By Lamin Fatty
Sorry Darboe, the Councilor of Bani Ward in Sami District is accused of effecting unauthorized withdrawals of funds provided by the United Nations Community Development Funds (UNCDF) to construct gardens in his ward.
Three (3) communities in Bani Ward, Sami District were beneficiaries of the UNCDF D4.8 million garden project. The villages were Dobo, Kujew and Kibiri.
The garden project is at a standstill as the work on the sites is still not complete. The allegation is that the funds were exhausted before the completion of the project. The beneficiary communities expressed dissatisfaction with the way the project was implemented because they still have problems with water and fencing. To the communities, particularly the gardeners, the project goals were not achieved.
The Councillor and the Ward Development Committee members of Bani Ward have been trading accusations with one another regarding the unaccounted Four Hundred and Eighty-Five Thousand and Fifty Dalasi (D485,050).
Foroyaa probed into the allegations. The ward councillor, Sorry Darboe, the Chief Executive Officer of Kuntaur Area Council, the Chairman of Kuntaur Area Council, the Community Development Officer in Central River Region North, and some ward development committees. The allegation is that the Councilor withdrew funds from the ward development account without following due process.
In Kujew Village, the Alkalo, Alhagie Soriba Kanyi, and his brother told this reporter that the structure constructed in their community can be best described as a so-called garden.
“A garden without proper fencing and water is a so-called garden,” the Alkalo said.
The Alkalo’s brother, Alhage Seedy, said: “I do not think next season the women will be able to work in that garden. We need to get another project to rehabilitate it because the women are still having problems with animal straying. The struggle for water is another major problem in the gardens.”
The reporter visited the said garden just outskirts of the village where he met three elderly women who were struggling to water their nursery beds. They were Lalla Kanyi, Lisa and Jonfolo Fatty. They decried their lack of adequate water supply because the only borehole in the area cannot provide them with the amount of water they need for their crops.
“For us, we cannot come here tomorrow because we take it in turns and tomorrow will be the turn of another group to water their beds because the water is not sufficient,” they said.
This reporter then proceeded to Kibiri village.
Alkalo Ebrima Boye of Kibiri village, Ndaye Gaye, Modou Sallah and Marri Jallow all spoke to Foroyaa. All of them expressed disappointment in the way the project was implemented in the area as they all pointed accusing fingers at the Councillor.
“As you can see, almost nothing has been done yet. The Councillor and his contractor claimed that the fund for this project is exhausted, which means without a new project this structure will remain like this,” the people of Kibiri told Foroyaa.
Momodou Sambou, the CEO of the Kuntaur Area Council said when the UNCDF project started, at the council level, he was the one approving withdrawal to be made from the ward accounts.
He was asked the procedure for making withdrawals of the funds from the ward account. CEO Sambou said before approving any withdrawal, the councillor must bring all the necessary documents from the ward level and some of these documents included the meeting minutes of the ward development committee (WDC) containing the attendance list and the signatures of the people who attend the meeting. He added that it helps the Council to understand what was discussed, particularly the agreement and disagreements.
According to the CEO, the officials from the internal audit unit and procurement unit of the Council would do the vetting of the documents that the councillor brought and when they are satisfied, then he, as the CEO, would take the documents to the Community Development Office for endorsement. CEO Sambou said the Community Development Office represents the United Nations Community Development Fund (UNCDF). The CEO explained that the Community Development Officer (CDO) must first endorse it before he approves any withdrawal from the ward accounts.
“However, for Sorry Darboe, who is the ward councillor for Bani Ward, when the project started, we did not see or hear from him until the middle of the project implementation. We called him to come. Sorry came with a lot of documents that he presented to me as the CEO. I invited the internal audit team with the procurement office to vet the documents after which both procurement and internal audit office indicated those documents were not correct,” the CEO said.
“We then returned his documents to him and informed him about the irregularities in those documents,” the CEO added.
CEO Sambou continued with his statement saying after that encounter with Councillor Sorry Darboe, they later heard that Sorry was withdrawing funds from the ward account at Reliance Financial Services Wassu branch. The CEO said he contacted the branch manager in Wassu to stop anyone from withdrawing from that account.
“I did not only contact the branch manager verbally, but I also wrote to the branch manager officially that no one should be allowed to withdraw from that account. After all, Sorry could not access the account. We heard that he moved to the Bansang branch from where he did some withdrawals. I wrote to the branch in Bansang again to block that account. I demanded the bank statement for that period to know whether Sorry had withdrawn and how much he has withdrawn,” the CEO said.
