*Ex-Councillor of Kololi
Peter Mendy is a former councillor for Kololi Ward from 2018 to 2023. His written statement dated 11 September 2024 was tendered and admitted in evidence.
The witness was a member of the accounts committee and the establishment and appointment committee of the KMC. He said the Establishment and Appointment was chaired by Habib Ceesay and one of the most active committees of the KMC.
The witness said they were faced with the challenge of discussing appointments of people, especially regarding the qualifications of applicants. He explained that at times the issue of “whom you know” sometimes come in play.
“Here is The Gambia and the people know one another. When you go deep in discussions about applicants, you tend to see people’s sides and you will know who they wish to have the job,” he said.
The witness said “most of the problems come from the Mayor and he was the Chairperson.” The witness said the problem of the KMC lies in the management of the KMC. He stated that the sub-committee on responsible for appointment was weak and he had tried his way to push for the committee to move on, but his efforts were not successful.
On assigning his son to go with the trucks for waste collection, Peter said he used to assign his son Stanley Mendy to accompany the “Mbalit” Trucks. He added that his son used to guide the trucks on places to go for waste collection. He stated that his son was doing that for him without any payment. He explained that 4 people were hired from his waed to work in the “Mbalit” Project for waste collection. He said his son was helping because the 4 hired collectors would want to collect from the industrial areas, where they have more commission than the communities.
“I attached my son there because he is not too well to be there for me to ensure that the trucks reach all the places to collect waste. My son was just a pointer and he was not paid for that,” he said.
He said his son was not handling cash. Instead, he was given the books and they were said to be missing.
The witness said there was a day he was summoned at the KMC by Mayor Talib Bensouda and his Deputy regarding missing ticket books for the waste collection. He was told that his son was part of the team going around to do the collection. He said he asked them to calculate what was missing and he was prepared to make the full payment. He added that the amount was around D60,000 as the total sum and he repaid it through deductions made from his monthly allowances.
After paying, he said told them that the KMC should now take full control of the truck and his son won’t serve as a pointer anymore.
Counsel Sunkary Camara expanded her line of questioning regarding the missing funds and what his son’s involvement.
Peter said his son was accompanying the trucks to do daily collection of waste and was only serving as a pointer.
“He was not involved in revenue collection. He was there to serve as a pointer and was not paid,” he said.
The witness said his ward is divided into five (5) zones – Kotu East, Kotu South/West, Johanese, Kololi West and Kololi Central. He explained that when the trucks were distributed to the wards, the councillors were tasked to identify the people to work in those trucks. He said the councillors used to compete as to who brings more revenue for the council. He added that he did not know the people selected to work in the truck assigned to his ward. Peter said the workers do not know the 5 zones and his son used to accompany them to serve as a pointer because he knows the area very well.
“He was there to make sure that he was a pointer and ensure that the truck reaches the areas to collect rubbish,” he said.
He said he was informed about missing D60,000 and he, as the councillor, paid it. He provided the letter sent to him by Bakary Singhateh, the Manager of the “Mbalit” Project. It was tendered and admitted in evidence.
“I was responsible for the truck and I took full responsibility for the payment,” he said.
He tried to clear his son’s name saying he only assigned his son to serve as a pointer, but he was not handling cash.
The witness was told that the letter indicated that the shortage was D51,000 and not D60,000 as he stated in his written statement. He said what he meant to write in his written statement was that the amount was about D60,000 because he was not sure of the amount he paid.
Peter said Mayor Bensouda called his party leader (Hon. Halifa Sallah) informing him about the missing fund and he was summoned by Honourable Sallah to come to his residence. After the meeting with his leader, he said he undertook to repay the whole sum and the deductions were made from his allowance. He testified that he was advised by Mayor Bensouda that he should remove his son and he complied with that advice.
“The whole money was deducted from my allowance and it reflected in my payslip,” he said.
The Commission requested him to provide his pay slips. Peter said after paying the missing sum, he also returned the management of the trucks back to the council to avoid such a situation. He added that his son served for only one (1) month.
The witness was handed the Internal-Audit Report covering January to December 2022. It concerned the “Mbalit” Project inspection for the 19 wards.
The witness was about collectors like Amadou Kebba Jatta of Kotu and Binta Jabang of Kololi. The auditors held that D873,550 was collected by Binta Jabang while her total deposit was D450,000. The variance D461,550. The balance was D461,550 at the time.
“I was not aware of it and no one told me,” the witness said.
The witness said he had already recused himself from the management of the trucks and it was under the management of the “Mbalit” Project. He testified that in 2019 when he was supervising he used to go everywhere to ensure that the trucks do not leave out any area.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez took over to ask questions.
“You should not have put your son there,” Lead Counsel Gomez told the witness.
“Yes, I agree,” he said.
Lead Counsel Gomez said the people directly employed would have been responsible for any shortages and there was no need for putting his son there. The witness concurred and said his vision was for him to serve as a pointer only, and not to handle cash.
“If you see you agreed to pay the sum was because your son was implicated,” Lead Counsel Gomez said.
“No, I would have still paid because the trucks were under my responsibility then,” he said.
He testified that there was a secretary responsible for receiving the collections and taking the sums to the Council. He said if there was missing funds, the secretary should pay it. He added that the only access his son had was the books and not the collections.
The witness was asked about the allowances paid to the councillors during the festive periods in the name of “honorarium.” He admitted that he was one of the councillors that were paid the honorarium. He said they were not aware that it was wrongful to be paid because it was their view that since they were paid by the cashier of the council it was lawful payment. He added that the honorarium was paid to them for participating in an exercise.
