*Revenue Collector Nuha Kujabi Testifies*
Nuha Kujabi, a resident of Tubakuta in the West Coast Region and a revenue collector for the Brikama Area Council testified before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry.
He commenced working in the Brikama Area Council in 2018. His offer of appointment letter dated 24 August 2018 was tendered and admitted in evidence. The witness did not provide a letter of confirmation of his appointment. The witness provided a cash book covering 2018 to 2023 and it was admitted in evidence. He is a rates and tax collector. His written statement of February 2024 was tendered and admitted in evidence.
He testified that the digital revenue collection device was introduced in the BAC in 2020, but he was issued in 2021. He explained that after the collection he used to go to the bank first for depositing before coming to the Council.
The witness said from 2018 to 2021 he used to make direct payments to Lamin Kantong Kanteh because at the time he did not have the account numbers of the Council.
He was discharged to go back while the Commission will give him the specifics of the collections that remained unaccounted so that he would have the chance to provide explanation.
He returned to the Commission on Wednesday, 24 July 2024.
The witness was asked about his collection of 22nd January 2021. The witness collected D12,18. He was asked to account for it. The amount was traced in the Vista Bank account. This means he has deposited the money.
The Commission noted that the witness was collecting and recording the collections in his cash book. However, he was not providing the total collections per week. This makes it difficult to tell the period of collection. For accountability purposes, a collector is required to record the collections and total the recordings. For the the witness, he testified that he did not do that because he felt that the information was already contained in the dashboard. He added that during this period he was using the digital revenue collection device. Chairperson Jainaba Bah ordered the IT Officer Alieu Badou Jeng of the Brikama Area Council to provide the printout of the witness’ collection.
He is scheduled to reappear before the Commission next week Thursday.
