By Buba Gagigo
Sheriff Njie, the former Deputy Finance Director at the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), has confirmed that no revenue assessments were conducted at KMC from 2018 to 2020. He attributed this gap to a lack of personnel.
“To be honest, there was no revenue assessment. The reason might be capacity. The personnel are not there. We are supposed to have a separate unit like an assessment team or data unit that is in charge of assessment of all the revenue sources of council to determine the expected revenue from the field before eventually deploying the collectors on the field. Actually I set up a data unit around 2018 where a manager was appointed. The unit was set up to specifically carry out that assessment. They started, but eventually the unit disbanded again because the manager absconded and never came back.” He replied when asked whether there was revenue assessment from 2018 to 2020
Regarding internal audits from 2018 to 2020, Njie admitted, “I couldn’t remember, if there were any, I will recall.”
When asked about detecting fraud without an audit, he stated, “For us, at the end of the year, we used to pass the cash book to the internal auditor to review the entire cash books of the collectors. I did that, but they haven’t provided any fraud.”
On the topic of loans, Njie revealed, “We took an overdraft at the tail end of 2022, three million, which was for the sake of salaries.”
He elaborated on the loan procedure: “It was an overdraft requested through Eco Bank, and it was granted.”
Addressing how withdrawals from the council’s accounts are handled, Njie said payments are made directly to contractors, not council employees. He confirmed that both he and the Chief Executive Officer are signatories on all cheques.
Regarding salary and allowance increments from 2018 to 2020, Njie affirmed, “There were increments of salaries and allowances. Allowances were increased, but I cannot remember the actual date, but it was prepared through the budget process. It was presented to the General Council for approval and sent to the ministry. Through the bilateral, they review the allowances and endorse the budget.” he explained.