By Makutu Manneh & Aji Fatou Ceesay
Bubacarr N. Kanteh and Ousman Bah, Councillors for Kartong and Giboro Wards respectively under the Brikama Area Council (BAC), have testified before members of the Local Government Commission of Inquiry yesterday Wednesday, 21 August 2024 that some files of the council were missing.
Witness Kanteh said he served as Kartong Ward Councillor from 2018 to 2022 while witness Bah is the current Councillor for Giboro Ward from 2018 to date, and both were members of the development committee of the said Council. Councillor Bah was the chairperson whereas Mr. Kanteh was the secretary. Witness Kanteh, who was the secretary to the Council’s development sub-committee, explained that the criteria for Ward allocation was set by the development and planning unit of the council. He said the first thing they looked at is gender whereas when making allocations, they should have two females.
The witness continued to say that the Councillors for the Wards that are selected have to submit their budgets.
When Counsel Gomez asked the witness where these submitted budgets were, the witness replied: “At first, we were keeping files at the office of the vice chairperson but there was a time, when I went to his office to look for the files, I could not find them. From there, we were not keeping any files. What we do is that we take the minutes of the meeting attach it to our sitting budget, and send it to the finance department.”
Witness Kanteh said there are communities in his Ward that are affected by mining, and said he has received one million and fifty-one thousand Dalasi of the geology fund, from the Council.
He said at first Council authorities informed them that they received seven million Dalasi and the second time, they were told they received nine million Dalasi from the geology fund. Witness Kanteh said these are the only two instances when the Council informed them about the geology funds.
He further said that their criteria for the allocation of the money to the Wards require every Ward to have a development account, proof of Ward committee meetings, and a design of the project that the Ward committee has identified.
“I cannot recall all the Wards that benefited from the first allocation in 2019 but I can remember Kartong, Gunjur, Bullock, Suba, Giboro, and Wellingara Wards. For the second beneficiaries, I can remember Sintet, Jabang, Banjulinding, Sibanor, Brufut, and Pirang Wards,” he said.
Witness Kanteh also admitted receiving the ‘Salibo’ allowance but said he knows it as an honorarium, and for the exercise performed by the finance and market committees in accompanying collectors for revenue collection.
“To me, it is an honorarium. I started receiving this in 2020 because at first, we were told the finance and market committee members were receiving the honorarium. Then when I became a member of the market sub-committee and participated in the exercise of going with collectors to collect revenue, that was when I started collecting the honorarium as a benefit,” he said.
Witness Bah said sand and gravel mining activities took place in Giboro ward but that “the disbursement of the geology fund from the council is a problem. We pursued them until we went for election and the money was not given to us. It is this year 2024, when we received our first allocation. During my first tenure, I did not receive any allocation of the geology fund.” For the Tobaski and Koriteh ‘Salibo’ allowances, Councillor Bah said he used to receive the money which he considered as an honorarium, but later realised it was unlawful.
As Chairperson of the Council’s development committee, Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez put it to the witness that there were no meetings for 2019. There were meeting minutes for 2020, 2021, and 2022 but not for 2023.
The witness responded that Kanteh,the secretary, had informed him that the files were missing. He also reiterated Kanteh’s testimony that they were keeping the files in the office of the vice chairperson, but said they could not find them.
