Ebrima Sanyang, the director of Procurement Policy and Operations at the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA), has also raised non-compliance issues at the Brikama Area Council (BAC) between 2020 and 2021.

The top GPPA official appeared before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry at the Djembe Hotel in Senegambia to give evidence on the procurement practises and the level of compliance of local government authorities across the regions in The Gambia.

On the 2020-2021 Compliance Review Report for Brikama Area Council, the witnesses mentioned similarities in the findings made in 2019-2020 on non-compliance issues.

Witness Sanyang testified that there was no formal appointment of members of the contracts committee, adding that the contracts committee did not approve the transactions.

He furthermore stated that there's lack evidence of transactions and supporting documents, receipts, delivery notes and evaluation reports, in certain instances.

The top GPPA staff explained that there were no minutes of contracts committee's meetings regarding the procurements and the like.

According to the witness, the Brikama Area Council spent nine hundred and sixty-seven thousand six hundred and eighty dalasis (D967,680) to purchase 25 kilograms of rice through single sourcing.

According to Sanyang, the amount involved was excessively beyond the threshold of single sourcing, which is D20,000.

Mr. Sayang has been the sole witness appearing before the Commission since Monday. His testimony has not yet ended, and he is again due to re-appear before commissioners today to continue to clarify and discuss issues.