By Fatou Sillah
Fatou Mbenga, the former Assistant Public Relations Officer of the Banjul City Council (BCC), has testified before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry regarding a controversial D200,000 withdrawal from council funds—allegedly meant to upgrade Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe’s flight from economy to business class.
Appearing before the commission on Wednesday, Mbenga admitted to withdrawing the amount but stated that she merely handed the cash to the Mayor, without any direct involvement in securing the upgrade.
“When I withdrew the money, I gave it to the Lord Mayor. I did not take part in the upgrade. I did not go to any airline for the upgrade. I just went to the bank and then gave her the money,” she revealed.
She further revealed that there was no documentation or receipts to account for how the funds were spent, and the Mayor did not provide any formal justification for the expenditure. She acknowledged that the lack of record-keeping was a common practice within the Council’s financial operations.
“What it was intended for, never happened,” she stated.
Following an investigation by the Gambia Police Force’s Fraud Squad, Mbenga said she when the fraud squad confronted the Mayor about the funds. According to her testimony, Mayor Lowe later returned the D200,000 in cash, which Mbenga then deposited back into the Council’s account.