Fatou Mbenga, BCC Former Assistant PRO
By Fatou Sillah
Fatou Mbenga, the former Assistant Public Relations Officer of the Banjul City Council (BCC), was recently questioned by the local government commission of inquiry regarding several cash requests made on behalf of Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe. Mbenga explained to the commission that she had been instructed to make these requests.
During the proceedings, Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez inquired whether the witness had a close relationship with the mayor, to which Mbenga confirmed she did. However, when asked if she had a direct attachment to the mayoress, she denied the claim.
The lead counsel noted that the question was prompted by Mbenga’s frequent payment requests made on behalf of Mayor Lowe.“I asked this because it appears you were making so many payment requests on behalf of the mayoress Rohey Malick Lowe. Why was that the case,” Counsel further asked the witness.
The witness stated that she made the requests as directed by the Mayoress and occasionally by the CEO.
The counsel then asked what Mbenga did with the funds, to which she replied that it depended on the type of payment.
“Please tell us, if there are different categories of payment, you can tell us, for instance payment to the media,” the Lead Counsel inquired.
Fatou Mbenga informed the commission that she was responsible for paying media houses following BCC events, stating; “After the program, I will pay the media houses and media outlets.”
Lead Counsel proceeded to read through the vouchers for the cash requests made during Mbenga’s time at BCC.
“We have a payment voucher D120,000 and says it’s cash imprest for payment of TV channel streaming coverage, for the mayor’s town hall meeting at Banjul North Constituency on the 26th of March 2022,” Counsel read aloud.
Mbenga was then shown the voucher to confirm that she had made the request, to which she acknowledged she had.
“I have another one, it says D200,000 dalasis being disbursed as cash imprest to print T-shirts for mayor’s town hall meeting in Banjul North in March 2022. Another voucher, it says D25,000 payment cash imprest for the payment of print media to provide payment for the mayor’s upcoming town hall meeting,” Counsel continued, reading to the witness.
He continued to read through additional vouchers submitted by the witness. Stating, “We have another voucher, it says, D20,000 payment made to you, it says request for present/ gift package. Voucher number 0492, D8,150, request for cost of credit to buy airtime for calls and data bundle for the Mayor of Banjul,” Counsel revealed.
The commission presented these and several other requests made by Fatou Mbenga on behalf of the Mayor. The Chairperson of the commission admitted the vouchers into evidence.
Lead Counsel then asked the witness, “Do you retire these monies?”
In response, the witness confirmed that she had retired the funds and presented the retirement receipts.
The witness was then excused to review the retirement records and cross-check them against the vouchers admitted into evidence.