By: Binta Jaiteh
Auditors from the National Audit Office (NAO) have queried the D96,000.00 allowance that they disclosed was paid to the mayor of Banjul by the EFSTH board.
Auditors said D96,000 was paid to Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe by the board of the country’s main referral hospital, despite the fact that she has not been attending board meetings.
NAO told the committee on Finance and Public Accounts Committee on the special audit of the hospital’s 2021 to 2024 management letter.
“The payment of board allowance to the lord mayor without her attending the board sitting,g neither sending in a representative, is a wastage of the hospital resource. Management must ensure that board allowances are only paid to members who attend meetings and recover the amount immediately to them, and evidence is sent to our office for confirmation,” auditors wrote in their 2021 to 2024 management letter following a special audit of the hospital.
The Management took onboard their findings and gave an assurance that mayor Lowe will be engaged for the recovery of the money.
“The payment will cease, and the Office of the President will be written to for appointment of new community members by the President as recommended by the Act,” Management confirmed.
Meanwhile, the auditors reported that they had discovered diversion of MRC project funds into a private bank account.
“During our audit exercise, we noticed that funds amounting to GMD1,330,000, which were intended for project financing, were paid into the individual bank account of the deputy Chief Medical Director,” auditors said.
NAO explained that at the time of writing its report, the deputy chief medical director could not give a clear reason for these payments to his account, nor did he provide evidence on the usage of such funds.
NAO stated that the team interviewed one Mr. Jagne, and he agreed to provide the supporting documents, but as of the time of the finalization of their report, the supporting documentation was not provided.
“There is a risk that the fund might be used by the DCMD for personal purposes instead of the intended purpose. Therefore, we recommended the Inspector General of Police to further investigate whether the fund was used for the intended purpose or recover the funds immediately from the DCMD,” it stated.
The EFSTH management replied that it will take action, confirming that receipts of D490,000 have been provided by Dr. Jagne and Dr. Sheikh Omar Bittaye, providing proof of expenditure for D317,000. It noted that the rest of the funds will be recovered from the respective parties. The auditors commented that receipts provided by Dr. Jagne, relating to the D490, 000 payment, and receipts provided by Dr. Sheikh Omar Bittaye, relating to the D317, 000 payment, have been verified, hence details of those payments have been removed but evidence on the usage of the other payments has not provided. “So, therefore, those payments should be recovered by management,” NAO recommended.
