Chairperson Bah Tells Witness
By: Sandally Sawo
The Chairperson of the Local Government Commission of Inquiry (LGCI), Jainaba Bah, has told the former CEO of Mansakonko Area Council that the council made a total withdrawal of D40M without following due process.
As former Mansakonko Area Council CEO Pa Sait Ceesay continued his testimony before the LGCI this week, Chairperson Bah, relying on the council’s bank statementsmade available to the commission, asserted to Mr. Ceesay that every transaction, regarding the withdrawals flouted due process.
“That’s true. Due process was not followed,” agreed Ceesay.
The chairperson meanwhile bent her intervention towards earlier testimonies and audit findings that the ex-CEO used to instruct revenue collectors to spend the council’s funds even though they were not deposited into the council’s bank accounts. Mr. Ceesay agreed that he used to instruct the finance director to instruct revenue collectors to make certain payments from the revenue they collected before banking the money. He, however, denied the claim that he used to give the instructions directly to the collectors. The erstwhile Mansakonko Area Council CEO admitted that it was improper to spend the council’s money without first banking it.
He explained to the commission that during his tenure as CEO, anyone could prepare a voucher, including revenue collectors, saying there was nothing abnormal about that.
However, the commission referred Mr. Ceesay to the Financial Manual of the Local Government Councils as regards who should raise a voucher and the method.
The rules around raising vouchers do not permit every Tom, Dick, and Harry to raise vouchers, Ceesay was hintedand he agreed that how they were preparing vouchers was flawed, adding that it did not conform to the provisions of the Financial Manual.
The LGCI deputy lead counsel Patrick Gomez, at this juncture, confronted Mr.Ceesay with the evidence that revenue collector Tumbul Gassama once raised a voucher, which he signed or approved, and payment was made without the signatures of the finance director, internal auditor, and the CEO.
“Should Tumbul Gassama make expenditures?” queried Counsel Gomez.
“No,” replied Mr. Ceesay.
“Who authorized the payment,” the counsel asked.
“Myself,” the witness replied.
“Is the voucher correct?” the counsel further asked.
“It is incomplete,” the witness responded.
“Did the director of finance sign it?” the counsel pressed on.
“No,” the witness replied.
Ceesay then told the commission that he was with the notion that as CEO, he had the authority to assign anyone to raise vouchers.
To Be continued…
