GRA Commissioner General Yankuba Darboe has declared that tobacco taxation must be judged not by how much revenue it generates, but by how many lives it saves.
Delivering a keynote address at the convergence of the Association of Public & Environmental Health Officers – The Gambia (APEHOG) on the theme “Non-Communicable Diseases and Tobacco Taxation: Aligning Fiscal Policy with Public Health,” Darboe said taxation is more than revenue collection — it is a tool to shape behaviour, protect health and drive national development.
“We often think about taxation simply in terms of how much revenue Government can collect. However, taxation is much more than that,” Darboe told the gathering of health officers, WHO officials, and government stakeholders.
“A good tax system does not only raise revenue. It can influence economic behaviour. It can support national development priorities. It can protect local industries and public health.”
Darboe stressed that tobacco is an unusual tax base.
“Ordinarily, we want economic activity to grow. We want businesses to expand. We want the tax base to increase. However, tobacco presents us with a different situation. We want the revenue, but ultimately, we want less of the product that generates that revenue,” he said.
He said GRA’s success in tobacco taxation must be measured by whether fewer young people start smoking, whether smokers reduce or quit, whether families are protected from second-hand smoke, and whether the burden on the health system is reduced.
CG Darboe added that every Dalasi collected must have a development purpose — to build hospitals, buy medicines, pay doctors and nurses.
On the controversial Tobacco Control Levy, Darboe acknowledged that health sector colleagues have struggled to access the funds meant for tobacco control.
“I wish to assure you that we will continue to perform our responsibility under the law: to assess, collect and properly account for these revenues. However, collection alone cannot be the end of the process,” he said.
He called for dialogue and cooperation between Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, GRA and WHO to ensure resources intended for tobacco control actually reach tobacco control programmes.
“The objective should not be institutional competition. The objective must be results.”
Darboe issued a strong caution: Taxation without enforcement will fail.
“If tobacco taxes increase but enforcement remains weak, the market will find another route. Illicit products may enter, Government loses revenue, and the public-health objective is undermined,” he warned.
He revealed that GRA has strengthened border management, intelligence, compliance monitoring and introduced digital excise stamps for cigarettes to authenticate and trace products.
“This is not merely a revenue technology. It is also a public-health tool. An illicit cigarette entering our market at a cheaper price undermines the very tax policy designed to discourage consumption,” he said.
Darboe also disclosed GRA has supported excise taxation on alcohol and other products that impose health costs, insisting the principle must extend beyond tobacco to tackle Non-Communicable Diseases.
Calling for an end to institutional silos, Darboe said the Ministry of Health cannot regard tobacco taxation simply as a Ministry of Finance matter.