Mr Touray admitted to several financial malpractices that happened in the council during his time.
“Our problem started in 2021,” he confessed, saying: “I must admit that I lost control of the whole system because the people under me were difficult to control.”
“You created a monster and the monster became too powerful for you,” Commissioner Alagie Sillah exclaimed.
Witness Touray agreed with Commissioner Sillah, saying: “Yes, that was the case.”
The Local Government Commission of Inquiry, which is currently investigating council financial and administrative matters of local government authorities, found the Basse Area Council as one of the worse councils, if not the worst.
Evidence before the Commission indicates that there was massive misappropriation of funds, undue spending, shady transactions, questionable contracts, illegal modes of awarding contracts, overpayments, single sourcing, inactivity of sub-committees, lack of adherence to punctuality by council staff (truancy) and lack of commitment to work compliance.
Testimonies from key witnesses show that most of the processes and procedures took place on an ad-hoc basis. In short, there was an absolute disregard for legally binding rules and regulations at the Basse Area Council.
Ex-CEO Ousman Touray was adversely mentioned along with former finance director Lamin Suso.
