By Tabora Bojang
The government intends to amend the Former President’s Bill 2023 by inserting a new clause which states that government “shall pay a former president for the rest of his or her life a monthly pension of an amount equal to eighty percent of the gross monthly salary of a serving president.
The amendment bill is set to undergo first reading in the National Assembly today.
The original Act passed in 2023 provided sweeping benefits to a former president including a life time pension, three new vehicles every five years, a driver, fully furnished residence and office, housekeepers, gardeners, a personal assistant, a personal secretary, security guards, cooks, drivers, a lump sum gratuity payment, insurance cover for medical treatment including treatment abroad with spouse.
The Act also provided payment of a monthly pension to a former president payable in arrears of an amount equal to the monthly salary of a serving president.
However, the government intends to amend these specific sections to avoid what it calls ambiguity.
In its objects and reasons, the Minister of Justice Dawda Jallow cited that it is important for laws to be as practical as possible to prevent ambiguous interpretations and confusion in implementation. He explained that Section 4 of the Act which dealt with payment of a monthly pension is ambiguous and may hamper its effective implementation due to subjective interpretations because it provides that a former president be paid a percentage of the monthly salary of a serving president without distinctly stating whether the percentage is the gross or net monthly income of a sitting president.
Jallow said it is proactive to amend this to cohere with other provisions.
If amended, the act will now provide payment of a former president for the rest of his or her life a monthly pension payable in arrears of an amount equal to eighty percent of the gross monthly salary of a serving president.