By Fatou Sillah
Ida Njie, the former Procurement Assistant at Banjul City Council (BCC), provided a detailed account of her challenges with CEO Mustapha Batchilly before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry. In her testimony, Njie explained the difficulties she faced with the CEO, especially concerning procurement practices that she believed violated established rules.
Njie revealed that her relationship with Batchilly deteriorated after she refused to comply with demands regarding procurement processes that lacked transparency. She also described a period when she went unpaid for three months, which compounded the tension between her and the CEO.
“I left BCC because there were some issues between me, and the CEO, Mustapha Batchilly, and there was a lot of correspondence between me and him. There was a time that he informed the Local Government Service Commission and my salary was not paid for three months, and later I decided to stop going to work,” Njie stated.
The former Procurement Assistant emphasized that she did not formally resign or face termination, but instead became inactive in 2019, before the appointment of the new Deputy CEO, Fatou Taal. Njie explained that when Taal intervened and contacted her, she informed her about the challenges she had been facing at the council. Taal subsequently issued a memo to all departments, but Njie said this did not resolve the situation.
“I did not resign, and I was not terminated. In 2019, I was dormant. This was before Fatou Taal came to the council. And when she called and engaged me at the office of the mayor, I informed her about the constraints I go through, and I told her about my qualifications. She wrote a memo and sent it to all the departments of the council, but this did not change the situation,” she said.
Njie also shared her experience of being reassigned from the procurement department to the Rates office, which she attributed to her objections to a specific procurement matter involving the purchase of trash bins worth 13 million dalasis. She had flagged concerns over the bidding process, specifically the use of specifications copied from the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC).
“I was written a memo on the 23rd of June concerning tendering of procurement, which involved 13 million dalasi, about the procurement of trash bins,” she said.
“Before this, they sent their bidding documents and sent it to the GPPA but it was turned down. GPPA realized that the procurement of BCC was not involved but I did not know about this. The specification was a copy and paste from the KMC truck specification. I informed them this is not how it should be done. We should have our own specifications.”
The witness testified that for the trash bins, there was a specific supplier known as Kebba and Sons. She mentioned that in almost every procurement transaction within BCC, when the decision was made to award a contract to Kebba and Sons, she raised concerns, stating that the supplier was a relative of Mayor Lowe, which could create a conflict of interest.
She recounted an incident when Batchilly called her to the office, accompanied by Katim Touray, the Director of Planning. Touray reportedly pressured Njie to accept the CEO’s demands, with Batchilly suggesting that the Mayor had hand picked her for a trip to Turkey, implying that her opposition was detrimental to her standing within the council.
“This should be open tender. But why Kebba and Sons? 13 million is beyond the threshold. They say let’s call off the meeting. After work when I went home Batchilly called me and said they needed me at the office urgently. I went back to the office and I met him there with Katim Touray, Director of Planning. Katim said you are not the only young person here, and you have to come to terms with what we want. He said the Mayor picked you single-handedly to go with her to Turkey,” Njie testified.
The witness testified that she told him to ask the mayor whether she even knew where she lived or had ever asked her for a favor. “I told him if you are telling me this, it is like you want to bribe me for something. He told me that the mayor said no one can challenge her authority and she cannot back anyone who is not with her and I want to be an obstacle,” she said.
She said the CEO remarked that this kid wanted to play with them but that he would try to speak with her family members. She also mentioned that the CEO then asked her to excuse them, as she wasn’t ready to listen to what they had to say. The witness went on to say that she believes the troubling story she has from BCC stems from this, as they viewed her as an obstacle.
“I understand that awarding that contract to Kebba and Sons entails something and somebody told me that the 13 million for the procurement they had a share in it personally,” she said.
Lead counsel Patrick Gomez then asked the witness to explain the purchase of furniture from J- Mart.
Counsel: In 2018 there was a purchase of furniture from J-mart can you explain this?
The witness explained, “In 2018 when the new mayor was coming to office, the CEO called us and said we should find new furniture for the incoming mayor. I went with the then Director of Finance to look for a befitting furniture for the new mayor. When we went to J-mart we met with Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe and two other individuals and she introduced me to her team,” she said
The witness stated that the Mayor expressed her desire to purchase furniture from J-mart, noting that Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the Mayor of KMC, had also bought his furniture there. Later, the CEO, Batchilly, contacted the witness and expressed his dissatisfaction with her going around with the Finance Director to search for furniture. According to the witness, the CEO eventually picked her up from her house so they could go furniture shopping together.
“After this, he called us for a meeting and said what the politicians want is what we should give them. We asked what he meant by that because everyone at the meeting did not agree with him. There was a push and pull and he told us he has the final say and we are going to give the mayor what she wants,” she explained.
She explained that one day while she was at the office, some individuals from J-Mart approached her with a delivery note. She noticed that Makumba Sanneh had signed the note, even though he was not a staff member of the council, which raised concerns for her. She said she reported the matter to Nyang, who advised her to keep copies of the documents for future reference since the delivery had already been completed.
“I also went to the CEO’s office and I told him that our delivery note is signed by the non-staff of BCC. He was surprised. He requested the document from me but then he did not know I had already made copies of the document. I have some invoices from J-mart and J-Mart did not even meet our demands. Fatima Trading was the most responsive,” she said.
She presented the Commission with invoices from J-mart and Fatima Trading, along with a delivery note from J-mart indicating Makumba Sanneh as the receiver. These documents were admitted into evidence and marked as exhibits.
She stated that J-mart charged them D337,410, while Fatima Trading billed them D296,000.