South Fulton mayor faces audit following allegations of financial misconduct

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South Fulton City Council voted unanimously for a third party auditing team to investigate Mayor Khalid Kamau's expenses dating back to October 2023 at a meeting on Jan. 28, 2025.

Credit: City of South Fulton

The South Fulton City Council voted unanimously to approve a forensic audit of the mayor’s spending during a council meeting this week.

The investigation was sparked by resident concerns about Mayor Khalid Kamau’s spending after took at 21-day trip to Ghana.

The city has hired an independent auditing team to investigate Kamau’s spending dating back to October 2023 and produce a report over the next 60 days.

In a council meeting on Jan. 14, Kamau said his trip to Ghana was part of his pitch for an economic development plan connecting South Fulton with African nations.

“We’re positioning ourselves as a gateway for people who want to do business in North America,” he said.

South Fulton City Council reports Kamau has 112 receipts that were not been uploaded within 72 hours of the expenditure, violating city purchase card policy.

At the time of publishing the mayor has not responded to GPB’s request for comment.

South Fulton Council Woman Carmalitha Gumbs said the city has already created new spending safeguards.

“If your receipts haven’t been reconciled within, you know, 72 hours or within three days you'll receive a warning alert,” Gumbs said. “If not, [if] they still haven't been done, your card will be disabled. If this is a continuous thing, then we’ll go through a process of revocation.”

Gumbs said the unauthorized expenditures on the mayor’s purchase card total around $26,000.

During the council meeting Tuesday, Kamau said he views this process as political posturing and called it “distressing and disturbing.”