Warns Against Misappropriation of Disbursed Funds
By: Kemo Kanyi
The Chairman of Brikama Area Council (BAC), Yankuba Darboe, has asserted that fiscal prudence and discipline have enabled BAC to disburse D14M to the 28 wards in the West Coast Region (WCR) as he issued a stern warning against the misappropriation of the disbursed money.
The BAC on Wednesday shared D14M among the various wards of WCR for their development as outlined by the ward councillors.
In his speech at a ceremony organized to present the cash, Darboe recounted the “troubles” that the council underwent before the mobilization and distribution of the ward development funds.
“The police entered into the council premises and arrested all my honourable councillors and detained them. We went through all this because we wanted to end corruption at BAC,” said the BAC chair.
He indicated that if the current administration had decided not to go through struggles to end corruption at the council, former BAC CEO Modou Jonga and the council’s finance director would not have taken councillors to the police. Darboe said he was certain that if his administration had not adopted a firm stance against corruption, the funds disbursed would not have been mobilized.
“In summary, this money came from fire because we had to go through hell to get it out. So, since we got it from hell, I want you to just do like the Director of Good Governance of our line ministry, David Gomez, said. Let us make the best use of this money otherwise,the fire that gave birth to this money will consume any Ward Development Committee (WDC) that played with the ward’s money,” he emphasized.
The Director of Good Governance at the Ministry of Lands, David Gomez, advised WDCs to involvecommunities in their projects so that they can take full ownership to ensure the judicious utilization of fundsand effective project implementation.