By: Fatou Krubally
Momodou Camara, a former finance director at Banjul City Council (BCC), has dismissed allegations that the council paid salaries to ghost workers during his tenure, describing the payroll system as “rigid and properly vetted.”
Appearing before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday, Camara defended his record and said any claims of non-existent staff being paid were unfounded. “As far as I know, no ghost worker was ever paid while I was finance director,” he told the commission.
Camara served in the position from 2018 to 2020, a period that has come under scrutiny following testimonies pointing to possible irregularities in BCC’s payroll. One witness previously claimed a list of names, possibly ghost workers, had been submitted by a former HR officer, raising red flags about accountability and oversight.
But Camara told the commission he had never seen such a list and denied knowing anything about it. “That list never came to me, and I had no knowledge of it,” he said.
He stressed that salary payments were not handled by the finance department in isolation, but involved multiple levels of checks. According to Camara, the human resources department, internal audit unit, and the CEO’s office all had to validate the payroll before any money was disbursed.
“The salary process was not something that could be manipulated easily. It required clearance and documentation at every level,” he explained.
Camara also said any names that appeared on the monthly payroll were considered legitimate employees of the council. “If your name was on the payroll, it meant you had been approved by the necessary authorities,” he added.
He said his focus was always on ensuring financial transactions were legal, documented, and within the council’s policies.