No income assessments were carried out at the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) between 2018 and 2020, according to Sheriff Njie, the former deputy finance director of the KMC. He blamed a shortage of staff for this gap.

To tell the truth, no revenue assessment was made. Capacity could be the cause. The staff isn’t present. Before deploying the collectors on the field, we are meant to have a separate unit, such as an assessment team or data unit, that is in charge of evaluating all of the council’s revenue sources to ascertain the expected revenue from the field. In fact, in 2018 I established a data unit and hired a manager. That assessment was the reason the unit was established. They formed, but ultimately the manager vanished and was never seen again, thus the unit broke apart once more. When asked if there was a revenue assessment for the years 2018 through 2020, he responded.

In reference to internal audits conducted between 2018 and 2020, Njie acknowledged, “I will remember if there were any, but I couldn’t recall.”

He responded, “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,” when questioned about how to find fraud without conducting an audit. Though they haven’t produced any fraud, I did that.

“We took an overdraft at the tail end of 2022, three million, which was for the sake of salaries,” Njie disclosed while discussing loans.

“It was an overdraft requested through Eco Bank, and it was granted,” he clarified regarding the loan application process.

Njie explained that payments are paid to contractors directly, not to council staff, regarding the handling of withdrawals from the council’s accounts. He attested to the fact that he and the CEO have signed each and every check.

In reference to increases in pay and benefits between 2018 and 2020, Njie confirmed, “There were increases in pay and benefits. I don’t recall the exact date, but allowances were raised; the budget procedure was used to prepare it. After being delivered to the ministry, it was brought to the General Council for approval. He said, “They review the allowances and endorse the budget through the bilateral.”