Residents of South Fulton, Georgia, are criticizing the mayor and calling for an investigation for making purchases that are deemed inappropriate for the city official.
Mayor Khalid Kamau, also known as Mayor Kobi, has allegedly spent thousands on international flights and high-end electronics using his P-card. The money comes from taxpayers’ dollars, and residents are fed up with how he spends his allocated budget. According to WSB-TV, they are urging an investigation into Kamau’s pricey habits.
“You can be elected into the office and spend the taxpayer dollars as you choose with no repercussions,” said Krystal Price, who owns a home in the Georgia city.
South Fulton’s policy dictates that the mayor cannot spend more than $10,000 a month. However, the mayor has already surpassed this limit, paying thousands for items deemed necessary for the elected leader.
These items include a table for his office costing $1,800. The lofty price tag comes from its ability to transform into a pool table.
In June, he spent over $1K on two plane tickets to Paris for himself and his chief of staff. Months later, Kamau spent $9,000 on travel in September, including for typically-prohibited flight upgrades.
“Our travel policy does not allow us to upgrade seats and there are multiple upgrades,” explained City Councilwoman Helen Willis.
Willis also confirmed to the news outlet that the mayor does not have legal authority to take employees on trips. Another South Fulton resident, Reshard Snellings, already initiated an investigation into his travel expenditures after Kamau took a 20-day trip to Ghana.
However, Kamau’s most expensive month was October, when the mayor spent $13,000 on his P-card for various expenses. During this time, he also spent over $2,300 on Ethiopian Airlines tickets, one of which was for a woman only known as Danielle.
Willis argues that Kamau violated the city’s charter, P-card policy, and travel stipulations during his term. However, Mayor Kobi referred to the calls for investigation as a “smear campaign” against him.
“It’s really a smear campaign, you will see in the meetings the people who are talking the most are running for mayor in 2025,” Kamau said previously.
Kamau canceled an interview with WSB-TV to discuss the alleged misconduct. He also claims he attempted to discuss the travel during a recent board meeting but ran out of time to explain his side because others took over the conversation.
“There’s been a lot of conversation, a lot of uses of my name and my trip. I tried to explain it, but I spent an hour letting everyone else talk,” Mayor Kobi said.
Despite his claims of trying to rectify the matter, Kamau has yet to turn in over 100 receipts of P-card purchases.
