By Yankuba Jallow
The Mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council, Talib Ahmed Bensouda, on Monday appeared before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry, where he was questioned at length by Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez over his administration’s handling of the suspension of the Council’s Chief Executive Officer and bribery allegations against his former deputy.
The Commission, chaired by Jainaba Bah, is investigating financial and administrative practices across local councils. In his testimony, Mayor Bensouda retraced a series of events that laid bare the deep divisions inside Kanifing’s leadership.
At the center of the questioning was a letter signed by Deputy CEO Kajali Janeh, dated December 12, 2022, recommending the interdiction of CEO Sainabou Martin-Sonko. The letter stated that the Establishment and Appointment Committee had resolved that Sonko proceed on administrative leave with immediate effect. It cited a breakdown of trust between her and staff, saying it had become “quite impossible to cement the already broken relationship.”
Bensouda told the Commission that Sainabou had first been sent on leave in July 2021 following allegations of fraud relating to a controversial 12 million dalasi loan. “The Ministry wanted to reinstate her,” he said, “but the Council resisted. We went to court to obtain an injunction. Eventually, the matter was referred to the Local Government Service Commission.”
Counsel Gomez challenged him on whether the Council had acted lawfully. “It was wrong on the side of the PS [permanent secretary], or even the Commission, when the Chairperson testified that they didn’t take the matter seriously,” Gomez remarked.
Bensouda maintained that the Council had acted on legal advice. “We believed we were doing the right thing,” he said. “It was not an easy decision, but we thought it was in the best interest of the municipality.”
The inquiry then shifted to bribery allegations involving Deputy Mayor Pa Musa Bah. Bensouda testified that he first became aware of the matter after returning from Freetown in 2021, when the Council’s Director of Finance alerted him to a suspicious payment of over 400,000 dalasis to Ecotech, a company hired by the KMC to do digital revenue collection.
“She said the Deputy Mayor and other Councillors were forcing her to make this payment,” Bensouda recalled. “But I told her, you are the Chief Executive Officer. Nobody can force you. You are supposed to account for Council’s revenue. Not even the Mayor can force you to make a payment against your will.”
According to Bensouda, the CEO later produced an audio recording that allegedly captured Bah soliciting a bribe from Ecotech through an intermediary. “It was a very difficult audio to listen to, because they were whispering,” the Mayor testified. “But what we could ascertain was that it was the Deputy Mayor allegedly asking for a bribe from the Ecotech company.”
The recording, he said, plunged the Council into turmoil. “It was a crisis of confidence,” he told the Commission. “The staff and Councillors were deeply divided. It was a very challenging time for the institution.”
Both the Council and the Ministry of Local Government launched investigations. But the Commission heard that a key witness later disavowed the recording, claiming he had not made it, which stalled the process.
Counsel Gomez pressed the Mayor on whether the Council had been inconsistent in its treatment of the CEO and the Deputy Mayor. Bensouda conceded that both cases were serious but insisted that the Council had acted within its limits. “The Ministry or the Commission should have dealt with that matter because it’s serious,” he said.
The Counsel noted that in the case of the CEO, the council acted swiftly after the Staff Welfare unit presented full documentation and what was described as her written and verbal admittance in front of directors. By contrast, when similar allegations of bribery emerged against the Deputy Mayor, the council deferred action, citing the fact that he was an elected official outside the jurisdiction of the Local Government Service Commission.
Officials acknowledged that while an audio recording was presented as evidence, Bah denied the allegations, dismissing the recording as fake. The matter was subsequently handed over to the Ministry of Local Government, which brought in investigators from the Ministry of Finance but ultimately reported that witnesses, including the CEO who first raised the complaint, refused to cooperate. With little to pursue, the case was dropped, leaving the allegations unresolved.
Legal provisions were also cited as part of the difficulty. Under Section 17 of the Local Government Act of 2002, a councillor can only lose a seat if convicted of an offence involving fraud, dishonesty, or violence. Removal of a deputy mayor requires a simple majority vote by councillors, but Bah resigned before such a process could be triggered, citing the deaths of close relatives. He later continued in his elected role as councillor for Latrikunda Iringanya.
The Counsel pressed further on why the council did not escalate the matter to the police, pointing out that allegations of bribery are criminal in nature. Officials responded that when the ministry intervenes directly, it assumes full responsibility for investigations. In this case, the council maintained it was left with little choice after the ministry concluded without findings.
The questioning also exposed perceptions of inconsistency. In matters involving the CEO, the council had challenged the ministry’s directives, even seeking legal advice and standing firm on its resolutions to send her on indefinite leave. But with Bah’s case, no such resistance was mounted.
