He maintained that it is clear that such matters should be based on obligations governed by rules.
Patrick Gomez made these remarks recently during the testimony of Karamo Ceesay, Councillor of Tallinding South, who doubles as the head of the Finance Committee of Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC).
He was asked about the D260,000 paid to him by the KMC management for an exercise. In response, Ceesay explained by first giving a background to the exercise.
Ceesay recalled that one Councilor, Alasana Barry, came to the Council with some market tickets that were without serial numbers, and the matter was discussed in a General Council Meeting.
The tickets, he went on, only had the logo of the KMC without serial numbers, saying they used to get reports of corruption pertaining to market tickets.
He testified that the idea of doing the exercise was discussed, and there was a council resolution that they should go for an exercise.
He said a report was generated by him and the number of days for the exercise was 25 with 26 participants.
The payment voucher for the exercise, the report prepared and signed by him and the attendance register for the exercise were all tendered and admitted in evidence.
Continuing his testimony, he also stated that said Councillor Ansumana Bayo and he spearheaded the exercise.
“We have information that this exercise did not happen. I just want to share the information with you” he said.
To this end, he provided two pictures, saying it is the evidence for the exercise.
After going through the two pictures, Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez, told him that the first picture had 3 individuals and the other had 5 individuals to which Ceesay agreed. The 2 pictures were then admitted in evidence.
He added before the exercise, the markets used to produce about D600,000 per week, but it increased that after the exercise.
He said during the exercise, they discovered that most of the collectors used to report to work late, while the vendors came early.
He said that they also identified that there were not many collectors in the evening.
Audit reports before the Commission, however, raised concerns for fraudulent activities and the witness said they did not see fraudulent activities during the exercise.
At this point, Lead Counsel Gomez put to him that there were reports during that time to show fraudulent activities?
Ceesay responded that he was part of the exercise and was mainly at the Serrekunda Market, adding that he was a supervisor but was not monitoring the others.
“I did not have mobility to monitor all of them,” he said.
He equally told the commission that he could not tell whether the other participants in the exercise performed as expected.
He added that he relied on the information provided to him in their WhatsApp group.
“You cannot verify whether they did the exercise or not,” Gomez told the witness.
“Yes, it was based on trust. Public funds are not based on trust. They are based on obligations governed by rules.” Gomez told the witness.
