By Makutu Manneh & Aji Fatou Ceesay
Two (2) market mistresses from the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) appeared before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Monday to give testimony about the work they do.
The two witnesses, Mabintou Touray and Awa Faye, provided their cash books to the Commission, which were admitted in evidence. The Commission gave them time to provide the missing cash books.
Mabintou Touray is the market mistress for Abuko market. She began her testimony last week Thursday (30 September) and continued her testimony on 1 October 2024.
Mabintou said she started working for KMC on 1 August 2000 and was promoted to the position of market mistress on 1 April 2021.
She stated that when she was a market collector at Serekunda market, she did not maintain a cash book. She explained that as a market mistress, she takes receipt books from the KMC main office and gives
them to the collectors while she keeps a quire book for recording receipt books whenever she issues them to any collector.
She testified that she receives the collections from the collectors and accumulates it until the amount is D10,000 before taking it to the cashiers at the KMC main office. After submitting the cash and
obtaining receipt, she said she proceeds to the internal audit
unit for auditing.
She said the fee for the canteens was D500 until March 2024 when it was increased to D650.
She testified that she used to make deposits in KMC’s Trust Bank account on behalf of her boss – Ebrima Kanteh. She added that she used to pick the ticket books
from KMC on behalf of her boss – Ebrima Kanteh.
Awa Faye, Market Mistress for Old Jeshwang Market, who is also responsible for Jimpex and Westfield also testified.
She explained that in 2018, she was an acting market mistress at Old Jeshwang and was confirmed on 1 April 2021.
She gave a similar statement regarding how she gets ticket books and distributes them among her collectors, as well as how she does the depositing and the audit process. She said she has 6 collectors
working under her. She added that between 2018 and 2020, they used to deposit the funds in the bank, but after that period, they stopped depositing in the banks and began making payments to the cashiers of the Council.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez informed the witness that the 2021 National Audit Report indicated that there were GTRs that were not presented for auditing. The total amount was One Hundred and Eighty-Nine Thousand, Six Hundred and Fifty Dalasi (D189,650). For the witness, the amount was a little above Forty-Two Thousand. In her reaction, she stated that no one at the council had mentioned the audit report to her and that she came to know about it when she came before the investigators of the commission. She admitted that the serial numbers in the audit report were actually the same as the tickets given to her. She stated that she did a comparison of the serial numbers in the audit report with her tickets and found out that they were the same.
She further explained that she checked her cash book for the period and realised that all these monies were paid. She stated that the receipts were in her cash books and the books were audited.
