By Arret Jatta
The mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council Talib Almed Bensouda testified before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry yesterday, about the procurement of 19 trucks by the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC)
Yesterday, the commission’s investigation focused on the contract between KMC, Espace Motors and AGIB bank for the purchase of the trucks.
Mayor Bensouda admitted that the contract’s execution may not have followed the best practices.
According to him, the council’s lawyer typically reviews all contracts, but in this case, the contract was not sent to the Ministry of Justice for review before signing.
“I believe the reason it was done was probably raised by the councillors or raised by a committee because we don’t usually send any contracts to the ministry,” he said.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez questioned the mayor about a D4 million payment to Quantum Limited, which was supposed to be a fixed deposit account at AGIB Bank. The witness explained that the payment was an advance towards the purchase of the trucks. The D4 million voucher is an advanced payment against the contract- the purchase of the trucks,” he said.
However the commission’s chairperson Jainaba Bah, intervened, seeking clarity on the mayor’s responses. “Can we have clarity on the answer to that?” she asked.
The mayor further explained that the fixed deposit account was intended to cover potential shortfalls in payments, but it was not set up due to cash flow issues. “The fixed deposit, which is what AGIB wants us to maintain, to cover any shortfalls, was not in place,” he said.
He continued:“So the formula was that the trucks would be charging and then reporting to the Ward Development Committees (WDCs) and KMC would subsidise the WDCs, but if I can remember correctly, the administration was not comfortable with that and they were fearful of leakages and accountability”.
Lead Counsel Gomez asked what the mayor meant when he said the procurement of the trucks will be done by the WDCs.
Mayor Bensouda explained that what they agreed was that they should avoid non-council staff handling cash, and that the WDC was secure to handle millions of dalasi.
Mayor Bensouda also said that through feedback, the Ministry of Justice, found certain loopholes in the contract they felt that should have been looked at before signing.
“It would be proper to have very specific terms of contract if you had engaged into contract like this,” Counsel Gomez told the witness.
“The contract could have been made better,” Mayor Bensouda admitted.
