Former Banjul City Council CEO Grilled Over Financial Irregularities
Financial Mismanagement Allegations Surface at Inquiry
Mustapha Batchilly, former CEO of Banjul City Council, faced intense scrutiny Wednesday as the Local Government Commission of Inquiry questioned him about alleged financial mismanagement during his tenure. The inquiry focused on improper imprest payments and systemic failures in fiscal oversight.
Admission of Procedural Failures
During testimony, Batchilly acknowledged that proper financial procedures weren’t followed under his leadership, despite his oversight responsibilities. The commission revealed millions of dalasis were approved without proper documentation or controls.
“You were just approving imprests. There were no conditions, no terms, nothing. You approved millions of dalasis,” lead counsel Patrick Gomez challenged. “Why were you not following procedures?”
Batchilly attributed the issues to flawed request processes and internal fund management, stating: “There are two aspects of it – the requests made for imprests and their management. For a large extent, it was not done appropriately.”
Defense Points to Systemic Issues
When pressed about repeated disbursements without proper checks, Batchilly blamed the council’s financial staff quality: “Caliber of finance staff – this has been a problem for the council for a long time.”
Lead Counsel Gomez countered sharply: “You have been giving people imprests with no retirements. They’re given subsequent imprests endlessly. You think you own the council?”
Accountability Questions Raised
The inquiry revealed Batchilly had never appeared before the Banjul City Council Task Force, which Gomez found unusual for a CEO. Batchilly expressed discomfort seeing junior staff summoned instead.
Despite Batchilly’s justifications citing systemic problems, Gomez maintained the evidence showed serious lapses in financial accountability and transparency with public funds.
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Original report by Kerr Fatou. Full credit to the source.