By Arret Jatta
Lamin Ndow, the former ward secretary of Abuko under the Kanifing Municipal Council, admitted to the Local Government Commission of Inquiry last Thursday that he used the council’s fund to fix the roof of his home.
“During the time you served as ward secretary, there were shortages at your ward. Are you aware of this?” deputy lead counsel Sunkara Camara asked the witness.
“Yes I was aware,” he responded.
“What was the reason for the shortages?”
“The reason for the shortages is because there was a time I had a disaster. Then I used this money to fix my roof. It was in the rainy season and my roof needed urgency [sic] to be fixed so I used part of this money to fix my roof, so the other part of the money, my office was located in an isolated area and there was an incident of someone breaking in to my office and went away with some cash,” Mr Njie explained to the commission.
“Mr Ndow, the revenue summited to you was what you use to repair you roof,?” Deputy lead counsel asked.
The witness responded in the affirmative.
“On whose permission,” Counsel Camara further questioned.
“On nobody’s permission,” the witness replied.
“So you used councils’ revenue for your personal use?” the counsel further asked.
“Yes but after using it, I communicated it to the project manager that I will refund it, because my roof needed fixing and I had no other means to fix it. And I communicated this to the manager and the refund has been done,” Mr Ndow explained.
“Why would you use council’s revenue for your personal use? That was the reason why you have a shortage of D95,000 in the 2020 national audit report and also in the internal audit report as well,” Counsel Camara averred.
Ndow is the current councillor of Abuko ward.
