In a letter dated 2 September, 2005, addressed to the deputy mayor of Banjul and copied to President Jammeh, the secretary-general of the Office of the President, the Justice secretary and the mayor himself, the eight BCC councillors had accused the mayor of abuse of office, misappropriation of council funds and misuse of council’s property.

Specifically, they alleged that on 19 August, 2005, the mayor unilaterally directed in writing the chief executive officer of BCC to pay the sum of D10,000 to Mr Pratt of EAP Printing Press. “A first book was written, which he told the council that it was paid by himself, only to be discovered lately that the Council paid for the books to the tune of D46,000 without council’s approval. These books are for his political ends because nothing was mentioned about councillors and the staff of the Council nor the government,” the  councillors alleged in their letter.

Besides, they accused the mayor of buying a generator and a towing ambulance to the tune of D50, 000 and D340,000, respectively. In addition, the councillors accused the mayor of letting out the public toilet, demolishing the public toilet at the junction of Old Primet Street and Albion Place and then leasing it to a businessman to serve as a store. Furthermore, they alleged that he allowed some people to build stores on a taxi car park behind Albert Market. Finally, they charged that the mayor erected stalls at locations inside Albert Market reserved for Fire Service to use as  passage in emergencies.

In all cases, the eight councillors claimed that the mayor acted without the approval of the Council and the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA).
But at a press conference held on Wednesday night at the July 22 Square, Banjul, Pa Sallah Jeng gave a spirited refutal of all the allegations made against him. He said: “What the Council is going through is not an attempt to impeach. It is rather a political coup d’etat with a spokesman Councillor Shyngle, who came to the meeting in dark glasses so that no one could see his eyes immediately and the first thing after their announcement was going to the CEO and the Director of Finance for personal loans, which they called Back To School Loans for their families.” He added: “From Day One of our Council’s inauguration, we have been going through this episode of incredible drama orchestrated by irresponsible, counter-productive, so-called councillors.”
He then defended himself against the five-point allegations one by one.

Printing of books
Jeng said the printing of book was in line with the Local Government Acts, stipulating that the mayor can print and circulate books to air his views and communicate his accountability to the public. “Section 15 (3) of the Local Government Act clearly, indicates that the mayor is mandated to publish annually the state of affairs that prevailed in the council. This is exactly presented in the publication: In My Time, which explains how all the development projects were paid for in my time, how grants and assistance were utilised, and how the council operates. That is all about it,” he said.

According to him, the cost of the book does not exceed the stipulated Council’s budget for publication of books. Describing the councillors’ allegations that he lied about the payment for the publication of the book as untrue, Mr Jeng said: “A cheque in Council’s name was used to pay for the book. The senior accountant of the Council prepared the cheque and was signed by the CEO and the director of Council’s finance.”

He said the first book was published in December 2003 and the Council was not aware of GPPA procurement procedure until half a year later. “We could not have done anything as a Council on the GPPA regulations. Our Council has never been informed about the procurement procedures of the GPPA up until the middle of 2004. There were no returns sent to the GPPA prior to this time and we had no file at the level of the GPPA then. In fact, it was only in 2005 when one of our data entry clerks was designated as procurement officer,” he said.

He denied that the books are meant to foster his political ends. “Everything in the books are for the Council. Nothing is personified or included for political desires. The publication was distributed at no cost. The mayor made nothing out of it, besides his efforts and sleepless nights of researches. The councillors are the ones using Council’s funds for political ends. The amount spent on political means by councillors amount to a tune of D387,827,” he said.

He questioned the sincerity of the councillors, as according to him, many contracts were awarded in the past without GPPA’s approval. “The official car of the mayor was purchased for D550,000, without the approval of the GPPA , but only that of the minister. Many printing jobs were contracted to Foday Jobe, Momar Cham, Babou Sarr, and even Clear Type Press, Omar Sarr. Other individual complimentary cards of members of staff were contracted to various printers without GPPA approval and none has been an issue,” he said.

He disclosed that the accounts department of BCC refused to settle the bill of D5,000 for 500 copies of the last book: Streets and People of Banjul. “I personally settled this bill from my personal account,” he said.

