By Yankuba Jallow
Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda of the Kanifing Municipal Council was questioned at length before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday, August 27, 2025, as Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez pressed him on controversial honorarium payments, procurement lapses, and the broader question of who ultimately controls the council’s finances.
At the start of his testimony, the mayor acknowledged that while the council holds responsibility for finances, its chief executive officer (CEO) manages resources daily. “We are responsible, but we are not managing the resources,” Mr. Bensouda said. When counsel suggested that the council carried “the overall responsibility for managing the affairs of the finances,” the mayor hesitated before agreeing. “Yes. I guess so, yes.”
That exchange set the tone for a day dominated by questions about documentation, procedures, and accountability.
Mr. Gomez introduced a payment voucher of 153,150 Dalasi for the rehabilitation of football field goal posts and nets in several wards. The request had been initiated by youth councilor Kemo Bojang, with approvals routed through the deputy mayor, the CEO, and the finance director. But the supporting paperwork — a handwritten bill of quantity attributed to a man whose names was mentioned, with no letterhead or business name — immediately drew scrutiny.
“Did that payment have any indication it has passed through the contracts committee?” Mr. Gomez asked. “No, I don’t see any indication,” Mr. Bensouda conceded. “It’s a lapse.”
The focus then turned to whether the supposed supplier, had registered with the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA), as required by law. Mr. Bensouda admitted he did not know. When Mr. Gomez read aloud from the GPPA Act of 2022 on the registration requirements of economic operators, the mayor responded, “It’s a requirement. Okay, I’ll confirm that.”
If the goal post payments raised questions of procurement, the issue of honorariums put the very leadership of the council under the spotlight.
The commission examined a 2018 voucher authorizing payments to councilors for participating in what was described as a “revenue maximization” exercise in municipal markets. The general council resolution approving the exercise called for 400 Dalasi per day to be paid to 26 councilors over 25 days.
Mr. Gomez pressed the mayor on whether guidelines existed for such payments. “Honorariums, I don’t think so, no,” Mr. Bensouda admitted.
When asked if he was aware of the payments, Mr. Bensouda recalled not only the discussions but also his own participation. “I was one of the people doing the exercise,” he said. “My role was to look at the setting up of market committees, was to look at the maintenance gaps at markets because it was one of the critical points of our campaign. Politics is very centered around markets.”
The mayor defended the usefulness of the exercise, noting that the Serrekunda Market rehabilitation project and other market initiatives stemmed from its findings.
“Markets have large portions that are tabled by women, and kiosks. I remember we had a big kiosks problem. We were saying, how about we now serialize these kiosks, because market revenue is very hard to detect. And we always suspected it is the highest suppression of revenue.”
But counsel challenged whether the exercise had been properly documented. The final report bore no date. There was no evidence of subgroup reports, despite testimony that councilors had been divided into smaller teams. And the same councilors who benefitted from the honorariums had also approved the resolution authorizing the payments.
“It is just common sense that they would not just come back to general council and discredit the same payments they have received,” Mr. Gomez said, raising the problem of “who polices the police.”
Mr. Bensouda did not dispute the point. “That’s why we have external bodies like the National Audit Office and the Ministry, who should look at the accounts and let us know,” he testified. “We cannot be judge-juries on executions.”
