Babucarr Sanyang, the assistant rates manager at the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), has said that Mayor Talib Bensouda tried to “cover up” Deputy Mayor Musa Bah, who allegedly solicited bribes from a business entity. The name mentioned was Eco…
The witness said when former CEO Sainabou Martin-Sonko played the audio to Mayor Bensouda, where the Deputy Mayor was requesting bribes, Bensouda told her to “keep it under the carpet.”
The witness said the issue of the D12,000,000 loan they took from AGIB Bank was orchestrated by the saga involving Deputy Mayor Musa Bah.
“They accused the CEO [Sainabou Martin-Sonko] of leaking the audio in the social media,” the witness said.
He said the audio was about the deputy mayor soliciting bribes.
“Sainabou Martin told me that the Mayor [Talib] told her to keep the audio “under the carpet” because if it goes out, it will be detrimental to their political career,” he said.
He added: “They were definitely angry with Sainabou because they think she leaked the audio. The issue is that they were not happy with Sainabou. This is why when the issue of the D12,000,000 came up, they decided to ‘hook her’.”
He testified that Mayor Talib Bensouda had intended to “cover up” the allegations against the deputy mayor.
“The audio was all over the social media but nothing was done about it,” the witness said.
He said when the issue of the D12,000,000 came, they decided to use it as a means of vengeance against CEO Sainabou Martin-Sonko because they were angry with her.
He said the deputy mayor resigned from his position and nothing was done about it.
The witness said when the issue of D12,000,000 came up, some disgruntled members of the association used the office of the Mayor to intimidate the CEO and some executive members of the association tried to find their way to lead the association. He added that Modou A. Njie used that route to get the leadership role he is currently holding.
The witness said the councillors were paid advanced salaries of up to D80,000. He added that the former CEO Sainabou Martin-Sonko wanted to stop that and some of the councillors were agitated about that. He was asked to provide evidence of the salary advances.
Detailed Testimony:
The witness said the Kanifing Municipal Council Staff Welfare Association (KMCSWA) was established with the aim of engaging in businesses that will generate funds to help and enhance the association, and take care of the staff welfare matters.
The witness stated that sometime in August or September 2020, he was called by the President of the KMCSWA, Bakary Jawo, to answer to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sainabou Martin-Sonko. He explained that when he went to the office of the CEO, she told him that Jaja Cham (Director of Administration) brought a man called Alieu Danso, who had some plots of land that he wanted to sell to the Cleansing Service and some staff of the Council. CEO Sainabou Martin-Sonko informed them that Danso could not be paid directly by the Council and there was a need for the Council to engage the association for the deductions to be made through them. The witness said the CEO referred him to Lamin Badjie (Deputy Director of Service) for more information about the initiative. He added that he got the contact of Alieu Danso through Lamin Badjie. He explained that Lamin Badjie also gave him a list containing the names of staff who wanted the land, the cost for the plots and the payment method. The witness said the cost of each plot is D60,000 payable within 36 to 40 months.
The witness said he briefed the President about his meeting with Lamin Badjie and the CEO. He added that the CEO asked them to hold an executive meeting without delay, and the meeting was held. He explained that the President assigned him, Mam Kaba Bass (Vice President) and Bolong Badjie (the then assistant manager of Cleansing service) to meet Alieu Danso.
He said a meeting was scheduled with Alieu Danso and they discussed the terms of their agreement. He added that the Association was supposed to have 3% of the payment made to each plot while Alieu Danso was responsible for the allocation, preparing the documents and the clearing. He said Danso was operating under Almot Real Estate. He stated that the land deeds indicated agricultural use and the association requested for him to change it. Danso then requested payment, but he was told before any payment, a contract had to be signed.
He said Danso asked them to start the deductions from the staff, but was told that the Association would want to visit the site and then see the original land owners. He added the site visit and the meetings with the family (land owners) were all done. Then, they began deducting D1500 from 168 staff in October 2020 and payment was made to Alieu Danso’s private account based on his request. Each month, he gets D200,000. The number increased to 190 staff because Danso told them he has 190 plots.
The witness said Alieu Danso could not fulfil his commitment to provide the land documents within 3 to 4 months. He contacted him and this was when Danso told him that the money paid was too small to make the transfers. He said Danso verbally requested a loan of D4,000,000 from the staff association. He added that Danso wrote two letters and requested D4,000,000 in one and D3,500,000 in the other. He stated that they could not give him the money because it was not part of their budget. He said the association requested Danso to do the clearing because some of the staff were requesting to see their plots, and at the time, the annual general meeting was scheduled for April 2021. Danso was given extended time of up to the first week of March 2021 to complete that job.
He said at this time, they had already paid 2.3 million dalasi, and that until after the annual general meeting, the demarcation and the clearing were not done. He added that they later realised that there was a third party company with the name Smiling Coast that had allocated the plots to other people. The family was engaged together with the alkalo, through which they knew that the family was dealing with Smiling Coast. The family informed them that Smiling Coast did not make payment and this was why they were dealing with Alieu Danso.
