An auditor at the Banjul City Council (BCC) has accused officials of improperly funneling council funds into an organization linked to Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe, which has heightened concerns accountability and transparency issues with regard to the council’s operation of funds.
The organisation, known as Network of Locally Elected Women of Africa (Réseau des Femmes Elues Locales d’Afrique, REFELA), is a pan-African association meant to support women in municipal leadership. It had country chapters across the continent.
Testifying before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry earlier this week, internal auditor Assan A. Jallow alleged that significant sums were directed to an entity known as Refela.
“Council was spending on the secretariat of Refela, which we highlighted was wrong because we should not be spending outside the jurisdiction of the council’s functions,” Jallow said.
Jallow, whose statements were admitted in evidence, presented audit reports revealing that Refela staff salaries were paid directly from BCC coffers in 2019. Among the recipients listed were the entity’s head of coordination Isatou Njie (D10,500), Musukeba Cham (D9,950), Ndey Fatima Jammeh (D9,950) and Ebou Drammeh (D3,150).
“These were the people running the secretariat of REFELA,” Jallow told the commissioners, adding that there was no proper justification proffered by the BCC management.
Lead counsel Patrick Gomez’s questioning intensified as he pressed for answers. He asked about the mayor’s role in the organisation.
“That is at the level of the mayor and not at the level of the council. I think she is the president of Refela,” Jallow testified.
While REFELA is a pan-African association meant to support women in municipal leadership, Jallow’s testimony highlights that BCC’s financial spending towards it lacked transparency and proper authorisation.
Lack of regard for audit findings and retaliatory measures
Meanwhile, an important concern that Jallow raised before the commissioners is that the BCC management often ignored and disregarded audit findings. He testified that despite the repeated flagging of payments to Refela is improper, the city council continued to allocate funds to the organisation.
“The financial statements of the Council from 2019 to date showed huge payments made to Refela by the BCC,” he indicated, adding that these disbursements were often not subjected to internal audit oversight.
Mr Jallow equally told the inquiry that his refusal to approve questionable expenditures made him a target of the BCC leadership, which tried to take retaliatory measures that included attempts to transfer him out of the audit unit.
“They wanted us to do something in relation to what they want,” he said, referring to former BCC CEO Mustapha Batchilly and other top officials. “They cannot ask us to do something illegal and expect us to abide by that.”
Case of Missing Funds and Records
Aside the Refela issue he was further quizzed by the inquiry’s counsel. Jallow also highlighted a D300,000 imprest given to Mayor Lowe for the Banjul Rehabilitation Fund in 2019 that was never properly accounted for. The payment, he said, was approved by Batchilly and former finance director Momodou Camara without going through internal audit.
“They did what they wanted, and this is taxpayers’ money. I won’t let it go just like that,” testified Jallow.
Furthermore, Jallow claimed a former BCC staff, Ebou Drammeh, absconded to the United States with a laptop containing the council’s database, potentially erasing key financial records.
