The Director of Finance at the Kanifing Municipal Council, Dr. Alieu Keita, has been asked to refund D25,000. This amount was an allowance payment for his participation in a training organized for Councils across the country by the Ministry of Lands, and the refund was made after it was discovered ‘he did not attend’ the training.
On 10 September, 2025, the director of administration of the KMC, Ebrima Sawaneh, submitted a request for payment of allowances amounting to D125,000 to five persons to the Chief Executive Officer, Pa Sait Ceesay, in which the Lord Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda and Dr Keita were copied. At this time, Ceesay was on leave.
The payment was approved by Dr Keita and the Director of Administration Ebrima Sawaneh. While allowance for the five-day training was D25, 000, the Councils paid D35, 000 for each person participating in the training to GFS Business Development— the school that conducted the training.
On 16 September, Dr. Keita received a payment of D25,000 for a training he reportedly “never attended”. Some days after a staff of the Council reported the matter to the CEO and the Ministry of Lands for what the memo referred to as a ‘fraudulent action’ by Dr. Keita, The Republic obtained a receipt of his refund on 29th October, over forty days after receiving the payment.
There is no evidence the D35, 000 paid to the school was refunded. The school and Sawaneh both claim that a special session was held for Dr Keita, though none of them could provide evidence to support their claims. Meanwhile, on a September 2 letter from the Ministry of Lands which invited the Council officials to the training, it was stated that all participants should be ‘physically in attendance’.
Sawaneh claimed Dr Keita could not attend the training because he was sick but sources at the KMC who participated in the training said they were told it was his wife who fell ill. The CEO said he was not aware of any special session organised for Dr Keita but it was communicated to him by the GFS Business Development after the fact.
Dr Keita declined to comment, so did the school. The CEO said he was asked to refund the allowance for “sake of accountability” but did not explain why the payment to school was not refunded for the same reason.
Addressing ‘pervasive systemic deficiencies’
According to documents obtained by The Republic, the Councils across the country were invited to nominate five participants to a five-day training program organized by the Ministry of Lands, Regional Government, and Religious Affairs.
The ministry said the training, meant to enhance administrative and financial governance of the Councils, was necessitated by the “pervasive systemic deficiencies” uncovered by the local government inquiry “across various councils”.
The training was conducted by GFS Business Development, a business firm established by a group of individuals, from September 16th to 20th. The five–day training cost the Councils a combined sum of D2.4m, with each paying at least D175, 000 to the school for their five participants.
While the other four officials were confirmed to have attended the training from KMC, Dr. Keita did not attend any of the sessions with his colleagues. Despite that, his name was submitted and received the full allowance of D25,000.
Sources told The Republic that Dr. Keita’s payment was authorized by himself and the Director of Administration Ebrima Sawaneh since the CEO was on leave.
The KMC’s own internal audit department flagged the payment as fraudulent, raising questions over legibility of similar payment made to the school.
Yearly, various government institutions conduct similar few days’ training to different academic and training institutions which cost D60,000, a combined fee for training institutions and allowances.
We rely on your donations to fund our investigations. DONATE to support our work
