Africa-Press – Gambia. The Mayor of Banjul City Council (BCC), Rohey Malick Lowe, has acknowledged procedural irregularities in the management of public funds disbursed through her office.
Testifying before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday, Mayor Lowe admitted that certain payments made through the Council’s Deputy Public Relations Officer (PRO), Fatou Mbenga, did not follow the legally prescribed procurement and financial procedures.
In her testimony, Mayor Lowe confirmed that she was familiar with Ms. Mbenga and that all payments made by the Deputy PRO were carried out under her instruction.
“All those payments made to Fatou Mbenga were apparently made in her name as per directive from you. She was acting per your instructions. Is that correct?” the Lead Counsel asked.
The mayor stated that all payments made by Fatou Mbenga were carried out under her directive.
“Anything that Fatou Mbenga requests, from A to Z, I told her to do it. I told you that when we need something, we make a request to the CEO, so now it is left to the CEO to say yes or no. If you look at it, one of the requests is from the general council to help the flood victims,” she said.
The lead counsel informed the witness that the Office of the Lord Mayor does not have the authority to request funds in order to determine how they should be spent, emphasizing that this was the central issue in question.
“Lead counsel, we never have a request that says that the mayor is going to spend the money how she likes it. The powers we have are to make a request. How we are going to implement it, that is for the CEO. Is not like they put the money in a bag and bring it for me. The flood victims, for example, have been assessed. The office of the CEO was spending through the need assessment; we paid the money to those people, and everybody was there. Fatou Mbenga made the payment,” the mayor responded.
In response, the lead counsel asserted that the procedure followed was incorrect. The mayor acknowledged the error.
“I totally agree with you. But at that time, even if you told me I would not have to agree with you because we thought we were doing the right thing,” she responded.
The lead counsel proceeded to read a payment voucher amounting to four hundred thousand dalasis. The description indicated that the funds were allocated as cash support to flood victims. Attached to the voucher was a memorandum from the Lord Mayor to the Assistant Public Relations Officer, referencing a General Council resolution on the need to provide assistance to victims of the Banjul floods.
The request for imprest was authored by Assistant Public Relations Officer Fatou Mbenga and addressed to the Chief Executive Officer through the Director of Finance.
“Who was this money given to? Who were the flood victims, and how were they given this money? Do we have a retirement for this?” He asked.
In response, the witness stated: “I am sure that Fatou Mbenga would do the retirement. And the people we gave the money to, they are all alive. The four hundred thousand did not take the victims anywhere. Personally, my family spend about three hundred and fifty thousand extra on that, that is why it is very painful when they want to interpret it like Fatou Mbenga brought the money to the office and gave it to me directly. The process is wrong.”
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez reminded the witness that even a single dalasi constitutes public funds, and there are established laws governing the expenditure of such resources. He then asked the witness whether they had knowledge of all the victims affected by the flood.
In response, the witness stated: “I don’t know if Fatou Mbenga is having the documents or not but this was very transparent. NDMA and Banjul City council had the list. And again Fatou Mbenga did not do anything, she was just a messenger, I wrote it to the CEO and they gave her the money to implement the process. She followed my instructions and the CEO,” the witness responded.
The Counsel further questioned the witness, stating that Fatou Mbenga was paid thirty thousand dalasis for the disbursement of media coverage for the fourth town hall meeting, held on Saturday, 19th March 2022. According to the Counsel, the payment was made under the instructions of the Mayor—an action he deemed inappropriate.
In response, the Mayor admitted fault, saying: “I agree with you and say that, I totally agree that the process was wrong. If today was yesterday, we would not have done it this way and I think that the office of the Mayor should be guided. All I do is make a request but us not for me to say that, this is how we should do it. Fatou was under me and even if she makes a mistake I have to be honorable to take that.”
The Counsel then inquired further: “The Media Coverage, Did Fatou Mbenga request for the amount on your behalf and the payment is made to Touray’s media consultancy. How did you contract Touray’s media consultancy,”he asked?
The witness responded,“I told you in the beginning that, The way it goes was that, this was how the council use to do it and this is how we are going to do it. There is no process that we follow. We will see if we need GRTS in our program, we call GRTS, and Fatu Network that is how it was. Especially when it comes to media, nothing has come to our mind aside from looking for more visibility. Until today, that is how we do it.”
The Lead Counsel inquired whether the process was carried out with full awareness of the legal framework governing the payment structure, or whether it was done in ignorance of the law.
In response, the Mayor maintained that the implementation of the payment process was not her responsibility.
The Lead Counsel clarified that while requesting payment is not unlawful in itself, it becomes problematic when funds earmarked for a specific procurement process are diverted, and the Mayor undertakes procurement independently. Such actions, he emphasized, would be inappropriate.
The Mayor acknowledged that she was aware procurement procedures were to be followed, particularly in areas such as media-related expenses. She expressed concern over the limitations of a Mayor’s authority under the current legal framework, stating:
“I did know that procurement was to be followed in for example the media. If I thought we were following the laws, the mayors would have a bigger power, a typical example is, if you write to the Ministry and tell them that, I see something wrong happening in the Council and I want to make restructuring. they will respond to you, do not write to me again. it is the CEO that is supposed to write to me. That is very embarrassing,” she said.
The Lead Counsel presented another payment voucher amounting to hundred thousand Dalasi, issued as support for fire outbreak victims. The Counsel inquired whether the witness recalled this payment, which was consistently processed through Fatou Mbenga. The witness confirmed her recollection.
“I don’t know whether it was paid to Fatou Mbenga or the victims but I am sure they were paid,” the witness stated.
The Lead Counsel then asked, “Why does it have to be paid to your office through Fatou Mbenga?”
The witness explained, “The reason we pay to Fatou Mbenga was because all the belongings of the victims were destroyed, they don’t have ID Cards that is why we paid to Fatou Mbenga.”
The Lead Counsel informed the witness that the rules are explicit: Council initiatives must be conducted in the name of the Council and aligned with the approved budget. The core issue in this matter concerns accountability.
He stated, “If we give a hundred thousand to one individual for the payment to victims, that becomes vague and you cannot account for the Hundred Thousand.”
The Mayor acknowledged and agreed that the process was flawed.
The lead counsel questioned the witness regarding a disbursement of D20,000 in cash imprest intended for condolence packages for two deceased Banjulians and feeding for the Rohey Malick Lowe Drapo. The counsel inquired about the purpose of this payment.
“Is it for Culture and until today we are doing it this way,” The witness responded,
Counsel Gomez then advised that such payments should not be made in her name.
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