By Arret Jatta
The internal auditor at the Banjul City Council Assan A Jallow yesterday testified at the Local Government Commission locking into the financial management of Area Councils.
Mr Jallow began with questions dealing with his actual appointment date at the BCC.
“You said you came in 2018 but your appointment letter says 2019”, Lead Counsel told the witness.
“No what happened is I applied in 2018, and again in 2019 when I was called,” Jallow said.
”Did you actually work at the council in 2018 or 2019?
Because you said 2018,’’ Gomez asked. The witness replied it was in 2019.
“Now let’s have it for the record. You were not employed in 2018?”, Counsel Gomez asked the witness again who replied:“ The year 2019 is what is in my letter,” the witness replied.
When he was later referred back to his statement where he stated that he started working in council in 2019, against his 2018 claim, the witness noted that it was an oversight.
“No, it cannot be an oversight; these are two different things all together. You, working there as an employee will be probably different from someone either working there as a volunteer, or probably you were on probation. In 2018 you said you were on probation for one year and you were then appointed by CEO Batchilly in 2019. So you must have been there in 2018 working before you were finally employed,” Lead Counsel Gomez explained to the witness.
The witness agreed by saying: “Yes you are right, that is what happened because in 2018, they said I have to run on a probation period for one year. So that is why I did not include it there”.