CEO Sambou added: “When I received that bank statement, I forwarded it to the internal audit and procurement office for them to check. We found out that Sorry made illegal withdrawals equivalent to four hundred and eighty-four thousand, six hundred dalasis (D484,600.00) from that account.”
CEO Momodou Sambou said when the internal audit and procurement office revealed their findings to him, he wrote to Banjul and attached the bank statement dated 13th December 2023 for further investigation. He said the Banjul Office also reviewed the withdrawals and they also confirmed that those withdrawals were not made following the right procedures.
Sorry Darboe accused the CEO of requesting a bribe of D30,000 from him. The CEO labelled the allegation as false as he challenged Sorry Darboe to provide evidence.
Kitim Kanajie, the community development officer (CDO) in CRR North, gave the breakdown of the withdrawals done by ward councillor Sorry Darboe from the Bani Ward account without following due process:
The 1st withdrawal was two hundred and eighty-four thousand dalasi (D284,000), the 2nd withdrawal was ten thousand and five hundred dalasi (D10,500), 3rd withdrawal was twenty-nine thousand dalasis(D29,000), 4th withdrawal was one hundred and sixty-one thousand (D161,000) and the 5th withdrawal was five hundred and fifty dalasi (D550), which brings the total to four hundred and eighty-five thousand and fifty dalasi (D485,050).
“Those were the withdrawals done by Sorry Darboe without following due process,” CDO Kanajie for CRR North said.
Some ward development committee (WDC) members also spoke about the saga, but they all blamed ward councillor Sorry Darboe, and few of his sub-committee members.
Sankung Jaiteh, a WDC member said after the first cycle of the project implementation, the rest was single-handedly done by ward councillor Sorry Darboe and his few WDC members. He said his associates are mainly the so-called contracts and procurement committee members while the general body of the WDC was never involved. This means the councillor and his selected associates were doing things on their own without informing or engaging the WDC.
Fatou Kanyi, a WDC member from Kujew village said the ward development committee missed having general meetings since the first cycle of the project. Ebrima Yaffa, a WDC member from Bani village said it had been about two years since they had their last meeting.
Mulaye Baldeh said the councillor is always very selective and he does not involve or engage the Ward Committee.
Kebba Suso from Salikenni said the councillor and his sub-committee members did not adhere to procurement and financial guidelines. He added that the WDC members were not informed about the project because no general meetings were conducted.
Dawda Njie, a WDC member from Jamal Ganyado said the councillor has not been transparent to them and as a result, he single-handedly replaced the first WDC cashier by selecting one Makuta Camara. Makuta accused Sorry Darboe of forging her signature on three occasions, but Sorry denied this allegation.
Mariama Tambedou blamed the Ward Development Committee for not summoning the Councilor to a meeting after all the controversies surrounding the project.
Sorry Darboe said the accusations leveled against him were baseless. He denied any wrongdoing. He claimed that the people were conspiring against him.
He said the UNCDF project came with its guidelines, which they followed. He denied working alone or with a small cohort of people close to him. He claimed that they always meet before a decision is taken.
“I have nothing to say about the accusations coming from some WDC members that I am very selective among them and also I have replaced the WDC cashier,” he said.
“For the withdrawals, I never did any withdrawal after the audit, except cash withdrawal for work. This is because I was instructed by the project management that immediately after work was done, the workers must be paid,” Darboe said.
He said he did not withdraw cash to pay the workers alone instead he did it with his contracts committee. He added that for the garden projects, every beneficiary community has a supervisor who closely worked with him as the councillor.
Darboe said he was instructed by the project management that he should go to the community development office and sit with them to review his budget. He added that he complied and after the review, the community development office was satisfied. He stated that he was referred to the CEO for approval.
“When I approached the CEO, he was reluctant and he delayed me for over three days without approving my budget,” Darboe said.
He claimed that he did not do cash withdrawals alone. He explained that he only signs cheques for the suppliers. He called on the Council to provide an audit report or finding against him stating or suggesting that he had mismanaged or misappropriated the funds.
CEO Momodou Sambou showed the reporter the audit findings and queries regarding the project funds. He promised to serve Councilor Sorry Darboe with copies. CEO challenged the Councilor to provide the Council with a document that passed through the normal procedures of approval.
