By: Mama A. Touray
The claims made by some Brikama Area Council revenue collectors, who expressed surprise at the amounts mentioned by auditors as shortages, were dismissed on Tuesday by Sulayman Barry, the principal internal auditor at the Brikama Area Council.
Barry made this dismissal on his first day appearing before the ongoing local government commission of inquiry, stating that the collectors were all informed about the audit findings. At this point, Barry was given the cash book of one of the collectors, Bakary Drammeh, to examine, and he told the commission that Bakary’s claim of being cleared by the Internal Audit Unit was false.
Bakary Drammeh had earlier testified before the Commission that he was cleared by the audit unit regarding some accounted revenue of the Council, but the Principal Internal Auditor dismissed this claim and labeled it as “false.”
Barry continued, mentioning that they monitor the collectors from devices in the IT Unit and can track how much each collector collects.
However, Sulayman cited an incident of interference in his work by the former Chairman of BAC, Sheriffo Sonko, in 2020, asking him to stop the special audit exercise he was conducting.
He said he proceeded with the special exercise, auditing revenue collectors, including Alieu Sanneh, who was found to have shortages. Barry added that Alieu Sanneh came to him with the information that the then Chairman was his uncle.
Barry said Alieu Sanneh then informed him that he had used the money for the treatment of his leg. The witness said he continued with his probing into the Council’s funds, and when former Chairman Sheriffo Sonko came to him asking him to stop because Alieu Sanneh was “dangerous” (meaning he could use harmful means to silence him [the witness]), Barry continued with his inquiry and drafted a report for Alieu Sanneh to respond to the audit queries.
“This was when Alieu Sanneh wrote to the Council with the complaint that he was being targeted.”
“As a result, it triggered the Council to task the Establishment Committee to inquire into the matter, and in the end, the Committee came up with a report stating that they could not confirm Alieu Sanneh’s claims. The Directorate of Internal Audit (DOI) under the Ministry of Finance conducted their findings and audits,” he informed the commission.
He further informed the commission that “Alieu Sanneh has not worked in the Council since 2020 but is still receiving his salary every month until now. He is not working, but he is still receiving his salary.
