Momodou Jallow, a businessman and the current chairperson of the Local Government Service Commission, has stated that staffs of councils used to be very dedicated 20 to 30 years ago, although most of them did not have high-level education.
Mr Jallow has over 30 years of experience in local government affairs. He was employed in June 1983 after completing his secondary education but later studied AAT - Association of Accounting Technicians) - Level 3 from 1988 to 1992 at the Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI) in Kanifing.
He later read Governance and Development Management for his Master's at the University of Birmingham in the UK from 2002 to 2003.
In his testimony, the witness stated that he worked in the local government system uninterrupted from 1983 to 2013, when he voluntarily retired.
Mr Jallow was first appointed revenue collector in June 1983 at the Brikama Area Council and later transferred to Kerewan Area Council, where he served most of his career (from 1984 to 1998), before being moved to Brikama Area Council as assistant treasurer in 1998.
In April 1999, he was transferred back to Kerewan Area Council as treasurer, which is equivalent to the director of finance.
In 2002, he was appointed and deployed to Kuntaur Area Council as a local government officer, a title which was later renamed as CEO, where he served until his voluntary retirement in 2013.
However, following his retirement, he was hired by the Ministry of Local Government and Lands as director of governance. There he also served until 2016 when he opted to leave.
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Mr Momodou Jallow became the chairperson of the Local Government Service Commission on 24 September last year (2022).
As a result of his vast experience in local government administration and governance owing to his 30-year service, Mr Jallow was asked by lead counsel Yakarr Cox: "What has been of the local government authorities throughout your 30-year career? Have you found that they are more effective now or were they more effective may be 20 years ago when you were there - before the 1997 Constitution, the Local Government Act and the Local Government Finance and Audit Act? Can you tell us what your experience of the councils is?"
"Before the 1997 Constitution, the area councils were poorly staffed in terms of education. But they had very dedicated staff, despite not having a very educated staff. They didn't have that high level of education, but they were dedicated and provided development to the people.
"At that time, like in the rural councils, they would do roads, would do culverts, they constructed seed stores, [and] a host of projects. They built schools.
He also said there was a very "vibrant inspectorate unit at the Ministry, which was closely monitoring the area councils".
On whether there was strict enforcement and that inspection officers performed their duties as expected, he affirmed that there was indeed a very strict enforcement mechanism and that at the time "inspectors were even feared. When they said the inspectors were coming, everyone would put his house in order and that contributed."
