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Momodou
Denmark
11787 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Aug 2009 : 21:01:58
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Financial Scam Buried at BAC
By Sanna Camara & Alex
The Daily News has uncovered a mountain of financial scam that has been threatening the very foundation of the Brikama Area Council since 2004, seriously affecting the revenue collection, projects implementation and overall delivery of services.
According to our sources, the financial management of the council is “most unsatisfactory” and revenue collection “extremely poor”. Our sources even cite instances where financial records are not available, and a case in point was the budget estimate for 2008, which is a little over D54 million. Describing that budget as “very conservative”, our sources said this is so because the council has strong revenue base.
“The council has a Finance Department headed by a Director. This department is very wanting in the areas of revenue collection and record keeping. The computerization of the system is long over due,” sources revealed, while outlining specific issues ranging from rates and taxes collection, to other incomes and expenditures. “There was no proper control of revenue, income or expenditure”, it stated.
While recommending “an immediate overhaul” of the Finance Department, our sources observed that there was a lot of indiscipline, lack of commitment and incompetence besetting that said department. It further explained that the council has a permanent collection team of fifty and commission collectors numbering 35.
“If these staff of collectors cannot collect enough money for their monthly salaries, then something is fundamentally wrong with the finance Department”, our sources pointed out, adding that at some point in time, the council could not even pay monthly salaries of its staff. Describing money as the life blood of the council, some residents of Brikama observed that if revenue cannot be collected, the whole purpose of establishing the council is defeated. Another fact our sources cited is the rates and taxes, fifty percent of which were neither collected nor accounted for. For example, in 2007, the total rates and taxes as at December 2007 amounted to D4, 945, 181.00.
Another D42, 186, 000 could not be verified because of what our sources blamed on records keeping, which accordingly were not up to date and no proper filing system in place in the Physical Planning office of the Council alone. The total clearance issued for the year 2005 to 2007 on land transfers was 14, 062, with each transfer attracting a fee of D3, 000.
“There are indications that the Assistant Director of Finance is being sidelined and his major responsibility are assigned to junior clerks,” sources said, while coming to the conclusion that the problem of the council is a lack of accountability.
“There will be no way of control over public funds if people in position of trust are not held accountable,” it added
Source: http://www.dailynews.gm
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11787 Posts |
Posted - 31 Aug 2009 : 19:01:57
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The following is culled from: The Daily News
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More Revelations on the BAC Scandal
Sanna and Alex
The Daily News has continued to receive startling revelations with regards to the financial scam and managerial problems that have been affecting the capacity of the Council to deliver over the years.
According to our Sources, there are fifteen established open markets in the Western Region. It is said that none of these Markets are owned by individuals “because the collection of the Market fees are the sole prerogative of the State through established agencies or institutions.”
Our Sources cited instances where “all revenues generated including Market Fees for over one year from the Market were never paid to the Council”, adding that some markets are managed like “State within a State without any approving authority involved.”
Some Executive Officers of the Council have been singled out to have undertaken illicit deals at the expense of the Council. While others like one Mr. Ousman Gaye, “in his capacity as Acting Chairman of the Brikama Area Council has caused a lot of revenue loss to the Council.”
Mr. Gaye has been described by our sources as “the brain” behind a particular project during his tenure as the Acting Chairman of the Council in which he initiated a Community Market in Old Yundum. According to our sources, “Mr. Gaye, former Acting Chairman of the Brikama Area Council, the VDC Chairman and the Alkalo of Old Yundum all have vested interests in the project because they owned plots that were constructed and rented out”.
Our Sources cited a case in point in which one Mustapha Dikko is renting a shop from the Alkalo for D5, 000 monthly: “It was discovered that there are 760 Shops and Canteens and the plots were sold to the individuals ranging from D6, 000, D40, 000 to D100, 000. The Land is State Land and neither the Central nor Local Government was involved in the Land sale transaction”. While noting that three Open Shelter Structures were built, it also said “it is obvious that the amount involved in their construction is far less than the amount of money received from the sale of the plots.”
On the Sanyang Market, our sources indicated that the project took more than four years and that no contract documents could be found while the contractor also could not even tell the sum of money involved in the construction.
On the Brikama Market, the Council could not keep accurate information on the total number of shops and Canteens in the Central Market. “This state of affairs is as a result of lack of annual business registration exercise”, which only started recently.
The former CEO Mr.Balla Musa Cham is said to have also signed a contract with one Dutch Woman and her Gambian Counterpart, Mr. Ebrima Sanneh “in leasing a triangular space between the main market and Guaranty Trust Bank for the purpose of building a Bar and Restaurant’’ at the sum of D70, 000 annually.
On Community initiated markets, our sources noted that even though there is nothing wrong with the initiative itself but there is an element of “lack of accountability” in the way Projects were executed.
The fact that the Area Council was not involved in the Project itself is in contravention of the Local Government Act Sec 98 [2] [F]
Source: The Daily News - 31 August 2009 |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11787 Posts |
Posted - 31 Aug 2009 : 19:08:11
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Related story from the Point Online.
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BAC Refutes D54M Financial Scam
Monday, August 31, 2009
If the words of Mr. Momodou Jallow, the Chief Executive Officer of Brikama Area Council, are anything to go by, then the recent media reports that over D54m financial scam has been buried at the Council is “unfounded and totally untrue”.
Media reports last week unearthed an unconfirmed financial scam of over D54m at the Council, which it stated, had since 2004 threatened the very foundation of the Brikama Area Council, thus affecting its revenue base, projects implementation and overall delivery of services.
According to the report, the financial management of the Council is “most unsatisfactory and extremely poor”.
Mr. Jallow, who was reacting to the report during an interview with our reporter over the weekend, described it as “unfounded and totally untrue”.
While describing the move as an “internal fight” against those at the helm of affairs, Mr. Jallow, said he was not aware of the missing of the said amount.
“I believe this is an internal fight but we will sit and discuss the issue at Council level. Then we will know what to do next,” he said.
“There was no proper control of revenue, income or expenditure,” the reports stated, quoting an unnamed source.
“We must make a stop to this erroneous act because if this was true, government would have intervened”, Mr. Jallow concluded.
Author: Abdoulie Nyockeh
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