By Makutu Manneh
Fatoumata Saho-Cham, a former Procurement Manager has testified before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry that the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) could have saved Thirty-Two Million and Two Hundred Thousand Dalasi (D32,200,000) from the total sum of money spent to purchase 19 “Mbalit” trucks.
She testified that due process was not followed in the procurement process between KMC and Espace Motors.
The witness told the Commission that D34,200,000 would have been saved if due process was followed.
“You see what you can save for the public if you had followed due process,” Lead Counsel Gomez said.
“Yes,” the witness answered.
On the genesis of the “Mbalit” Project, Fatoumata Saho-Cham said in 2018, the Council came up with the idea of the “Mbalit” Project which was filtered to the management of the council and then they began working on the project. She added that the CEO of KMC at the time was Jaja Cham.
The witness was a member of the Contracts Committee. She said the committee was involved in the project. She added that Samba Faye, a former employee of AGIB, used to come to the Council to discuss with the finance unit. At this time, the contract was not awarded to Espace Motors.
She testified that she used to attend the meetings of the Contracts Committee. She provided a file containing the minutes of the meetings covering from September 2018 to October 2020. She also provided a copy of her appointment letter.
She was referred to the minutes of the meeting of 14 January 2019. After reading it, the witness said the meeting was about the evaluation process of the bids. Jaja Cham (CEO), Nyima Camara (Director of Planning), Sheriff Njie (Director of Planning), Dawda Barry (consultant), Musa Bah (Councillor), Binta Janneh-Jallow (Councillor) and one other person were present in that meeting. Espace Motors also attended the meeting. During the meeting, the chairperson, Jaja Cham, stated that the meeting was meant to regularize the process so that the tender won’t be questioned.
“You did not follow the procurement process,” Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez told the witness.
“We did,” Fatoumata answered.
“Of course, you subsequently did as contained in the minutes of the meeting. Continue reading,” Lead Counsel Gomez said.
After reading the document, Lead Counsel Gomez then told the witness that the minutes of the meeting clearly indicated that they had already started negotiations with Espace Motors regarding the purchase of the trucks. The witness admitted that she was the one who prepared the minutes of the meeting and signed it. She testified that at the time she did not know about the prior consultations and negotiations between the KMC and Espace Motors. Lead Counsel Gomez asked her to read further to satisfy herself with the content of the minutes of the said meeting.
The witness was given back the minutes to read aloud to the hearing of the Commission and for her understanding. After this, the witness was silent and paused for a while. She took a short pause and then claimed that they were discussing Lot 3 of the “Mbalit” Project. Lead Counsel Gomez read the minutes all over again to the hearing of the witness and the Commission. In that meeting, the managing director of Espace Motors stated that they were approached by the KMC for discussion and negotiation for the “Mbalit” trucks. The chairperson of the contracts committee (Jaja Cham) stated that the idea of the meeting was to regularize the tender process so that it would adhere to the GPPA rules and regulations, and not be put into question. Initially, as stated in the minutes, they held the view that the GPPA procurement regulations and rules do not apply. They only came to realise that they were not doing the right thing and then convened the meeting to regularize the process they had started and already implementing. Espace Motors already incurred expenses because they had already brought experts in town and were also in direct discussion and negotiation with the KMC.
“Under a normal circumstance, should suppliers be contacted first before bidding is done?” Lead Counsel Gomez asked.
“I agree that it has to be a level field competition,” she said.
The witness answered that a procurement process should be transparent to ensure all potential suppliers have the same opportunity to bid. She added that it is not right to contact suppliers and start negotiations with them before bidding commences.
“It is not correct because they [Espace Motors] already have the background information. I know it was not correct. For me, we had this project to offer the municipality. For our side, we wanted to facilitate that. That was an oversight on our side,” she said.
The witness said they ensured that they reverse the process to show that they adhered to the procurement procedures (rules and regulations). She admitted that the KMC had already begun talking to Espace Motors about the “Mbalit” trucks. She stated that it was the wrong thing to do because procurement goes with transparency.
Lead Counsel Gomez referred her to the minutes they claimed to have done the evaluation of the bidding documents submitted by TK Motors and Espace Motors for the “Mbalit” trucks.
TK Motors came with a bid price of D4,239,478 million for a truck while Espace Motors asked for D6,057,625 million for a truck.
“Why did you go for Espace?” Gomez asked.
The witness said they went for Espace Motors because of the financing criteria. Gomez said the criteria were already discussed and agreed between Espace Motors and the KMC.
“I agree,” the witness replied.
After it was declared that Espace Motors won the tender, the vehicle dealers then went to Arab Gambia Islamic Bank (AGIB) to seek a partnership to pre-finance the purchase of the “Mbalit” trucks. In the letter sent by Espace Motors to AGIB, they indicated the price and the profit margin in which they will make over Twenty Million Dalasi (D20,000,000) from the 19 trucks. AGIB will take 60% while Espace Motors take 40%.
Fatoumata said she was told that the trucks would be used to repay the loan.
“Did that happen?” Lead Counsel Gomez asked.
“I hope so,” the witness answered.
The witness was told that the trucks did not generate the funds sufficient to repay the loan and the bank proceeded to make deductions from the KMC main account to repay it. She testified that the KMC should have given the contract to TK Motors.
She was informed that Samba Faye of AGIB testified and informed the Commission that the bank declined to fund the project because it was not viable. The bank had to give the money to Espace Motors to purchase the trucks.
In minutes dated 19 July 2019, the contracts committee met and discussed. They agreed that the trucks would only be handed to the KMC after 3 years when the loan is fully cleared because the trucks were used as the guarantors for the loan. The KMC was also required based on their agreement to maintain an account at AGIB to maintain an amount of not less than D4,000,000 at all times.
The witness said she was not aware of a feasibility study conducted to know whether the trucks would be able to generate the necessary funds. She added that the contracts committee did not ensure that a feasibility study was done. She agreed that there was no due diligence to ensure that public funds were not wasted.
