Market collector of the Kuntaur Area Council has disclosed to the Local Government Commission of Inquiry that he used to give monies to the finance manager of the Council.
Sorri S. Manneh is a resident of Kuntaur and began working at the Kuntaur Area Council as a market collector in November 2019. He told the Commission that his appointment and promotion letters had all got missing.
The Commission ordered him to continue his search from his personal file or go to the Kuntaur Area Council to get these letters.
Quizzed over his cash books, he stated that he left them at the Council and did not come with them. He claimed that all his cash books were intact and he would be able to bring them when granted time.
The chairperson granted his request.
He testified that he used to collect and deposit funds to the Kuntaur Area Council account at the Trust Bank branch in Farafenni. After depositing the funds, he said, he would take the deposit slip and cash books to the finance unit for reconciliation.
Nevertheless, he did say that finance manager Abdoulie Keita along with Morro Keita used to call him to give them monies for council expenditures.
He would be receipted after giving them the cash, he said, and would proceed with his collection. The Commission requested for these receipts.
The market collector also testified that the other expenditures he made from his collection were payments of 10 percent to the alkalos. He said
That aside, he clarified, the two payment types or instances he had enumerated (to the finance manager and to the alkalos) were all collections deposited in the bank account.
However, evidence before the Commission indicated that Mr Manneh suppressed revenues amounting to D151,191 in 2022. He said he remembered that, saying they were expenditures made with respect to fuel, repairs, alkalos’ ten percent and cash power purchase.
The witness provided three Trust Bank deposit slips amounting to D47,370, leaving an outstanding amount of D103,821.
He confirmed this as true, saying he believed the remaining deposit slips were with the finance unit.
Mr Manneh was asked to provide his cash books, receipts he received from Morro Keita and Abdoulie Keita and other evidence he has to support his claim. The Commission will utilise these documents to ascertain the veracity of his claims next week Tuesday, when he would reappear for further cross-examination.
