By Omar Bah
Kanifing Municipal Council has issued a statement condemning the illegal issuance of the council’s trade licences and warned people involved to desist from the act.
“KMC has learned with dismay about a fraudulent act of issuance of a fake KMC trade licence. The Council regrets to inform the public about the inauthenticity of the said trade license and point to the fact that such an act is highly illegal and can attract grave penalties for those involved,” KMC said in a press release yesterday.
It explained that the said fake licence doesn’t bear the signature of the mayor and the holder has no proof of receipt.
“There are only two ways to pay for your Trade Licence Invoice. Either at KMC Offices with the Cashier, or you use one of our partner banks (AgiBank, GTBank, and Megabank). These are the only ways to pay for a licence. In either case, you will be given a receipt. You take the receipt to the Licensing Office in KMC (nowhere else), and you will be issued a trade licence after all approvals have been done,” it added.
The council said an authentic trade licence must bear the signatures of the Mayor and CEO and stamps.
“Where the mayor is not available, he may be deputised by the deputy mayor, or for the CEO, the deputy CEO or director of admin. So the fake licence did not have both of these signatures,” KMC said.
The council urged all those who might have unknowingly obtained fake licences to report to the council for verification.
“KMC urges the public to follow the due course of obtaining a legal trade licence from the municipality. We warn any person engaging in an illegal act of forgery, or tampering with these documents, that they will face the law. We are writing to all embassies and High Commissions in The Gambia to inform them about how to detect a fraudulent trade licence,” it noted.
