The following is culled from Burning Issues (FOROYAA) Publication

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Letter To The Attorney General: Tradition Or A Culture Of Impunity

In your press conference on  4 March, you indicated that the intention of
the government to amend section 58 and 59 of the constitution is to take
cognisance of the Gambian traditions.

The objective of this memorandum is to point out the inherent flaws in the
government position.
For your information an Alkaloship crisis now prevails at Dampha Kunda in
Fulladu East District. The cause of the crisis is simple.
Alkalo Mustapha Ceesay was the headman of the village of Dampha Kunda until
his death. According to tradition the person who should assume the office of
Alkalo is the eldest person in the family and that is Alhaji Jankang Ceesay.
This may have been the reason why the chief of Fulladou East, Mr. Modibo
Njie wrote to appoint him as Alkalo as of 7th November 2001.

Interestingly enough, after his appointment as delegation is respected to
have come from Basse to convince the members of their clan to accept the
leadership of Ndaye Ceesay who is junior to Alhaji Jankang Ceesay.
Before the dust settled an announcement was made over Radio Basse that Ndaye
Ceesay is now the Alkalo of Dampha Kunda.

Alhaji Jankang Ceesay has written a petition to the commissioner and the
secretary of state for local government and lands regarding his earlier
appointment but to no avail. A dispute now prevails in Dampha Kunda
regarding claims to the office of Alkalo. How is this dispute to be
resolved.

Under colonialism, the governor, commissioner and District Chiefs exercised
the sovereignty of the British crown. They could hire and fire with
impunity. Kings (Mansa) had no  respect for the will of the villagers.

Suffice it to say, the Gambia became a sovereign republic to put an end to
the exercise of absolute power by kings and their agents. Under a sovereign
republic it is the people who are sovereign. This is clearly stipulated in
section one paragraph 2 of the constitution. It reads;
"The sovereignty of the Gambia resides in the people of the Gambia from whom
all organs of government derive their authority and from whose name and for
whose welfare and prosperity the powers of the government are to be
exercised in accordance with this constitution."

It is in recognition of the fact that the people should decide who should
lead them that led the drafters of the constitution to include section 59 in
the constitution so as to have a democratic mechanism to settle Alkaloship
disputes. The section reads;
"(1) Where the office of Alkalo is to be filled by election, the election
shall be conducted by or under the supervision of the Independent Electoral
Commission in accordance with this Constitution and any Act of the National
Assembly for the question of such election.

(2) All persons who are ordinarily resident within the village in which an
election is to be held for the office of Alkalo and who are registered as
voters for National Assembly elections within the constituency in which such
village or any part of it is situated shall be entitled to vote in an
election of an Alkalo.

(3) The election of an Alkalo shall be by secret ballot.

(4) A candidate for election as an Alkalo shall require to be nominated in
such manner as the Commission may prescribe."

It is in line with the principles of governance in a sovereign Republic that
the people should decide who is to lead them.
The government handling the Dampha Kunda Alkaloship crisis indicates that
once section 59 is removed from the constitution, the government will simply
ignore both tradition and democratic principles and institute a culture of
impunity. It is indeed a tragedy that while the people of the world are
yearning for greater control and participation in the administrative life of
their country in the Gambia the leadership is struggling to reduce the power
of the people and ascribe to itself monarchical powers. It is equally
incomprehensible that the Secretary of State for Justice would seek to
rationalise such relapses into monarchical despotism.

Minds that are unable to conceive the democratic tasks of the present cannot
create the environment for enlarging the freedom of the people and
consolidate their right to determine who is to lead them. What the Gambia
needs is a leadership with full understanding and respect for the sovereign
authority of the people. That is a challenge before all of us. History will
determine who is tempered to be equal to the challenge and who is not by our
practice.

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