By: Dawda Baldeh
The Mayor of Banjul, Rohey Malick Lowe told Banjulians at a Town Hall Meeting over the weekend that the Banjul City Council (BCC) has made massive progress within four years and disclosed that the council is the only council in the city that remains debt-free.
The Town Hall Meeting is in line with the 2002 Local Government Act that gives the mayor the power to tour the three constituencies and interact with the people to give them the opportunity to know the function of the council and ask key questions regarding their concerns.
Mayor Lowe said the council works on two arms that include the administrative side and policy side. She said the administrative side is headed by the Chief Executive Officer under the Ministry of Local Government and they are the implementing body of council, which means they are responsible for services.
Outlining the mandate of her office, she said the office consists of Mayor and the Councillors who are the policymakers. “The mayor oversees the council. The policy side makes policies and passes resolutions for the implementation by the administrative wing,” she said.
The mayor said her office has made significant improvement in the four years and has transformed the city to the next level compared to when she just assumed the responsibility.
The Mayoress said her office restored electricity to the council noting that she came into office when the council was running on a generator for more than 4 years.
She stated that the cost of fuel for the generator was very expensive noting that they normally spend five thousand dalasis on fuel per day at that time. Now, she said that has passed and the expenditure has now reduced drastically.
The Banjul Mayor said Banjul City Council (BCC) is the only council in the city that remain debt-free. “I came into office when the council was owing almost all the Banks in the country. The council owed some banks about three to four million dalasis (D3-4m) and some less than a million but today I am proud to say that the council is not owing anything to the banks,” she said. She when on to say that her office is committed to improving standards of living in the city.
Speaking further Mayor Lowe said the Council has very close collaborations with CSOS through the Banjul Youth and Sports Committees.
“A massive restructuring was done in council which addressed the issues of ghost workers,
“Appointment of a qualified finance Director and reinforcement of the accounts department with equipment and personnel and establishment of the records office, this has helped with the proper filling of staff and to safeguard other council documents.”
She added that her office has also engaged in supporting Culture, Music and religious activities adding that they have also provided reliefs packages to disaster victims. According to her, the council has also provided relief support to many households in the city during the pandemic.
