Far North: regional councilors accuse president of mismanagement

Some regional councilors of the Far North regional council have been at loggerheads with their president, Daniel Kalbassou, since December 2022 after he postponed the council session which was devoted to the adoption of the 2023 budget.

In reaction to this, the Councilors wrote an appeal to the Governor of the region, Midjiyawa Bakary informing him that they intend to hold an extraordinary session of the council on January 17th, 2023 to dismiss the president as reported by the region’s l’oiel Du Sahel yesterday, January 10th.

According to reports, the councilors listed about fifteen grievances against their president. The first of them is the fact that no budgetary orientation session has been held since he was elected president two years ago.

“The failure to convene ordinary sessions, particularly the one devoted to examining and voting on the budget in accordance with the General Code of Decentralised Local Authorities, and moreover, no budget orientation session has been held since his election,” the councillors explained.

Reacting to the accusations, the regional president Daniel Kalbassou says funds have not been disbursed by the ministry of finance to commence these projects:
“The budget session was postponed because of funding. We were promised the release of funds a month ago but we are still waiting. We were told at the ministry of finance to wait a few more days”.

“I know the reasons for everything that is done there. People want money, they want projects. When you don’t give it to them, they become your enemies. We have much more important goals,” he adds.

Reports reveal that a few weeks before the session, the council was supposed to organize the “Far North Business Week” forum – an event aimed at promoting the region’s assets and attracting investors. However, the councilors say the budgetary session which was to be convened for this purpose was postponed by him to a later date without them knowing the reasons for his actions.

The president on his part says although he is aware of this accusation coming from councilors, he does not intend to change his course of action.