Testifying before the local Government Commission of Inquiry (LGCI), Mayor Lowe said that despite her position, the real power within the council resided with the former CEO Mustapha Batchilly and former Finance Director Momodou Camara.
“In the Banjul City Council, the CEO and the Finance Director are the Alpha and Omega. Whatever they want will happen,” she stated.
Pressed by Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez about numerous questionable vouchers raised in her name with many lacking proper documentation or authorisation, Lowe repeatedly shifted blame to the two former officials.
“The CEO only provides me what he wants me to know. If he does not want me to know anything, I won’t know it,” she said.
Among the controversial payments questioned by the lead counsel were: D5,000 for family support to a woman allegedly upon the Mayor’s instruction, without clear decision making authority.
D15,000 for chair rentals, where Lowe admitted not knowing how the amount was calculated.
D30,000 for a dinner during the visit of the Mayor of Ostend, which included the purchase of sheep, crates of drinks, a Kora gift, DJ entertainment, and more - all processed under the imprest system, which the Commission found to be misused.
D250,000 for NAYConf, with D50,000 allocated for water and refreshments, a figure the Mayor admitted she did not verify against the council’s budget.
D40,000 for Quranic recitation, which Lowe acknowledged should not have been paid to her.
Counsel Gomez challenged the Mayor on her understanding of imprest payments, saying, “You were acting as a paying out cashier, which is against the law.” Mayor Lowe replied, “We thought all payments made to me were classified as impress,” adding that the same practice continues to date.
She also accused former Finance Director Momodou Camara of independently authorising loans to himself and hiring contractors without her knowledge. “He brought people into the council, assigned them roles, and even engaged a company called Sabs for revenue collection in my absence,” Lowe told the Commission. She claimed she only learned of these actions through the public hearings.
Chairperson of the Commission, Jainaba Bah, requested documentary proof from the Mayor regarding the loans allegedly taken by Camara and any remaining unpaid balances. Lowe presented documents showing transactions signed solely by Camara without the CEO’s co-signature.
When asked whether the Mayor or the council should be blamed for the failures in oversight, Lowe said the structural imbalance left her powerless: “The powers the CEO and Finance Director have are more than the Mayor.”
Gomez countered, reading from the Local Government Financial Manual, that mayors, CEOs, and councils each have defined roles in authorising expenditures, stating that the Mayor’s failure to enforce oversight was a breach of responsibility.
In response to that Mayor Lowe said: “Lead Counsel, you are talking from the book. I wish what is in the book is what obtains in the council.”
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