By Fatou Sillah
The Chairperson of the Local Government Commission of Inquiry, Jainaba Bah, has stated that widespread disregard for established regulations became a routine practice across local government councils in The Gambia.
Presenting the commission’s report to the President, Bah emphasized that the core issue was not the absence of rules, but the normalization of non-compliance.
“The problem was not the absence of rules but the normalization of departure from rules. Where procedures became optional, public resources became vulnerable,” she said.
Bah outlined significant institutional weaknesses identified during the inquiry, including deficiencies in financial control, procurement processes, revenue collection, land administration, staffing, and overall governance systems.
According to her, the Commission’s findings revealed that these shortcomings were not isolated incidents but indicative of deeper, systemic challenges affecting all councils reviewed.
“In all the councils, the Commission found recurring weaknesses in financial control, revenue administration, procurement compliance, banking discipline, record keeping, internal audit effectiveness, payroll control, land administration, contract management, and oversight enforcement,” she noted.
The Commission relied on extensive oral testimony and documentary evidence, including audit reports, bank statements, procurement records, and other financial documents. Bah stressed that weak oversight mechanisms allowed irregular practices to become entrenched.
“Where oversight slept, irregularity matured into practice. Public trust collapses when money collected in the name of the people cannot be traced for the benefit of the people,” she said.
She explained that the report serves both as a formal record of the Commission’s findings and as a cautionary message on the consequences of neglecting established administrative procedures.
“This report is therefore submitted as both an account and a warning, such that institutions decay when rules are known but ignored,” She Said.
Reinforcing the broader implications, she added: “Public trust collapses when money collected in the name of people cannot be traced for the benefit of the people, and governance loses its legitimacy when authority is exercised without accountability.”
Bah concluded by underscoring the commission’s central message—that credible local democracy cannot be built on weak administrative foundations.
“The law must remain at the center of local government administration. Public finance must be brought under discipline,” she said.
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