The overall expenditure for this fiscal year is projected at D877.8 million. As much as these questions may be philosophical or political, there are many facets as to what democracy means in The Gambia in particular, and in Africa in general. Democracy, as most political scientists would confer, is an idea more about means than ends.
Democracy means more than multiparty elections every four or five years.
For Democracy to thrive, there has to be other complimentary components. Democracy cannot be practiced fully in an environment of political lethargy, economic stagnation and poverty. Democracy cannot be democratic if it is imposed on the people either openly of subliminally. For Democracy to flower, the environment should be rid of economic decadence, social collapse and moral bankruptcy. Democracy has to go hand in hand with transparency, accountability, equality, probity and above all, economic development.