On October 15, 2024, the Gambia Police Force declared that it has opened an inquiry into issues brought up by the Auditor General in a Special Audit Report that concentrated on the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) financial operations.
Gambian social commentators have responded to the move in a variety of ways, despite the Police not providing any additional information on the inquiry. The police have been under fire from some who claim that their investigative methods are “selective.”
Key conclusions from the National Audit Office’s (NAO) study on the IEC’s finances, which spans the time frame from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2023, have been evaluated by Kerr Fatou. GMD7,935,603.55, a substantial amount of unretired funds, is highlighted in the report.
Budgeted election monies are transferred to the private bank accounts of Returning Officers in different regions throughout election periods as part of the Commission’s procedures, the audit claims, after consultations with IEC management. These Returning Officers must submit thorough spending reports and are entrusted with allocating the monies for election-related expenses. They are required to provide the Finance Director with financial documents for examination following each election.
“The transfer of budgeted election funds to the private bank accounts of the appointed Returning Officers in the various administrative regions is a part of the operating procedure adopted by the IEC during the process of carrying out election activities,” according to discussions with the organization’s management. In order to give verifiable proof of how these money were used, the returning officers are supposed to use them for election-related expenses and then retire. After each election, the Returning Officers will present these retirements to the Finance Director.
When the budget estimate—that is, the total amount of money transferred into the returning officers’ private bank accounts—is compared to the actual retirement file expenses for the periods starting with the most recent election cycle in 2021–2023, unretired funds totaling GMD7,935,603.55 are found. This indicates that the returning officers were unable to provide verifiable proof of how these funds were used. The audit report says.
According to the audit report, the unretired monies might have been redirected for other uses rather than being utilized for election-related operations. This suggests that imprests may function as unapproved, interest-free loans to officials, costing the Commission money and encouraging a lack of adherence to rules that, if left unchecked, may result in additional financial abuse.
There is a chance that these monies were taken for other uses instead of being used for election-related activities. This suggests that imprests might be utilized to give these officials unauthorized loans with no interest charged, costing the Commission money. According to the study, “this is also a complete disregard for Regulations and, if not addressed, could lead to serious misuse of the Commission funds.”
The auditors advised management to make sure all election-related expenses are accurately recorded. The Returning Officers should get a receipt as evidence and return any remaining funds to the commission. The audit team should then get this evidence for confirmation.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) clarified that all money were entirely retired to the IEC and liquidated by the Returning Officers in accordance to the audit team’s findings. They added that the audit team was given access to all liquidation papers throughout the audit procedure.
The IEC received all of the retirements, and the returning officers properly liquidated the funds. During the audit exercise, the audit team had access to all retirement and liquidation documents, and they had no doubts about them. The IEC clarified.
The audit team stated that an outstanding retirement amount of GMD 7,935,603.55 may still be verified, even though the IEC had given assurances about the retirement and liquidation of money. They advised the Commission to immediately reclaim unretired monies from the following individuals:
The returning officer’s names and total amount of unretired money.
Joof Sulayman D443,196
Colley, Joseph D1,482,201
Secka, Anthony Robert D5,907,702
Taal Ahmadou D2,281,418
Baldeh Essa D179,480
Jallow Lsatou Ndure D18,589
Khan Pa Makan D353,990
Cham Lamin D1, 031.431
Jadama Lamin J. D20,800
