KMC’s Director Finance Testifies Before Local Government Commission

Dr. Alieu Keita, the Director of Finance of the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) on Wednesday, 11 September testified before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry.
The Commission is tasked with the responsibility to conduct a full and impartial investigation into local government councils to enhance transparency and accountability. The Commission performs a review of the financial and administrative operations of the councils covering from May 2018 to January 2023.
The Commission held institutional hearings on the Basse Area Council, Mansakonko Area Council, Janjanbureh Area Council, and Brikama Area Council. The focus is now on the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC).
He testified that he was appointed in March 2020. At the time of taking over, he said Sheriff Njie was the Acting Director of Finance, and eventually Njie became his deputy.
The witness said the relevant laws governing his work are the Local Government Act, Local Government Finance and Audit Act, and the Financial Manual for Local Government Councils.
The witness said Sheriff Njie was his immediate deputy and the other employees in the finance unit were Bakary Dibba as Finance Manager 1, Kawsu Janneh as Finance Manager 2, and accounts clerks like Nyima Gibba, Fatou Jallow, Isatou Camara, and Jarra Minteh. He added that there were 3 cashiers.
He testified that the cashiers collect money directly from the revenue collectors (rates and license collectors) and pass it straight to the cashiers.
He explained that Finance Manager 1 helps in the operations while Finance Manager 2 supports. He added that Finance Manager 2 is answerable to Finance Manager 1.
The witness said the revenue line of the council has three (3) revenue units – license, rates, and markets.
“All these people, if they collect revenue cash, it goes straight to the cashiers. From the cashiers, it goes to the bank. I don’t see money,” he said.
The witness said the market unit has a manager, assistant manager, and market masters, who are like supervisors and then market collectors. He explained that the market manager is responsible for overseeing all market operations and supervises all the people working under him with the assistance of his two (2) assistant managers. He said the collectors give money to the market masters, who will deposit the money with the cashiers at the KMC main office. He added that market masters do reconciliation with the market managers to ensure the collection tallies with the receipts. He testified that the banks would come to the council to collect the cash and sometimes when the banks delay, the cashiers take the money to the bank.
For the unit of the rate, the witness said the property owners come to the council to pay the rates to the cashiers and they are given a receipt. He added that about a week ago they gave GTR receipts to collectors to go around and collect directly from property owners. He stated that the rates unit has a manager (Dodou Gomez) and two assistant managers (Baboucar Sanyang and Isatou Manneh). The unit has supervisors, too. He said the supervisors go to people and collect cash from them. He added that these are properties that have arrears. He explained that after collecting the cash from the property owner, the supervisors would come and deposit the fund with the cashier, and the cashier would draw a receipt and give the supervisor to take it back to the property owner.
He said he assigned collectors to register compound owners in the municipality including their phone numbers, addresses, and Google Plus details. He added that they input that into the system and it helped them a lot.
“Our arrears came to a point where it was very high and our rate collectors alone cannot go after all those collectors, and we decided to bring private debt collectors,” the witness said.
He said the debt collectors were hired in 2024 and they are five (5) companies. The Commission requested him to provide the names of the private companies and the contract details they have with the Council.
The license unit has a manager, assistant manager, and supervisors. The collectors go to the field to collect cash from business owners.