By Arret Jatta
The former CEO of KMC, Sainabou Martin-Sonko continued her testimony at the Local Government Commission of Inquiry yesterday saying Mayor Talib Bensouda threatened her after she refused to write and apologise to him.
She said the mayor was livid when he learnt about the D12 million loan saga.
“He became mad about it and he accused me of committing a fraud with the executive of the staff welfare association, that is, Bakary Jawo the former president of the association, Baboucarr Sanyang the treasurer, and Mam Kah Bass,” she testified.
She further testified: “He [the mayor] initially sent Kanjura Kanyi [a council worker] to my home when we were living in Kanifing, to ask me to write and apologise to him. Kanjura said the mayor promised that if that was done, then nobody would hear about what I had done. I had doubts about that and I did not want to do that but he invited my husband through one Alagie Conteh and Mr Conteh called my husband and repeated the same thing to him that the mayor only wanted me to write an apology letter to him and he will take no further action against me.”
She added that after much persuasion from her husband, she decided to write a statement instead of an apology letter which was not countenanced by the mayor.
“After summiting the statement to the mayor, he [the mayor] became even madder and he called me into his office with Kanjura Kanyi, and he said since I refused to write the apology letter like he wanted, he will come up with a fraud allegation against me that will go public and by the time he is done dealing with me, I won’t be worth anything in the country and nobody will employ me again in the country,” the witness alleged.
Hearings continue today.
