The local government councils have denied receiving tractors linked to former President Yahya Jammeh.

Banjul City Council, Kanifing Municipal Council, and Brikama Area Council issued a statement to deny the report following the publication of a list by the Gambia government naming buyers of assets allegedly looted by Jammeh during his 22-year rule.

According to the publication, Kanifing Municipal Council received 11 tractors, Banjul City Council 3, and Brikama Area Council 8, each costing D100,000.

Other councils named in the publication include Kerewan Area Council, Basse Area Council, Mansakonko Area Council, and Kuntaur Area Council.

In response to the publication, Mayor Ahmed Talib Bensouda of Kanifing Municipal Council dismissed the report but admitted that his office once requested tractors from the government in 2018—a request that was never approved.

“I remember requesting support from the state for tractors prior to the Mbalit project in 2018 to help the council with waste management. However, there is no evidence, record, or recollection that the said tractors were delivered or purchased.

“KMC only has two secondhand tractors, inherited from the former council (one of which is out of service), and we now rely on 30 brand-new Mbalit vehicles for all our waste management services,”he said.

Brikama Area Council Chairman Yankuba Darboe said his office is not aware of receiving any tractor from the government.

“After making inquiries, no one within the Council appears to have any knowledge of such an allocation.

“To the best of our understanding, my administration has not inherited any tractors from the previous council,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe of Banjul City Council rejected the publication as “untrue,” adding that her council paid D300,000 for the tractors, which were never delivered by the government. She is now requesting a refund of the D300,000.

By Adama Makasuba