By Arret Jatta
The Director of Administration of the KanifingMunicipal Council (KMC) and former acting CEO from 2018 to 2019 of KMC MR. Jaja Cham, on Wednesday 11th September, started his testimony at the Local Government Commission of Inquiry at the Djembe Hotel.
Jaja Cham explained that he was appointed at KMC in 2006 as a council clerk for two years and later left the council to work at a bank for 8 years, and returned to the council in 2016 as the director of admin.
He added that, in 2018 he became the acting CEO and served in this position for one year and four months.
Mr. Cham averred that there was no handing over from the former CEO because she resigned. After all, the former CEO resigned from her position.
On the administrative structure of the council, Director Cham stated that the council has an organogram (organization chart) where you have the policy-making body (council), then the administrative head (CEO) followed by line departments which He said are about 7 to 8 departments. He added that the council did have a strategic plan in 2018 and it expired in 2019 and a new one was created.
He was then asked by the lead counsel Patrick Gomez to provide the commission with the new strategic plan.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez asked him if the council had an internal audit unit in 2018, and the witness replied in the positive, saying that one Ebrima Fofana was the head of the unit.
He was further questioned if the internal unit was preparing periodic or quarterly reports.
Cham initially responded, “There was none, I did not see any internal audit report. It is recently this year we started having internal audit report,” but later changed and said that ‘’there were some internal audit reports but he does not know if they were quarterly or periodic’’.
“From 2018 to 2019 were there any salary increments,” Counsel Gomez asked.
The witness responded that he could remember there was a council resolution passed for salary and allowances to be increased. The commission asked him to provide them with the resolution and the increment details.
On the issue of the council having a lawyer, witness Cham explained that before 2018 the council was working with Amie Bensouda law firm but it was changed when Ahmed Talib Bensouda was elected mayor because of the relationship.
He said due to this the council hired the services of Lawyer Yassin Senghore from Senghore law practice on a retainer. The witness was also asked to provide the recruitment details of the council’s Legal Representative.
Counsel Gomez questioned, “How many companies do you know that KMC created or is a shareholder.”
Director Cham said the council created KanifingMunicipal Transport (KMT) and Kanifing Municipal Markets (KMM). He was asked to provide information on the two companies and the resolution passed for their creation.
Witness Cham told the commission that before 2018 the council had many accounts, “I wrote to banks in the country confidentially for them to inform us if the council is banking with them but many did not respond.”
He said he then sat with the council to discuss the matter and he was advised to minimize the accounts. He added that he then limited the council’s account to three, “these accounts were already created and I did not create any new account.”
Cham also maintained that during his time as the acting CEO, the council did not take any loans from the bank. He also said during his tenure as CEO there was an embargo on staff loans except for emergencies.
The commission instructed him to provide them with a list of staff given loans during his time as the CEO. He was also asked to give information on the list of staff employed during his tenure as well as staff appointed on contracts.
“When the council has an agreement with EspaceMotors for nineteen compactor trucks, do you know where Espace Motors got these trucks from and how much they purchased them for,” Counsel Gomez asked.
The witness replied, “I don’t know, it is not my business.”
The Counsel told him he could not say that because he was to make sure that the council gets value for money on things they purchased and that makes it his business.
The Witness is to reappear before the commission next week Thursday 19 September, 2024, to provide the commission with details requested.
