By Makutu Manneh
Sulayman Barry, Principal Internal Auditor of the Brikama Area Council (BAC) has accused former Chairperson Sheriffo Sonko of interfering with his special audit exercises on revenue collectors.
Mr Barry made this allegation during his appearance to testify as a witness before Commissioners of the Local Government Commission of Inquiry (LGCI) yesterday, 20 March 2024.
“Former Chairperson Sheriffo Sonko in 2020, asked me to stop the special audit exercise I was doing,” he said. “One of the revenue collectors I was auditing was Alieu Sanneh, who had shortages, and he is the chairperson’s nephew.”
The witness said ex-Chairperson Sonko also informed him that Alieu is dangerous, “meaning he can use evil means to silence me.” Also, the witness said Alieu Sanneh has not been working for the Council since 2020, but continues to receive salary up to date.
However, he said this did not stop him from conducting his audit exercise, adding that after the inquiry, he came up with a draft report. He added that Alieu was to respond to the audit queries but instead he wrote to the Council complaining that he was being targeted.
Witness Barry said the Council tasked the establishment committee to inquire the matter which was done, but said at the end, the committee reported that they could not confirm Alieu’s claims. He continued that the Directorate of Internal Audit (DOI) under the Ministry of Finance also did their findings and came up with the same as his. The witness said some files of staff of the Council have not been updated, and explained that each file should contain an application letter, national identity card, certificate of character from the police and other credentials, and made reference to the audit report regarding the names of the staff affected. The witness testified that the establishment register of the BAC was not updated, and said the management of BAC said they would regularise the matter, but did not.
“An amount of thirty-two thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two Dalasi, eighty-two Butut (D32,922.82), was disbursed and paid as salary over the counter, to staff of the Council but the receivers did not sign the vouchers. We could not confirm whether those people received the money,” he said. The witness said there were inconsistencies in the payrolls as some people were underpaid while others were overpaid. He explained that the payments were supposed to be based on their salary grading, but some were paid less than their grade points while others were paid above their grade points. He added that in some instances, junior labourers are paid higher than their superiors.
Barry said in 2020, there was an issue of unaccounted proceeds from the Council’s sales amounting to twenty-four thousand Dalasi (D24,000), and said the Council generated sixty thousand Dalasi (D60,000) from bid sales, but only thirty-six thousand Dalasi (D36,000) was paid to the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA) while the D24,000 was unaccounted for. He said the Management responded to their audit query saying the balance of D24,000 was used for refreshment for bid opening and sitting allowances. Barry also informed the Commission that the Council does not have a comprehensive fixed assets register, and explained that the audit finding was that the BAC maintain an up-to-date asset register where all capital assets of the Council should have been listed, indicating their values. He said one cannot ascertain the assets of the Council and that he has never seen the asset register of the council.
Lead counsel Patrick Gomez asked him if the Council now has the asset register, and the witness responded that this was not to his knowledge.
According to witness Barry, he began working at the Brikama Area Council (BAC) in 2005 as an audit officer on probation and was later confirmed to the position by the management of the BAC. He added that in 2013, he was promoted to the position of Principal Internal Auditor, a position he has been holding until now.
Mr Barry said he holds a Diploma in Accounting and Finance and is currently pursuing a Diploma in Chartered Audit at the Institute of Internal Audit.
