BCC Former Finance Director Testifies Before Local Government Commission Regarding Task Force Report

Abdoulie T.M. Nyang, the former Director of Finance at Banjul City Council,

By Fatou Sillah

Abdoulie T.M. Nyang, the former Director of Finance at Banjul City Council, appeared before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday. During his testimony, he was questioned about the task force report concerning his tenure.

Nyang explained that he was deployed to the Banjul City Council by the Ministry in April 2010 and served there until his unsolicited leave in July 2018. He shared that the council had placed him on a one-month leave to allow the task force to conduct its investigation, after which he was dismissed.

When asked whether he had seen the task force report, Nyang confirmed that he had not. He stated he was never presented with the report and had never been called before the task force. However, after being shown the report by the lead counsel, Nyang clarified that he had appeared before the task force for less than 10 minutes on one occasion, though he argued that the questions asked were not relevant.

“You’ve seen the task force report,” the lead counsel inquired. The witness responded that he had not seen the report, nor had he ever been presented with it. He also stated that he had never appeared before the task force.

The lead counsel then presented the report to the witness, asking, “How could findings be made against you without you being called before the task force?”

The witness replied, “I can recall just one time, less than 10 minutes with the task force.”

The lead counsel then read parts of the task force report to Nyang, which stated that discrepancies were found in the council’s management accounts. Specifically, the closing balances for one period did not match the opening balances for the subsequent period, and no clear explanation was provided for these discrepancies. This, the report noted, suggested that the council’s financial reports did not accurately reflect its financial position.

The lead counsel asked Nyang if he understood the implications of the report. Nyang confirmed that he did but added that he was never tasked with preparing or submitting any financial management report.

“Do you understand what it says?” The Lead Counsel asked

“Yes, I did,” The witness replied.

“What does that mean,” The lead counsel pressed.

Nyang responded that he was never asked to prepare or submit any financial management report to the task force.

The lead counsel proceeded to read the task force report to the witness, which detailed that the Director of Finance had provided the task force with management accounts from January 1, 2015, to June 13, 2018. According to these accounts, the council reported a surplus of D920,336 in 2015, D3,013,723 in 2016, D3,599,284 in 2017, and D5,966,656 by the end of June 2018. However, when questioned by the finance subcommittee of the task force regarding the surplus reflected in the bank statements—given that the council operated on a cash-based accounting system—further documentation was provided. Annex 6 explains the information submitted to the committee regarding the council’s finances.

The lead counsel also referenced the remaining portions of the task force report, which indicated that the Director of Finance held sole responsibility for all financial activities. The report noted a lack of certification of duties, as the Director was solely responsible for requesting, authorizing, and approving payments with minimal or no oversight from the CEO. “Is this true?” the lead counsel asked.

“It was not true. I want to clear this up here. When I was given unsolicited leave, I handed over to the finance manager, who was acting on my behalf and all these documents that you are mentioning here, I was the person who handed it over to them, so it was the finance manager by then. I was never also invited to go through with the task force to at least help them with their findings. This is the first time I am seeing this report,” The witness responded.

When asked whether he was responsible for initiating, authorizing, and approving payments, the witness denied the claim, stating it was inaccurate.

“I can say this task force was just doing whatever they liked; because the composition of the task force was not even correct, because there was no councillor who was in the task force. They were just hand picked by the mayor herself,” He Said.

The witness also submitted his handover notes to the commission, which were accepted into evidence and marked as an official exhibit.