He noted that certain services are hard to be carried out with full compliance of the GPPA regulations. “In printing a book, you cannot determine the cost unless it is at the final stage of production. When a manuscript is submitted to a printer, he spends a period of time on typing and setting it before charging D10 for a book of 30 pages, which even a lunatic knows is more than reasonable,” he added.

 Generator
Jeng explained that a 4KVA generator was bought in his absence for D40,000. “This equipment does not even have the capacity to serve a single unit of our operation. It was as a result of this that the machine developed the habit of breaking down every week virtually. The maintenance[cost] became exorbitant, considering the fact that the Council is disconnected by Nawec.

“The present 25KVA generator, costing D50,000, was granted to the Council at no cost for a period of three months. It was discussed between the director of finance and myself that the generator was good, economical and dependable. It was for this reason that we agreed unanimously and proposed to the owner that we would like to purchase it. We paid D50,000 for it by instalment, after initially we wanted to sell it for D70,000. The market price for 25KVA generator is D100,000. The generator has been serving the entire Council, including the office of the deputy mayor for more than a year,” he said.

He told journalists that the 4KVA generator, which was bought at D40,000 at the time he was attending a conference outside the country, was discovered during investigations at the store (Jama Gambian Ltd, where it was bought) to cost just D22,000 at the time it was bought, according to the invoice. “This generator never served the Council for a month, while the 25KVA I recommended for the Council at D50,000, has been in use for more than a year,” he said.

Public toilet space

Jeng asserted that the councillors were informed about the relocation of the toilet on Albion Street. He recalled that the matter was discussed at an emergency meeting held on 4 September, 2003. It was only Mr Mbye Bobb who suggested that his ward needed an office at the Anglesea toilet at this meeting. The minutes of this meeting were never presented at the following general meeting for confirmation. As a result, it was never noticed that it has not been part of the minutes. Neither the councillors nor the council officials could have claimed ignorance of this matter for it was well discussed at the meeting,” he posited.

He maintained that the contracts for these facilities are “quite clear: using people’s money to improve Council’s properties. It is part of the Council’s initiative to team up with the private sector in resource mobilisation since the Council has limited financial capacity. It is apparent that this particular facility, which was a pilot project, turned out very successful. It is presently the only improved functioning toilet.”

Towing ambulance (wrecker)
 Pa Sallah Jeng revealed that GPPA knew about and authorised the purchase of the ambulance, corroborating his claim with a letter sent to GPPA, referenced GPPA/BCC 2-2 TR (2)/04, dated 3 November, 2004. He said Abdul Outhman, the former BCC CEO and the seller, was in the picture.

 “My signature was only as a witness. It was the ministry of Finance that granted a waiver for the vehicle to be cleared duty-free. This is the only service vehicle the Council is having at the moment. It is used by service personnel of BCC; the security for patrols, arresting stray animals and clearing derelict vehicles, and for transporting workers. It is used by the Council as a towing service at D250 for local service. It is also used in assisting government institutions, most recently, the Foreign Affairs,” he explained.
Sallah denied allocating the emergency service route to anyone. “The information is malicious and untrue,” he stressed.

Taxi car park
He explained that no specific area within the parking lot is allocated for stores. According to him, the only areas developed are those reserved for landscaping and planting of trees. “The pre-finance agreement for the stores are the same system used by the previous mayors: from James Gomez to Samba Faal. It is through this system that 35 warehouses were erected behind Albert market. All contracts of these projects are available,” he said, noting that the projects are still in abeyance, awaiting for the final report of a task force committee put in place by the ministry seven months ago.

“It was never an issue when the husband of the deputy mayor, Pa Ebou Sanneh, who is the APRC youth mobiliser and Sheikh Cham another member of the youth wing, allocated stalls at the proposed Campama Estate Market. In the same area, Aja Mamie Secka and Awa Jah members of the APRC Women’s Wing Yaye Compin were allocated. Opposite the Christian cemetery, a temporal allocation was extended to Aji Fatou Sallah, deputy women’s mobiliser of the APRC, the lease of which was being processed by the women wing through the department of Lands and Physical Planning.

