand diplomatic passports and over three thousand service passports granted without clear justification.
The report highlights that diplomatic passports, typically reserved for government-appointed diplomats or individuals representing intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations, were instead issued to individuals outside of this scope, including businessmen and other private individuals without government appointments.
According to the audit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs procured 3,600 service passports and 2,600 diplomatic passports in 2014 from De La Rue International Limited, a UK-based commercial security printing company. These passports, managed by the Ministry’s Director of Protocol, revealed significant accountability gaps.
“During the audit, we noted that through letters referenced LD 118/233/01 (405) and dated 4 November 2014 and LD 118/233/01 (395-AT) dated 16 July 2014 respectively, 3,600 (three thousand six hundred machine-readable Service passports and 2,600 (two thousand six hundred) Diplomatic passports were procured from De La Rue International limited, a commercial security printer and papermaker company located in the United Kingdom. These documents when received by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are kept by the Director of protocol,” the audit report stated.
The report revealed that, out of a total stock of 6,200 Diplomatic and Service passports received, only 805 were accounted for during the period under review. This includes 641 Diplomatic and 164 Service passports. This leaves an unaccounted balance of 5,395 passports, comprising 1,959 Diplomatic and 3,436 Service passports, according to the report.
“Leaving an unaccounted balance of 5,395 (five thousand three hundred and ninety-five), 1959 (one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine Diplomatic passports and 3,436 (three thousand four hundred and thirty-six Service passports),” the report stated.
The audit report also uncovered instances where service passports were issued to non-Gambians, civil servants below grade 10, and other ineligible individuals, raising concerns about potential abuse. The report warns that these ineligible passport holders could exploit their passports in ways that might harm The Gambia’s reputation.
Further, the report noted that multiple diplomatic passports were sometimes issued to the same individual without proper controls, a practice that, while occasionally necessary for certain roles, requires strict oversight to prevent misuse.
“During the audit, we noted that diplomatic passports were issued to non-Gambians and justifications for these issuances were not provided for our review. There is a risk that these holders are ineligible and could abuse the use of their passports. We noted that certain individuals were concurrently issued multiple diplomatic passports during the years under review. Whilst it is not unusual to issue multiple diplomatic passports to a person at the same time given the nature of some offices, the process needs to be carefully managed to avoid misuse,” the report stated.