Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – The Banjul City Council (BCC) significantly exceeded its annual fuel budget, with senior officials, including the mayor, consuming hundreds of thousands of dalasis each year in fuel alone, according to revelations made before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on May 5.

Testifying before the commission, BCC’s former Director of Finance, Mr. Momodou Camara, disclosed that in 2021, the mayor used between D720,000 and D780,000 worth of fuel — a figure that did not include additional costs from official travel or treks.

This expenditure, combined with allocations to other senior officials and operational needs such as waste management, far outstripped the Council’s D6 million annual fuel budget.

“Every Friday, we submit our request and get fuel paid in cash,” Camara testified. He revealed that the mayor received D15,000 weekly, while the then-Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mustapha Batchilly, received D4,000. Camara himself was allocated D3,000 weekly. “When accounts are in credit, we get coupons. If not, we go ‘pay as you go.’”

Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez questioned Camara on whether these figures meant the Council consistently overspent on fuel. “Yes,” Camara responded plainly.

The testimony laid bare systemic failures in financial oversight and institutional accountability within the BCC. Camara accused former CEO Mustapha Batchilly of disregarding administrative norms and undermining management structures.

One incident involved revenue collectors bypassing his authority to obtain leave directly from the Mayor’s Office, despite his prior request for year-end performance reports.

“I told them to submit reports before proceeding on leave — to help me with ranking and updating our trade license register. Instead, they got their leave letters from the Mayor a day later,” Camara lamented. “We cannot be singing two songs. These are my staff.”

He expressed frustration over repeated violations of his authority. “I don’t have powers,” he said, adding that he was even reported to the police for standing his ground. “Going by the book, you have powers,” Gomez noted. “Yeah, but I was taken to the police because I tried to defend what was right,” Camara replied.

Camara presented a trove of documents to support his claims, including memos, court judgments, procurement records, and newspaper clippings. Among the most damning allegations was a failed attempt by the Council to cancel an awarded procurement contract with Fatima Trading and reassign it to Kebba and Sons — a company Camara alleged had close ties to the mayor.

Fatima Trading had won an D11 million contract to supply 5,700 dustbins, a deal more cost-effective than a previous D13.8 million contract with Kebba and Sons for just 3,000 bins. Despite this, BCC officials sought to terminate the Fatima deal over what Camara said were minor shipping delays, which he believes were used as a pretext to favour Kebba and Sons.

“The mayor with Batchilly did everything tooth and nail to break this contract,” Camara said. “The lady got good lawyers who warned the Council about penalties. That forced them to backtrack.”

He alleged cronyism in contract awards: “If they are comfortable with you, they work with you.”

Camara also pointed to irregularities in staffing decisions, citing the reassignment of a university intern he had selected for market research. Within days, the intern was transferred to the internal audit unit — a move he attributed to her being a neighbour of the mayor. “I felt the intern would be instrumental. But two days later, she was moved. It’s unfortunate,” he said.

The former finance chief described broader institutional weaknesses. He revealed that the BCC lacked a formal loan policy, despite his efforts to develop one. Though approved by the finance sub-committee, it was never implemented. Instead, he claimed, the CEO arbitrarily decided who received loans.

“There was no policy to guide the issue of giving loans,” he said, adding that his recommendations were often ignored and his department marginalized. “I was expunged from projects. My staff laugh at me — they say your words don’t hold.”

Camara shared details on BCC’s revenue and spending, noting that while the 2021 revenue target was D107 million, actual collections reached D89 million, up from D65 million in 2020. The Council recorded a surplus of D4.16 million, with D85 million in total expenditure.

However, he acknowledged persistent financial mismanagement, such as the failure to conduct monthly bank reconciliations and the existence of multiple Council accounts — a violation of public finance rules that mandate a single revenue account for transparency.

“The idea of having one account is that it can easily be traced and accounted for,” he said. “We do not do that.”

Camara admitted the Council suffered from serious capacity issues and inherited a “broken system of records.” Despite incremental improvements in revenue collection, governance at BCC remains deeply flawed.

“It’s food for thought,” Camara concluded, as the Commission continues its investigation into alleged malpractices in local government administrations across the country.