By Mustapha K. Darboe
Claim: “The Councils were paying all these electricity bills. The street lights you see in the entire country. KM was paying electricity bills for streetlights…”
Source: Youth and Sports Minister Bakary Y. Badjie
Verdict: MISLEADING
Gambians head to the polls in under 2 years and the political climate could not be more tense between the ruling NPP, and the main opposition UDP. While the NPP controlled the executive, led only by 2 lawmakers in the National Assembly, the UDP controlled half of the Councils, making it the most tense political battleground for the past few years.
About eleven months ago, the government commenced a public inquiry which exposed widespread corruption in the Councils. A large part of it is alleged procurement malpractices including potential kickbacks.
The establishment of the Commission followed a routine audit exercise by the National Audit Office conducted at the Councils between 2017 and 2021 which revealed widespread financial malpractices.
Claim
In a video published by the West Coast Radio, the youth and sports minister appeared on a show with Peter Gomez to discuss a number of issues including stadium renovation, for which he took a lot of hit from opposition. In the interview (watch from 41 mins in video above), Bakary Y. Badjie calls the demand for subvention often made by Councils against the Central Government an excuse used to hide the broader inefficiency in the governance.
To support his argument, the sports minister claimed the Councils were paying for their development works and paying for streetlights under the ex-president Yahya Jammeh.
“The Councils were paying all these electricity bills. The street lights you see in the entire country. KM was paying electricity bills for streetlights. When this government came, the Councils said they cannot do it, the Central Government took it from them. But in the Yankuba Colley time they were paying this in addition to all the other works they were doing. If they cannot deliver, let them tell the people they cannot deliver.”
Fact-check
The recent audits and the ongoing inquiry has uncovered a significant amount of corruption and inefficiency in the operation of the Councils. However, the debate as to who should shoulder the burden of the streetlights— Councils or the Central government— pre-dated the Coalition government.
The records, both repeated audits of NAWEC and the Councils, show the Councils have always been unable to offset the bills for the streetlights. By 2010, for example, the public utility company switched off its lights in Brikama due to arrears. By 2017, the KM owed NAWEC at least D84m in arrears, about 90% of which were bills for streetlights. By 2018, at least D244m in debt was owed by Brikama Area Council, Kanifing Municipality and Banjul.
Council’s argument
Though the Councils were beneficiaries, the streetlights were implemented by the Central Government. Over the years, the Councils have argued that the financial burden of the streetlights which, in average is D2m a month bills from NAWEC, should be shouldered by the Central Government or National Road Authority which collects levies for signboards on the road.
Verdict: The KM under former mayor Yankuba Colley, as were other Councils, owed NAWEC millions in unpaid streetlight bills, before the change of administration in 2018. Therefoire, the claim by Youth and Sports Minister Bakary Y. Badjie is MISLEADING.
