Gambiaj.com – (Banjul, The Gambia) – Former Chief Executive Officer of the Kuntaur Area Council (KAC), Pa Nfansu Darboe, testified before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Monday, addressing allegations of financial mismanagement and irregular land transactions during his tenure.

At the center of the inquiry was a disputed plot of land allegedly sold to one Abdoulie Faal while Darboe was in office. However, Darboe denied any involvement, stating that he was unaware of such a transaction. The only land matter he recalled, he said, was the council’s decision to return inherited property to the community for a youth center project.

“I never sold any land to anybody,” Darboe asserted.

Admissions on Dubious Payments

Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez confronted Darboe with a 2019 audit report that flagged questionable payments amounting to 251,493 dalasi and 20 bututs for development projects. Darboe initially distanced himself from responsibility, noting that the audit was conducted two years after he left office in 2020.

“When I left in 2020, the auditors came in 2022,” he said.

However, when asked whether he had authorized the payments, Darboe conceded.

“I take responsibility—I authorized the payments,” he admitted.

He claimed, however, that project execution fell under the responsibility of the council’s elected representatives. While the audit suggested that some projects remained incomplete, Darboe maintained that all work had been finished.

When confronted with testimony from the council’s finance director, Morro Keita, who stated that the projects had not been completed, Darboe revised his stance, later acknowledging that the projects had indeed not been executed.

Procurement Inconsistencies and Missing Contracts

Further inconsistencies emerged in Darboe’s testimony regarding procurement practices at the KAC. He initially stated that contracts were awarded under two methods—one under his authority and another supervised by the council chairman. Lead Counsel Gomez challenged this claim.

“The chairman has no business in procurement,” Gomez asserted.

Darboe later shifted his stance, alleging that the Internal Audit Unit unfairly targeted him by focusing on contracts he had authorized while ignoring those approved by the chairman. He cited findings from the National Audit Office indicating that most projects had not been executed.

Darboe attempted to support his claims by providing unsigned minutes from a 2020 meeting, compiled by Musa Samura, an administrative assistant acting as the council’s clerk at the time. The unsigned documents, along with a 2019 project list, were admitted into evidence.

When asked whether he verified the completion of the projects for which payments had been made, Darboe admitted:

“I cannot tell because I do not know.”

Budget Discrepancies and Unauthorized Financial Practices

The commission also questioned Darboe about budget documents presented by the finance director. Darboe dismissed them outright, claiming the figures were inaccurate. He requested time to retrieve what he described as the correct budget from KAC records, a request the commission granted.

Under further questioning, he admitted that while he had authorized payments, he had not verified whether the projects were completed.

“I do not know whether it was carried out or not,” he stated. “What I know is that the councillors requested [funds], and I approved the payments.”

A further audit report highlighted an unaccounted 198,548-dalasi expenditure for a public sanitation initiative known as “Lummo Set-Setal.” While Darboe claimed the event took place, the finance director testified that no such activities had occurred. The audit report found no supporting records, and proper procurement procedures had not been followed.

Another flagged irregularity was a 200,000-dalasi debt owed to Jah Oil, a local fuel supplier. While Darboe confirmed that the council had taken fuel on credit, discrepancies in financial records raised doubts about the legitimacy of the transaction.

“It is our fault, but we knew we took the fuel from them,” he later conceded.

Auditors also identified instances where payments were made without supporting documentation. Darboe acknowledged that proper financial procedures were not followed, claiming he had merely continued existing practices.

“I did not follow the manual,” he admitted. “That is the normal procedure we should follow, but this is the procedure I found there, and I followed it.”

Chairman’s Role in Procurement and Systemic Governance Failures

In a striking admission, Darboe disclosed that the chairman of the KAC had been directly involved in awarding contracts—violating procurement regulations.

“The chairman used to bring contractors, and we single-sourced contracts to them and then paid them,” he said.

His testimony underscored systemic governance failures at the KAC, where financial oversight mechanisms appeared to have been routinely ignored.

Lack of Strategic Planning and Missing Records

Darboe was also questioned about the council’s strategic planning between 2018 and 2020. He provided a plan from 2014, developed with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), but admitted that there was no operational plan during his tenure.

“The only one I have is from 2014,” he said.

The inquiry revealed that the KAC, responsible for governing 330 villages, lacked basic financial and administrative policies. Finance department staff had not been trained on key regulations, including the Local Government Finance and Audit Act and the Financial Manual for Local Government Councils. Darboe further admitted that while the council had an IT unit, it lacked a formal policy guiding its operations.

Further scrutiny of council records raised additional red flags. The commission examined a contract file containing only one contract—awarded to Sinkandi Company Limited—and invoices from Barrow’s Engineering Construction and General Supplies Limited for a project in Nyanga Bantang. When Chairperson Jainaba Bah asked whether these were the only contracts awarded between 2018 and 2020, Darboe initially claimed there were three. However, upon reviewing the file, he admitted that only records from 2020 were available, with no documentation for contracts from 2018 or 2019.

A Pattern of Lax Oversight

Throughout his testimony, Darboe alternated between defiance and reluctant admissions. He portrayed himself as a CEO who had inherited a flawed system and followed established but improper procedures. However, his statements frequently conflicted with audit findings and testimonies from other officials.

As the inquiry continues, the commission is expected to determine whether the governance failures at the KAC resulted from negligence or deliberate misconduct. The hearings are ongoing.