
By Arret Jatta
Continuing her testimony at the local government commission of inquiry yesterday, the mayor of Banjul told the commission that the CEO and finance director appropriated powers to themselves making them “the alpha and the omega” at the city county. She said the two have powers that even the mayor does not have.
Asked by Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez about the council’s financial manual and why its terms were frequently disregarded, Mayor Lowe responded: “I wish what is in the book was what was playing in council. As regards the financial manual, I can tell you that for the CEO and the finance director, [they regard it as] just a book given to them and essentially disregarded it.”
Asked to explain why she said the her two underlings are more powerful than herself, Mayor Lowe replied: “First and foremost, there is nothing the mayor can do at council without the CEO or the management agreeing with it. If they want to frustrate the efforts of the mayor that won’t require much from them. There are thousands of things they can do without the knowledge [or consent] of the mayor.
“I will give you an example. You all saw how our former finance director was loaning himself money and I was not aware of it because they hid it from me. What they want me to know is what I know.”
When quizzed by Counsel Gomez on who should be blamed when the finance director could give himself a loan and it took over a year for it to be known,
Mayor Lowe responded that the National Audit brought the issue to light. “It didn’t take a year before we knew what happened thanks the National Audit Office because I found out a lot of things when they came.”
She accepted that the grant of such surreptitious loans indicated a break in administration.
“I agree with that because I told you the finance director and the CEO especially the finance director, are the omega and the alpha of council that is the truth,” she said.
But Counsel Gomez contended that the politicians are the alpha and the omega and accused the finance director and the CEO of aiding mismanagement.
However, the mayor inssited that at the BCC, the CEO and the finance director are the alpha and omega.
“You said if a mayor doesn’t like a CEO, he or she goes. I’m going to tell you that Banjul City Council is the dumping ground. I told you how the finance director was loaning himself money amounting to a million dalasis and we are still unable to recover the money from him. He hired individuals without my knowledge. He was loaning councillors money and even the internal auditor at some point was loaned money,” Mayor Lowe told the commission.