By Makutu Manneh
Seedou Touray, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kerewan Area Council, has testified before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry, defending his controversial practice of authorizing direct expenditures from the council’s revenue collections.
Revenue collectors, as well as market masters and mistresses, have testified that they were regularly instructed by CEO Touray and Finance Director Khan to use collected funds for various payments. However, Finance Director Khan denied giving such directives, placing full responsibility on CEO Touray during his prior testimony.
“I authorized the payment of certain expenditures at the field level,” Touray stated before the commission.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez immediately challenged the former CEO’s actions, asserting that Touray did not have the legal authority to approve such expenditures.
“You cannot authorize anyone to make expenditures in that manner,” Gomez asserted.
Touray, acknowledging his lack of formal authority, explained that his actions were aimed at ensuring authorized expenses were properly paid by personally reviewing the cash books of revenue collectors before submission to the Finance Director.
Gomez, however, suggested Touray’s oversight was a cover-up for unlawful spending.
“You were spending money that did not belong to you,” Gomez said. “Those funds should have been deposited in the bank or submitted to the finance department for proper oversight.”
Further scrutinising Touray’s actions, Gomez emphasized that checks on cash books should be carried out by independent bodies like the internal audit or finance department, not by the CEO.
“How can we even confirm that the payments you authorized were legal?” Gomez demanded.
Touray defended his actions, claiming that his oversight ensured accuracy in the revenue records.
“The reason the records match is because I personally checked the books,” he said, with Gomez suggesting this was not proper oversight but an attempt to cover up misappropriated funds.
The commission also examined a specific cheque transaction in which forty-eight thousand Dalasi was withdrawn from the council’s GT Bank account and allegedly deposited into Touray’s personal account. Touray denied instructing anyone to make such a deposit.
“I don’t recall asking Lamin Dampha to deposit the money into my personal account,” Touray testified.
He did acknowledge, however, that cheques were issued to revenue collectors for withdrawals to cover legitimate council expenses.
Touray further explained that the majority of the withdrawals were for salaries and other operational expenses. He also stated that vouchers were issued for these transactions, although Gomez noted that revenue collectors often did not have access to the vouchers. He concluded that the commission would need these vouchers from 2018 to 2022 to verify the authenticity of the withdrawals.
In closing, Counsel Gomez emphasized that the lack of transparency in the council’s financial practices demanded further investigation, urging the commission to scrutinize the alleged misuse of public funds.
The Commission is conducting a full and impartial investigation into the administrative and financial operations of local government councils, covering the period from May 2018 to January 2023, to enhance transparency and accountability within the system.
