By Makutu Manneh
Mama Kinteh, a revenue collector at Brikama Area Council (BAC), has informed members of the Local Government Commission of Inquiry that she used to hand over the revenue she collected to the Finance Director of the Brikama Area Council, Alagie Jeng.
Ms Kinteh made this disclosure last Thursday, 18 July, 2024.
According to Ms Kinteh, she used to deposit the revenue she collected to the bank, but there were instances when she handed over the cash to Finance Director, AlagieJeng, who used to ask her to bring him the money, because he needed it to pay participants.
“I cannot remember how many times he asked for revenue I collected. I used to hand over the monies to him and then he will ask me to go to the principal cashier to issue me with a receipt,” witness Kinteh testified.
Lead Counsel Gomez questioned Ms Kinteh if she knew she was not supposed to give money to Mr. Jeng, but the witness replied that she was new at the Council during this period and nobody explained to her about procedures. She said she was transferred from Janjanbureh Area Council to Brikama Area Council in 2021, and that around 2022, she had already made a collection of fifteen thousand, nine hundred and fifty Dalasi. She said she gave this money to Finance Director Jeng who told her that they had a meeting, and he was to pay the participants who attended that meeting.
Witness Kinteh said for this amount, the cashier did not give her any receipt and that after her late husband’s 40 days charity, she went to request for her receipt which Jeng promised to give her. The witness said she proceeded to the CEO and the auditor to inform them, but said “the CEO told me to follow the matter up with Jeng, for him to give me the receipt.’’
She said after informing Sulayman Barry, the Principal Internal Auditor, he took her cashbook from her, adding that the book was not returned to her until a day before she came to the commission. Witness Kinteh said up to the day she was testifying before the Commission, she has not received her receipt.
Counsel Gomez told the witness that on the 8th of July 2021, she collected seventy-five thousand dalasi, but she has only a GTR receipt and no bank receipt for this amount, even though she was cleared by the internal audit unit of the Council.
“Was this cash paid to the bank,” Counsel Gomez asked.
Witness Kinteh replied that the monies she collected were either deposited at the bank or given to Finance Director Jeng. She said she has never given any of her collections to the principal cashier, and further reiterated that her 2021 cashbook has been with Sulayman Barry since the beginning of 2021, and it was not returned to her until a day before she appeared before the Commission.
“I have been following him, but he did not give it to me,” the witness said.
But Counsel Gomez told the witness that there was only a GTR receipt in her cash book and no deposit slip, meaning that the money was not deposited at the bank.
The witness emphasized: “That is what I am saying. Some of the monies I collected were given to Finance Director Jeng and then he will instruct the Principal Cashier to give me a GTR receipt.”
Counsel Gomez told her that on July 30, 2021, she collected seventy-five thousand Dalasi but her report does not contain any bank payment slips.
The witness again maintained her testimony that she either deposited the money or gave it to Finance Director Jeng, adding that sometimes when Principal Cashier Kanteh took her deposit slips, he will not return it to her with a GTR receipt.
Counsel Gomez told her that there is a part in her book where recordings are cancelled. The witness responded that it was a mistake she made, but said if the Commission checked on the following page of the book, they will see the correct recordings. Counsel Gomez told her that the Commission would do so.
The witness told the commission that since she joined BAC in 2021, she was never given a revenue collection machine; that before her arrival at the Council, the machines were already distributed among the revenue collectors.
Counsel Gomez asked her if she was ever promoted, but she replied in the negative and said she does not know why.
Sitting continues.
