{"id":81470,"date":"2025-07-05T16:15:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T16:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit"},"modified":"2025-07-05T16:50:33","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T16:50:33","slug":"former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit","title":{"rendered":"Former BCC CEO Questioned in Mayor Lowe’S Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>The former Chief Executive Officer of the Banjul City Council (BCC), Mustapha Batchily, appeared before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Thursday to address concerns over a council-funded legal payment of D795,000 for a lawsuit involving Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe.<\/b><\/p>\n

According to the National Audit Report, a review of BCC\u2019s 2021 cashbook revealed that legal fees were paid to Sasum Sillah of Oussu\u2019s Chambers on behalf of Mayor Lowe, in relation to a legal dispute concerning the issuance of voter attestations. The auditors noted that the case was filed against Mayor Lowe in her personal capacity, and not against the council, thus rendering the council\u2019s authorization of the payment \u201cineligible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, the council\u2019s authorization of these legal fees are deemed ineligible payments,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n

During the hearing, Counsel Patrick Gomez questioned the rationale behind using public funds to cover what appeared to be a private legal matter. \u201cWho was taken to court\u2014the mayor or the council?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Batchily responded that, to the best of his recollection, the case was brought by a civil society organization against the Mayor of Banjul. Counsel Gomez pressed further: \u201cSo why did BCC pay the legal fees?\u201d Batchily explained that it was their belief at the time that the mayor, as a representative of the council, was being sued in her official capacity.<\/p>\n

Counsel Gomez advised the witness not to conflate the legal identities of the Banjul City Council (BCC) and the Mayor, emphasizing that both entities have the legal capacity to initiate or face lawsuits independently. The witness, Mustapha Batchily, acknowledged and agreed with this distinction.<\/p>\n

Counsel Gomez then posed a key question: \u201cNow if the mayor is the person that is taken to court, the argument here is who decided the council should bear the legal fees?\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Batchily stated that had they been aware the lawsuit targeted Mayor Lowe in her personal capacity rather than the Council, the legal fees would not have been paid by BCC.<\/p>\n

He further revealed that it was Mayor Lowe who reached an agreement with the lawyer regarding the legal fees, which amounted to D795,000.<\/p>\n

Challenging the appropriateness of the payment, Counsel Gomez remarked, \u201cThe mayor was sued, then negotiated the legal fees based on what? Was this taken to the general council? This amount is almost a million Dalasi; you signed it off with the director of finance. That is too much,\u201d Counsel Gomez said.<\/p>\n

Initially, Batchily claimed the matter had not been presented to the general council. However, he later asked for time to verify whether the issue had indeed been tabled, stating, \u201cI will make a proper verification and come and give befitting feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n

Counsel Gomez questioned why Mayor Lowe had been allowed to negotiate the legal fees independently, asserting that she should not have done so. Batchily explained that the mayor had been the primary point of contact with the legal team.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. The former Chief Executive Officer of the Banjul City Council (BCC), Mustapha Batchily, appeared before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Thursday to address concerns over a council-funded legal payment of D795,000 for a lawsuit involving Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe. According to the National Audit Report, a review of BCC\u2019s 2021 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":81469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-81470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer BCC CEO Questioned in Mayor Lowe'S Lawsuit - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The former Chief Executive Officer of the Banjul City Council (BCC), Mustapha Batchily, appeared before the Local Gov ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former BCC CEO Questioned in Mayor Lowe'S Lawsuit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The former Chief Executive Officer of the Banjul City Council (BCC), Mustapha Batchily, appeared before the Local Gov ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-05T16:15:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-05T16:50:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/07\/sm_1751721492.985575.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Former BCC CEO Questioned in Mayor Lowe’S Lawsuit\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-05T16:15:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-05T16:50:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit\"},\"wordCount\":508,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/07\/sm_1751721492.985575.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bcc-ceo-questioned-in-mayor-lowes-lawsuit\",\"name\":\"Former BCC CEO Questioned in Mayor Lowe'S Lawsuit - 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