{"id":9079,"date":"2022-01-18T16:23:48","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T16:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry"},"modified":"2022-01-18T17:58:31","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T17:58:31","slug":"kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry","title":{"rendered":"KMC ASKS BARROW TO MEDIATE IN ROW WITH MINISTRY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>KMC ASKS BARROW TO MEDIATE IN ROW WITH MINISTRY<\/p>\n

Kanifing Mayor Talib Bensouda has confirmed reaching out to President Adama Barrow for him to negotiate in the row between the council and the Ministry of Lands. Last week, the ministry instituted a commission of inquiry to probe into \u2018allegations of fraud and malpractice\u2019 at the council.<\/p>\n

In August last year, KMC was gripped by a reputational crisis after the mayor, Talib Bensouda alleged the chief executive officer Mrs Sainabou Martin Sonko illegally conducted financial transactions totaling about D12 million.<\/p>\n

Mrs Martin Sonko was barred from entering the KMC compound even after the local government ministry asked her to return to work following a decision to suspend her by a council resolution. The council has since described the commission as a witch-hunt.<\/p>\n

But commenting on the matter for the first time in a Star FM exclusive to be aired today, Mayor Bensouda said: \u201cWe have notified the president about the issue going on between us and the ministry and we asked to mediate between the two sides to address the matter amicably.\u201d He said the decision to reach out to the president was reached at a council meeting last Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was tasked by the council general assembly with two options, which is to go to court and challenge the legitimacy of the Ministry of Local Government\u2019s commission of inquiry because we feel there are procedures. The other thing was to reach out to the president to inform him that we are not an enemy to the government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Bensouda said he didn\u2019t go to State House to beg him to stop the commission of inquiry as being rumored in some quarters. \u201cI cannot tell you all about what we discussed there but the president told us that he wants the work to continue because the development of this country is what interests him, so the conversation was positive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the commission of inquiry, Mayor Bensouda added: \u201cThe KMC is not running away from public scrutiny because since I was voted into office, every year we are audited by the National Audit Office and in every three months, the ministry sends inspection team as part of a routine exercise to monitor the council.<\/p>\n

However, seven months ago when the problem started we reported the matter to the police and the Ministry of Lands who were supposed to look into the matter through the Local Government Service Commission but when we sent the report and the investigation commenced at the Police Fraud Squad, the Ministry of Lands decided to stop the investigations and that really surprised us because every citizen has the right to report a matter to the police and if that happens, the police must investigate. Nobody should stop an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bensouda said the ministry didn\u2019t also allow the service commission to investigate the matter but instead \u201cthey said they have a report from the other side which they never showed us.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the inspection team they sent to KMC based on the report I sent them was asked to look at things I never complained about. But despite that, we allowed them to do the inspection with full council backing but two months after the inspection, we have not received the report from the inspection team. Now they said they set up a commission based on a report we have not seen. This is why we think they have an ulterior motive: they want something beyond the truth,\u201d he alleged.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThis is why we want to question the legitimacy of the commission because the Local Government Act clearly states that if the minister sends an inspection team they should take that report and direct the council to call a general council to share the report with them and instruct the council on what to do. So if the council refuses their instructions then they will set up a commission of inquiry. That\u2019s what the law says.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we want to see the report of the inspection team because I received credible evidence that the report cleared the council from all wrongdoings and found the other side culpable,\u201d he said. He alleged that one of the people accused by his office has been appointed as a diplomat to Russia.<\/p>\n

On allegations that he illegally benefitted from the waste management trucks, Mayor Bensouda said the truck contract was taken through due diligence and that it was investigated well before it was commissioned.<\/p>\n

He said reporting \u201ccorruption in this country is now becoming a crime\u201d. \u201cThis is very worrying because it will scare people from reporting issues of corruption,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He urged Gambians to put their differences aside for the interest of national unity. \u201cGambia is a small country, elections will of course happen and ideas will be different but what is important is that we are all one family.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Gambia. KMC ASKS BARROW TO MEDIATE IN ROW WITH MINISTRY Kanifing Mayor Talib Bensouda has confirmed reaching out to President Adama Barrow for him to negotiate in the row between the council and the Ministry of Lands. Last week, the ministry instituted a commission of inquiry to probe into \u2018allegations of fraud and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":9078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[2355,2361,260,3192,121],"class_list":["post-9079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia","tag-kmc","tag-ministry"],"yoast_head":"\nKMC ASKS BARROW TO MEDIATE IN ROW WITH MINISTRY - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"KMC ASKS BARROW TO MEDIATE IN ROW WITH MINISTRY Kanifing Mayor Talib Bensouda has confirmed reaching out to President ...\" \/>\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\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KMC ASKS BARROW TO MEDIATE IN ROW WITH MINISTRY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KMC ASKS BARROW TO MEDIATE IN ROW WITH MINISTRY Kanifing Mayor Talib Bensouda has confirmed reaching out to President ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry\" \/>\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=\"2022-01-18T16:23:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-18T17:58:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/01\/img-61e6ff925d039.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\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=\"4 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\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"KMC ASKS BARROW TO MEDIATE IN ROW WITH MINISTRY\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-18T16:23:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-18T17:58:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry\"},\"wordCount\":841,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/01\/img-61e6ff925d039.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\",\"KMC\",\"Ministry\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-asks-barrow-to-mediate-in-row-with-ministry\",\"name\":\"KMC ASKS BARROW TO MEDIATE IN ROW WITH MINISTRY - 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