The Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) has issued a statement countering the recent comments made by the opposition UDP leader, Ousainou Darboe in a local newspaper. In a statement signed by Pa Khalifa Sanyang, KMC senior public affairs manager, the council expressed its appreciation to the fact that Darboe has now cleared his arrears 

Below is the full text of KMC’s statement.
UDP Leader Ousainou Darboe’s incessant tirades against the KMC administration just because we exposed him for owing five years tax arrears tantamount to an outright vilification of issues and a calculated shift from the reality. We do appreciate the fact that he has now cleared his arrears even though he seemed to have been compelled by our publicity but to say that he had not paid his rates simply because he had not been receiving demand notes to that effect is an incongruent argument because Uncle Ousainou like any other property owner knows he is obliged to pay annual rates to the Council. Many high-profile residents like him do not even wait for us to send them demand notes.

In January of each year, they come to pay. Those that have busy schedules even send their drivers or house helps to settle their dues so Uncle Ousainou cannot in any way justify owing five years arrears. This is a clear case of tax evasion and as a matter of fact, we served him summons in February 2010, received by one Sulayman Darboe on his behalf for him to appear before our court for failing to pay his rates to no avail. We could have issued a bench warrant for his arrest, which would have been easily misconstrued as politically motivated.

I concur with him that we are not collecting refuse from every household in our jurisdiction. Like any other institution, public or private, we have our shortfalls and constraints. It may be true as well that he is contracting private companies to collect waste from his residences but what he fails to realize is that those private agents dispose waste material that they collect at the Bakoteh land fill which costs the KMC millions of Dalasis to maintain annually. We spend huge sums on utility bills of public facilities and more importantly pay for all the street lights within the Municipality. These are no small expenditures and because of defaulters like Uncle Ousainou, we are left to operate with a huge budget deficit and to struggle to keep services running.

His remark that large areas of our Municipality have not benefited in any meaningful way from the mayoral administration of Yankuba Colley is an unfair assessment of the Council’s average performance.

During Mayor Colley’s short tenure, the Council built standard markets in Abuko, Tallinding Sicap and Old Jeshwang. We built a Senior Secondary School and a resource centre for Charles Jow Memorial Academy as well as a magnificent community center and hostel along Jimpex Road in Kanifing. The resource centre for Charles Jow and the centre in Kanifing were executed under a counterpart-funding portfolio with Gamworks Agency whereas the Senior Secondary School and markets were financed 100% by the Council. These are tangible developments that have a direct impact on the improved livelihood of the people of this municipality and I do not think this is an unwise way of spending public funds.

What Uncle Ousainou needs to understand at this point is that the exchange of sentimental tantrums between him and the council is not healthy and as human beings, we must be courageous enough to admit faults where we go wrong. He must not confuse my role as spokesperson for the Council with that of a politician. His comments have serious implications on the name and image of the KMC and it is my primary responsibility to straighten the records. If I shy away from this, then I should resign from my post honorably. My political inclination is not the subject matter here. I am a professional public servant and to suggest that I am dabbling in politics is a distraction from the issue at hand. I know what politics entails and I know what it takes to become a politician. I would never hide behind my profession to peruse any hidden agenda.

At the end of the day, the KMC is headed by a political leadership and to suggest that no political activity will take place at the Council will be self-deception. What is important is that those political maters are handled by politicians, not we the administrators. I think what Uncle Ousainou should do is to use his legal background and political platform to sensitize the public about the essence of paying rates to Councils. As a respectable resident, he should be able to complement our efforts in trying to develop the municipality, not to set the agenda for any unnecessary public debate.