“It was recommended by the market master in a senior staff meeting held on 17 June, 2005 that the car park should be operational or utilised for other useful practical purpose rather than it remains as a white elephant,” he said.

Recriminations
Mayor Jeng said: “I have solicited and secured a funding for the Council’s projects to a tune of D1 million, but questions were never asked about the approval of the Council. These councillors are counter-productive and do not have the interest of the Council[at heart]. There has never been any development initiated at their ward levels as compared to our counterparts at KMC. They convene meetings only to approve loans. They have at many times boycotted Council’s meetings, but received sitting payments. In June and July, the administration illegally processed leave encashment of employees and personal loans to the tune of D115,473, which totally wrecked[the] entire Council’s accounts. Among those who were given personal loan to the tune of D6,000 were Councillor Marie Dalliah, with a reference cheque number FIB 382186 22-6-05. The councillors admitted in a meeting on 25 August, 2005, that the administration was acting on their directives on leave encashment. These directives were given in the absence of the Lord Mayor on 28 July, 2005.”

A can of worms
He went on: “The deputy mayor decided to take a trip to Cassamance for a week, while I was attending the World Conference of Mayors in Washington DC. She refused to heed the explanations that both the mayor and the deputy cannot be out of the country at the same time.

It became clear that her trip was motivated because of the per diem, which was paid to her in a cheque:FIB 232216, 23-6-05 for 130 pounds, when she was entitled to only 90 pounds in line with the 2002/2003 per diem rate. The difference was never reimbursed to the Council. She has received D140,000 from the Gambia National Lottery for the Nayconf 2004 festival and failed to return an imprest. She also received D5,000 for her cultural troupe without refunding the money from the Council even though they boycotted  the event on the grounds that the amount was small. On 7 July, 2004, she received from the council D20,000 as its supplementary contribution towards July 22 celebration, but failed to return the imprest. She also failed to return a milling machine she took from the BCC store in 2002. It should also be remembered that in 2003/2004, Mam Sai Njie hired the APRC pick-up vehicle from Pa Sanneh, the APRC Youth Wing mobiliser for D4,000 to travel to Kanilai. Also on 27 August, 2002, she travelled to Dakar and collected 130 pounds per day, when she was entitled to 90 pounds  per day,” he said.

Jeng charged that the eight councillors are hell-bent on enriching themselves at the expense of the Council. He showed to this paper numbers of cheques that were paid to the eight councillors to a tune of D45,000 from 8-9 September, 2005, without his knowledge. “They did this when there are many unsettled invoices and the present financial status of the Council’s accounts at both the Sandard Chartered Bank and the First International Bank are in red by D28,775, the councillors are generating unscrupulous gain of D45,000,” he said.

He also recalled an emergency meeting convened in his absence on 23 January, 2003, when the councillors met and agreed for D5,000 loan to be paid to them for the Tobaski feast. “The motion for the loan was moved by Councillor Marie Daliah and seconded by Councillor Mbye Bobb, even though they were informed by the clerk that the council’s accounts as at April 12 were in red,” he said.

He said he is unfazed by his suspension, describing it as a violation of the mandate the people of Banjul gave him. “I will not be fighting alone. It is a fight for the people of Banjul, because God knows best what heart I have for Banjul and its people. They are jealous of the successes I have made for Banjul. They are angry with the book because it gives the people the general information on what the Council has been doing and problems it is facing,” he said.

He warned the people of Banjul that their city will retrogress 10 years in development, if they allow the councillors to steer the affairs of the Council. “These people do not have the interest of Banjul at heart. What they want is the use of councillor’s funds on useless activities. They are just there to enrich themselves,” he said.

Asked whether he will institute any legal action against the councillors, if he is vindicated, Mayor Jeng said: “I will consult my lawyer for advice and take appropriate action.”
It could be recalled that on 11 March, 2002, the councillors made similar allegations in a letter copied to the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Minority Leader, department of state for Local Government, Justice department. Mayor Jeng was accused of making a unilaterally hiring workers, awarding contracts, repairing trucks, donating CFA2 million, selling of Council’s vehicle, and travelling outside the country. The mayor survived the allegations after investigations, that found them to be unfounded, malicious.