He said demarcation was made with the help of the Municipal Planner, but the total plots were 160 instead of the promised 190 plots. He added that Danso told them that he had 30 plots in Kitty that he can allocate to the 30 people left. He stated that the allocation was made in Kitty, but the plots were not upto 30. He said they stopped paying Alieu Danso, which culminated with their indefinite suspension by the Council.
While on suspension, he said they were able to meet the family who said Alieu Danso only paid them D350,000 with the claim that the payment from KMC was not forthcoming. The witness said the receipts of payments made to Danso were copied and given to the family. He added that the family said they will refund Danso the D350,000 and retake the land from him.
He testified that the family terminated the contract with Alieu Danso and he was given a copy of the termination. He said the issue remained unresolved because Mayor Talib Bensouda has put his own so-called Welfare Association executive while the issue remains unresolved. He said the current leadership is politically motivated because the President, Modou A. Njie was part of the campaign team of Mayor Talib Bensouda during the Local government elections. Modou Njie was the welfare secretary in the previous leadership.
When asked about the D30,000 given to former CEO Sainabou Martin-Sonko by Alieu Sonko, he said Alieu said it was a gift. He added that Alieu brought it to the CEO’s office. He explained that after bringing the money, Alieu came back with another request of loan for 4.5 million dalasi, which was turned down by CEO Sainabou Martin-Sonko.
“I have never heard or witnessed CEO Sainabou Martin requesting bribe from Mr Sonko,” the witness said.
He added: “It was Mr Danso who connived with some unscrupulous management of KMC and accused CEO Sainabou Martin of soliciting bribes from him.”
On the D12,000,000 loan they took, he said this came following their failed agreement with Kerr Finder in Madiana and they later had a D10,000,000 agreement with one Mariama Fanneh for 36 plots measuring 15 by 15 meters in Brufut.
He said the loan was taken from the Agib Bank. He explained that the cost for the land was D10,000,000 while the D2,000,000 was to be used for expenses incidental to the land transactions like commission and demarcation fees.
He said the Mayor challenged it and put it on hold as he declared it fraudulent and illegal. He added that the bank froze the account of Mariama without informing the staff association, and without a court order.
Sanyang, the assistant rates manager for the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) was the Treasurer of the Association while Modou A. Njie, the market manager of the KMC, was the welfare secretary.
The witness was suspended for 2 years as he was an executive member of the Association. He was asked about the D12,000,000 loan. The same question was previously asked to Modou A. Njie. Njie said only a few members of the executive members of the Association worked together to get the loan while the other members of the executive were left out. Njie said he came to know about it when he came to the office of the witness and saw a copy of the application for loan.
The witness said Njie was not truthful. He explained that at the time he did not have an office of his own. He said he was new at the rates unit and he was not at the time allocated an office. Hence, he used to sit somewhere within the main rates unit office.
“Njie does not know my office because I don’t have an office. He could not have seen a paper in my office because I did not have an office at the time. I used to work from the waiting room in the rates unit” the witness said.
The witness said the staff association was aware of it as it was discussed and endorsed in one of their annual general meetings. He explained that there were some meetings held regarding the D12,000,000 loan. He was asked to provide the minutes of those meetings. He said Modou Njie was fully aware of it. He explained that one day while at home, Njie called him to inquire whether the loan process was concluded and whether it was obtained.
“I told him ‘yes’ and he said that was what he wanted to know,” the witness answered.
The witness said the D12,000,000 was not the first of its kind, adding that they have been taking loans.
The witness provided some documents to show that the matter was discussed in a general meeting of the members of the association and there was a list attached to show the people who attended the AGM.
He said the Mayor invited them to his office to discuss the matter and demanded that the Association should go to Congress and select a new leadership. He added that the Mayor said he does not want the leaders then to contest as he wants to see a new cohort of leaders. The witness said Modou Njie, who was one of the executive members then, began to undermine them as he wanted to take up the leadership.
He testified that the new leadership of Modou Njie was constituted wrongly because the Constitution of the Association was flouted. He explained that the Constitution provides that all members should vote, but for Modou Njie, they chose delegates to vote. The witness said Njie was part of the campaign team for Mayor Bensouda during the Local government elections campaign. He added that the videos of Modou Njie are all over social media.
On his suspension, he said he was not given a chance to defend himself. Instead, there was a memo that he should hand over the office. He stressed that all staff association members were aware of the loan issue as it was discussed in some of their meetings, including the annual general meeting. He said he has audio of the meetings to provide when he comes back.
He provided the agreement the Association had with Kerr Finder Real Estate Company for land allocations. He stated that the first agreement was a “4-1-9” meaning fraudulent.
On his work during his time at the finance unit, the witness said he used to prepare bank reconciliation between 2018 and 2020. The Commission requested him to provide all the bank reconciliations he prepared.
The witness said he noted that the cashiers were not submitting their full collections to the banks. Under the KMC system, the collectors bring cash to the cashiers and the cashiers are supposed to deposit the funds in the account. The issue will be dealt with further when he provides the bank reconciliation and other documents requested by the Commission.
He was redeployed to the rates unit on 22 April 2020. His responsibility was to assist the rates manager and prepare certificates of occupancy. He stated that KMC until now uses an outdated assessment in their rates collection.
“There is no up-to-date assessment done,” he said.
