By: Fatou Dahaba
In a significant step toward bolstering tax administration across Africa, Mary Baine, Executive Secretary of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), visited The Gambia on Tuesday to engage with leaders of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA).
The high-level meeting, held during her official duties, brought together Baine and GRA Commissioner General Yankuba Darboe, along with Deputy Commissioner General Essa Jallow and other senior officials.
Discussions centered on deepening collaboration, particularly in capacity building, audit competencies, and digital reforms, while reviewing progress on ongoing initiatives and exploring expanded support under ATAF’s 2025-2030 strategic plan.
The Gambia has long demonstrated a strong commitment to ATAF, an intergovernmental organization dedicated to improving tax systems across the continent. As evidence of this partnership, The Gambia will host the prestigious ATAF 2026 Master Class for Commissioners General, which will convene heads of tax administrations from 44 African countries. The event will provide a platform for high-level dialogue on policy challenges, innovative strategies, and collective approaches to strengthening domestic resource mobilization.
During the visit, GRA leadership outlined key reform priorities, including advancing digital transformation and addressing international taxation issues such as transfer pricing—areas where ATAF’s expertise and resources play a strategic role.
Baine expressed deep appreciation for The Gambia’s active engagement and leadership within ATAF. She underscored the critical importance of enhancing domestic resource mobilization to support Africa’s broader development goals. “Strengthening tax systems is essential for addressing the growing debt crisis many nations face, where substantial revenues are diverted to debt servicing,” Baine stated. She highlighted ATAF’s home-grown, peer-to-peer approach, which tailors solutions to each country’s unique challenges.
Since its inception, ATAF has made substantial impacts: training over 12,000 tax officers and assisting member countries in collecting approximately $2.8 billion in additional revenue through improved administration and compliance.
Commissioner General Yankuba Darboe reaffirmed The Gambia’s steadfast dedication to ATAF’s objectives. “For years, we have remained firmly committed to ATAF’s vision of building strong, ethical, and efficient tax administrations across Africa,” Darboe said. He noted that serving on the ATAF Council reflects this belief.
Darboe praised ATAF’s training programs as highly practical and directly relevant to daily challenges faced by revenue authorities. GRA staff have benefited from specialized courses in data analytics, tax audits, VAT fraud detection, tax investigations, research methods, and more. “These capacity-building efforts have had a direct, immeasurable impact on our domestic revenue mobilization and compliance performance,” he added. “We are achieving approved results and meeting targets, thanks in large part to the technical knowledge and skills gained through ATAF support.”
Deputy Commissioner General Essa Jallow echoed these sentiments, describing The Gambia as a key player in ATAF since its founding. He credited ATAF’s assistance with building GRA’s capabilities—from data analytics to transfer pricing—and called the country’s leadership role inspiring for the continent.
Both sides expressed optimism about the partnership’s future. ATAF representatives thanked The Gambia for its support and viewed the collaboration as vital for achieving genuine economic sovereignty and sustainable development in Africa.
As preparations advance for the 2026 Master Class, the visit reinforces The Gambia’s position as a proactive contributor to continental tax reform efforts, promising continued progress in revenue generation and governance.
