Digital Tax Collector Cut Ties With Brikama Area Council
5C Energy Gambia LTD, the provider of Brikama Area Council’s digital tax collection, has decided to part ways with the council. This is according to a statement by the BCC. The termination takes effect today, May 1st, 2023.
The statement noted: “The said situation came as a result of the latter’s’ [5C Energy LTD] failure to address numerous legal loopholes contained in the agreement even though Council has on a number of times reminded them to do so.”
“Some of these legal loopholes include amongst others the non-existence of a termination clause, mode of settlement of disputes if any that may occur between parties, the issue of baseline year for the revenue sharing formula and the responsibilities of parties in case of a breakdown of the system resulting into the loss of revenue.”
“The Public could recall that the said system suffered a three weeks breakdown in the second quarter of 2022, of which Brikama Area Council lost revenue over the period.”
“In view of the above, the management of council as a last resort have communicated to the service provider that it is under no obligation to continue to make payments without addressing these very important legal loopholes.”
“Consequently our revenue collectors in the interim will be using the General Treasurer’s Receipt-GTR (manual collection) for their daily collection of revenue to ensure that we continue to provide services and take care of our routine operational expenses.”
“We sincerely ask for your kind indulgence and understanding during this period as management is working tirelessly to revert to the digital collection system in due course.”