Africa-Press – Gambia. Mustapha Batchilly, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Banjul City Council (BCC), faced tough questions on Wednesday from the Local Government Commission of Inquiry over allegations of financial lapses during his tenure, including the mismanagement of imprest payments and broader failures in enforcing fiscal discipline.
Testifying before the commission, Mr. Batchilly admitted that proper financial procedures were not followed under his leadership, despite his responsibility to ensure compliance.
“You were just approving imprests. There were no conditions, no terms, nothing. You approved millions of dalasis,” lead counsel Patrick Gomez said in a pointed exchange. “Why were you not following procedures?”
Mr. Batchilly responded that both the nature of the requests and the internal management of the funds were often flawed.
“There are two aspects of it, one is about the requests that were made for the imprests and about the management, for a large extent, it was not done appropriately,” the witness said.
The commission heard that Mr. Batchilly approved significant sums, including for the mayor, without sufficient oversight or documentation. He defended the practice by noting that imprest applications were typically accompanied by written requests.
Pressed further on why millions of dalasis continued to be disbursed without adequate checks, Mr. Batchilly pointed to what he described as the poor caliber of the council’s finance staff.
“Caliber of finance staff, this has been a problem for the council for a long time,” he said.
The CEO stated that he expects junior staff to adhere strictly to financial procedures. Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez reminded the witness that it was his responsibility to enforce financial compliance and prevent the misuse of funds.
“You have been giving people imprests, no retirements. They are given subsequent imprests no retirements, and they will be given another imprest endlessly,” Mr. Gomez said. “You think you own the council, you think the money is your money?”
Mr. Batchilly insisted his decisions were influenced by systemic issues within the council’s financial structure.
Lead counsel asked the witness if he had ever appeared before the Banjul City Council Task Force. The witness replied that he had not. The counsel then noted it was odd that the CEO himself had never been called. The CEO explained that he found it disheartening to see his junior staff summoned and to hear the other matters they disclosed to the commission. Although CEO Batchilly repeatedly sought to justify his conduct, lead counsel maintained that these oversights demonstrated a clear lack of accountability and transparency in handling public funds.
For More News And Analysis About Gambia Follow Africa-Press
