Lamin Saidy, a revenue collector for the Brikama Area Council (BAC), testified before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday that he was allowed to collect revenue without a cash book. A cash book will contain the details of the collections like dates and amounts, the receipts, and deposit slips. The witness said he was not provided a cash book by the BAC from 2016, when he joined the Council to date. He added that the cash book he provided was purchased by him.
“None of my superiors told me that I should have a cash book. I was the one who requested. Yankuba Kujabi was the one who told me to go to the Council to get a cash book from the Director of Finance. When I went to the Council, I did not find him there. I proceeded to Sonko Jileng and purchased the book for One Hundred Dalasi (D100). It is my first and only cash book since I joined the Council in 2016,” the witness added.
It was his second appearance before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry. During his first appearance, he claimed that his cash books were missing and requested time to do more search in the Council. On his reappearance, he testified that he had seen his missing cash book in the Council under a veranda behind a cupboard. He added that a good number of cash books belonging to different collectors are there.
The cash book is covered from the 4th of February 2021 to February 2022. It was tendered and admitted in evidence. He was asked about the recordings of 2018, 2019, and 2020. The witness explained that he was employed in 2016 but was not told he needed to operate using a cash book. He said he did not operate a cash book from 2016 to 2020. He added that he came to know about the cash book in 2020. Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez refuted the claim, saying the witness had cash books for the years before 2020. The witness swore before the Commission that the cash book he provided was his first and only cash book. He said his line manager was Bunjaring Jadama. Lead Counsel Gomez asked how he was being audited. The witness said the auditing was only done after he was issued a cash book, adding that before he was given the book, he used to submit his collections to the market manager. The Counsel referred the witness to his written statement wherein he stated that in 2018 and 2019 he used to give the Market Master (Yankuba Kujabi) cash to deposit in the bank and give him a deposit slip, which he takes to the Council for submission and reconciliation. Gomez told him that it wouldn’t have been possible to audit him without a cash book that shows his collections and the amount. The witness said the period he referred to in the statement was when he got the cash book. He testified that he was the one who purchased the cash book from his own pocket after he was told by the Marker Master that he should use a cash book.
“If you do not have a cash book, is it possible for the auditors to audit you?” Chairperson Jainaba Bah asked.
“No, it is not possible,” the witness answered.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez referred the witness to page 32 of the Internal Audit Report for 2020. The auditors made adverse findings against the witness. The witness was found to have a cash shortage of D3000 and D5000.
“I can agree with this, but I was not called or told about the findings,” the witness said.
The auditors indicated that the collector (witness) did not post his collections in the cash book.
“I have never been in their office. I have never been audited based on my knowledge during this time,” the witness answered.
Lead Counsel asked the witness why the recording stopped in January 2022, leaving out the other months and without records for 2023.
“We did not see your recordings for the subsequent months,” Lead Counsel Gomez said.
“I have all the receipts with me. I did not record my collections. The revenue collection devices were introduced, and we were promised that they would bring forms for us to record our collections. The forms were never brought,” the witness said.
Lead Counsel Gomez told the witness that the machines were introduced in ⁶⁷ùĵĵķ from the cash book he provided, he recorded collections for 2021 up to February 2022. This disproved the claim of the witness that he was not recording because he was using the machine and waiting for the forms. The witness immediately changed his statement and said “We were asked to stop recording.”
Counsel Gomez referred the witness to his cash book he produced to account for the collections. He claimed that he had deposited in the Vista Bank and GTBank. He was referred to the Finance Unit of the Commission to do reconciliation. He will reappear before the Commission when the process is done for further hearing.
