By: Mama A. Touray
Yankuba Darboe, United Democratic Party aspirant Chairmanship for the Brikama area council on Monday said UDP will be the beacon of light in the dark cloud that over shadows the nation.
Speaking to reporters, shortly after filing his nomination credentials, at the Brikama IEC regional head office, Yankuba said “we are going to be the beacon of light in the dark cloud that is over shadowing in our nation and that is what we stand for.
“As such, we have to be transparent and accountable to the people to make sure we open ourselves to the people so that they know what is happening at their council. At the end of the day we are only representing the people, it is not our home properties that we can take personal, we are the trustees of the people.”
Darboe added that if they cannot tell the people of the region what is happening to their properties then they are fooling themselves that they have the ownership over those properties and revenues of the people.
“There is a black hole at the Brikama area council where our funds are disappearing into and when I get into office we will seal that hole and make sure no revenue disappears at the council henceforth.”
He also stated that part of his priority is to make sure that they are able to stop the loot that is happening at the Brikama area council, while adding that everyone in the region understands that Brikama area council earns far more than the revenue they claim to be earning.
However, the aspiring candidate emphasized the need for transparency in councils, noting it is importance cannot be over emphasized.
Meanwhile Darboe said for them to curb and make the council transparent they want to make sure that they do a proper inventory of all revenue sources of the council and also to open the council to public and media scrutiny by providing the media and public whatever information they requested about the council.
“If you walk on the street and ask people about their council as to what the total revenue of the council is from last year, nobody will be able to tell you that because the council is not transparent, so we cannot develop a society when the people of the society do not even know how much the council earns,” He said.
