The Brikama Area Council revenue collector, Lamin Saidy, testified before the LG Commission of Inquiry that he was allowed to collect revenue without a cash book from 2016, when he joined the Council, to date.
The cash book should contain the details of the collections, such as dates, amounts, receipts, and deposit slips.
“None of my superiors told me that I should have a cash book. I was the one who requested it. 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 D100. It is my first and only cash book since I joined the Council in 2016,” he explained.
This is the second appearance of the witness. During his first appearance, Saidy testified that his cash books were missing and requested time to conduct a more thorough search in the Council. On his reappearance, he testified that he had found his missing cash book in the Council under a veranda behind a cupboard, adding that a good number of cash books belonging to different collectors were there.
Saidy was questioned about his 2018, 2019, and 2020 records, as the cash book he filed covered from the 4th of February 2021 to February 2022.
He responded, “I was employed in 2016 but was not told I needed to operate using a cash book. I came to know about the cash book in 2020.” Lead Counsel Gomez told him that he had a cash book before 2020. He maintained his testimony that the cash book he provided was his first and only cash book.
Saidy was asked how he was audited, and he responded, “The auditing was only done after I was issued a cash book,” adding that before he was given the book, he used to submit his collections to the market manager.
At this point, Gomez referred Saidy 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 receive a deposit slip, which he then took to the Council for submission and reconciliation.
Gomez told Lamin that it would not have been possible to audit him without a cash book that shows his collections and the amount.
Lamin said the period he referred to in the statement was when he got the cash book and that it was the cash book he purchased from his own funds after being told by the Market Master that he should use a cash book.
