Thanks Mr.Camara for the forward,Gambia is facing a tragic period
of our history.Congratulations to Justice Mam Yassin Sey for resigning
to reveal the unjust going on in the Gambia. Hope more follows.

Fye Niama.




> Justice Mam Yassin Sey Resigns
> 
> The Independent (Banjul)
> NEWS
> January 27, 2003
> Posted to the web January 27, 2003
> 
> By PK Jarju
> Banjul
> 
> Amidst a low-intensity crisis within the Judiciary caused by the shortage
> of Judges, Justice Mam Yassin Sey of the High Court has resigned, bringing
> a further blow to the administration of justice.
> 
> According to reports reaching The Independent Justice Sey who is the first
> female judge of the Gambian High Court last week tendered her resignation
> to Chief Justice Muhammed Arif although the reason for her resignation is
> still unclear. Judicial sources have intimated that she resigned in protest
> over consistent administrative interference in her work and the promotion
> of Okoi Itam as Appeal Court Judge.
> 
> Sources claimed that Sey felt that she deserved the position better than
> Itam whom she is superior to in the order of seniority.
> 
> The resignation of Justice Sey who is copted into the Court of Appeal would
> cause serious delays in litigations already assigned to her sources
> explained.
> 
> Neither Justice Sey nor Chief Justice Arif could be reached to explain the
> whys and wherefores of her voluntary decision to go.
> 
> When contacted, the Judicial Secretary Reuben Phillot refused to speak to
> this reporter. "I am aware of the way you people at The Independent are
> poaching at people and I don't think that you will have the courage to
> speak to me after all what you've wrote about me" he said as he hanged up
> on our reporter.
> 
> Meanwhile judicial sources have informed The Independent that the country's
> Judiciary is in a state of flux as the High Court, Court of Appeal and the
> Supreme Court suffer a shortage of legal luminaries after they lost judges
> to unexplained sackings and protest resignations for administrative
> interference from the Executive. According to sources, in the Supreme Court
> for instance, there is only one Judge who is the Chief Justice. As a result
> it cannot hear any constitutional case sources added. The sacking of
> Justice Hassan Jallow and the failure of the state to appoint another judge
> to replace Justice Wally and other Supreme Court judges whose contract
> expired last year meant that the judiciary is in for a chequered year.
> 
> Sources further added that in the Court of Appeal, there are only two
> judges Surahata Janneh and recently elevated Okoi Itam to hear appeals from
> the High Court, where there are only four judges instead of seven as stated
> in the constitution. They are Justice Abdoukarim Savage, Wallace Grant,
> Thahir and Ahmad Belgore who is currently performing the Hajj in Mecca,
> Saudi Arabia.
> 
> Meanwhile reacting to Justice Sey's resignation a group of lawyers who
> spoke to The Independent described it as unfortunate and another big blow
> to the county's Judiciary, which is, yet to fully constitute its courts.
> They added that whatever reason might have warranted Justice Sey's
> resignation government should begin to take the Judiciary seriously. They
> irately added that the attitude of the Executive towards the Judiciary is
> hostile and needed to change in the interest of justice, a sine qua non for
> a vibrant democracy.
> 
> In essence there is no Supreme Court after the sacking of Hassan Jallow and
> the expiry of the contracts of two other judges.
> 
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