By Makutu Manneh
Former and present serving Councillors of Brikama Area Council (BAC) continue to admit before Commissioners of the Local Government Commission of Inquiry, that they have received honorarium otherwise known as ‘Salibo’ allowance during religious feast celebrations and agreed that this was unlawful.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez repeatedly told the Councilors that the honorarium they received was unlawful and should be paid back.
Cherno Jawla, a nominated youth Councillor at BAC said he received the honorarium, adding this was internally arranged, but it was unlawful. He said the honorarium was geared towards motivating them to do their work as expected.
On his nomination as the youth representative at the Council, Counsel Gomez told him by this time, he was over 40 years old and not a youth, and that he should not have represented the youth. Mr. Jawla was a member of the finance and youth and sport committees, and said the finance committee did not perform its functions as expected.
Sainey Jarju, Councillor for Kusamai Ward in Foni Bintang Karanai District of the West Coast Region from 2018 to 2023, said he benefitted from the honorarium payments, but cannot remember how much he received.
“I do not want to lie to the Commission. Unless the finance unit is asked, I cannot tell,” he said.
Witness Jarju also admitted that the honorarium given to them during Tobaski and Koriteh was unlawful.
Edward Pereria, a former nominated Councillor for persons with disability testified that the allowances they received was honorarium and not ‘Salibo’.
However, he agreed that they received these allowances during Koriteh and Tobaski feasts, but it was unlawful.
On the claim by former CEO Modou Jonga that Councilors received these honorariums during Christmas as well, witness Pereria said that was incorrect because he was the only Christian Councillor at BAC at the time, and has never received honorarium during Christmas.
Mbemba Touray, the Councillor for Lamin Ward from 2018 to date, said they inherited this honorarium issue at Council. He said during Tobaski and Koriteh, they carried out some oversight functions as market committee members for which they were given the honorarium. Witness Touray further informed Commissioners that he has never benefited from any Ward allocation or the geology fund.
“I asked the development and planning department of the council why my Ward was not benefiting from the geology fund, but I was told that the recommendation for allocation comes from the geology department. When I went to the geology department to ask, they assured me that they would look into it during their next fund release,” he said.
Bansey Barry, a former nominated Councillor with the BAC also repeated that the honorarium was to support Councilors during Muslim feasts, adding that he was never informed that this honorarium was paid to him because of a particular work he did at the market. He also agreed that the payment was wrong.
Sitting continues.
