The former council top staff testified before the Local Government Commission where he made these admissions before the able commissioners. He joined the Council in 1983 and retired in 2020.
Mr Darboe presented a written statement dated 12 March 2024 and other documents to the Commission, which were all admitted into evidence.
He testified that KAC’s revenue base grew from three million dalasis when he took office to seven million by the time he left. Nevertheless, he told the Commission that council staff often went months without salaries before he managed to clear the backlog and acquired two vehicles for KAC.
The ex-CEO did also admit that KAC’s Chairperson Saihou Jawara partook in activities of the Contracts Committee despite regulations barring his involvement.
"It is wrong for the Chairman to sit in the Contracts Committee," Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez addressed.
Darboe aligned with the lead counsel, but said the practice happened and continued.
He further disclosed that contracts were often awarded without competitive bidding, with the chairperson handpicking contractors.
"The Chairman would bring a contractor to us and tell us that he is good for the job. Then we single-sourced the contract to the person," Darboe testified, admitting that due process was routinely and flagrantly disregarded.
“You were not following the procurement processes,” Gomez said, with Mr Darboe affirming as such.
The former KAC official equally acknowledged that he authorised revenue collectors to make payments directly from their collections before depositing funds in the bank, a violation of financial regulations guiding fiscal operations of local government administrations in The Gambia.
He attempted to rationalise this, citing the council’s distance from the bank and the urgency of some expenses. Nonetheless he said he knew at the time that it was unlawful.
Meanwhile, LGCI's Chairperson Jainaba Bah questioned Darboe on budget discrepancies, noting that KAC had projected revenue of 17 million dalasis in one year despite collecting only six million the previous year. Darboe testified that the figures were deliberately inflated.
“We put amounts in the budget just to comply with the 60 percent requirement. The budget is unrealistic,” he said, adding: "Estimations there are very incorrect; we know we cannot collect that."
