The secretive Lambeth committee will decide the chief executive’s fate behind closed doors

Lambeth Council has called a meeting of the Committee of Inquiry for 8 July.

This is a new one for us. We doubt that many sitting councilors even knew that the Secret Committee existed.

The officer’s pre-meeting report is very quiet. We are not even told who is on the Committee, how they were given this power, and what their remit is.

All we know is that the agenda will address the current situation of the current Executive Director of the Council, Bayo Dosunmu.

Brixton Buzz reported last week how the highest paid member of staff at City Hall was arrested by the Met Police on June 23.

Lambeth’s chief executive was accused of:

“Possession of a Class A controlled drug, failing to stop after a traffic accident, driving over the prohibited alcohol limit and using a motor vehicle in a public place without third party insurance.”

Dosunmu is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, August 1.

But before that, and it seems that his fate at City Hall could be decided by the mysterious Commission of Investigation.

All we know from highly restricted documents that have been released is that Lambeth has an interim chief executive.

Fiona Connolly took over this role. There is no mention of who appointed her to this position. Her usual job is executive director of adults and health at Lambeth.

The investigation that will take place is described in the report as follows:

“A report to consider appropriate next steps in relation to HR matters involving the Council’s Chief Executive.”

Brixton Buzz would love to be able to attend and report live from the meeting. We strongly believe that it is in the public interest when you consider that Dosunmu is paid £185,000 of public money each year.

After electing a chairperson (no details of who even sits on the committee) and Declarations of Interest, the next item on the agenda is Press and Public Exclusion.

This was the same situation when Dosunmu was first appointed by a secret Appointments Committee in April 2022. The press and public were kept at bay.

None of this surprises us.

Perhaps the only eyebrow-raiser is that it appears the chief executive’s future will be decided at City Hall BEFORE he has a chance to answer the charges against him in a court of law.

We’ll leave it at that.