Hamat gives IEC early knock
By Madi Njie
Jan 5, 2004, 14:41


As the ground is being prepared for the 2005 local government elections,
the opposition NRP leader, Hamat Bah, has said his party has no faith “in
the operations of the Independent Electoral Commission”.

Speaking at his annual ‘Meet the Press’ conference at his Banjul bureau
last week, Hamat Bah said, “The opposition no longer has faith in the IEC
and therefore called for an urgent permanent political representation in
the commission.”

Mr Bah said there should be at least two representatives of the opposition
[if not all parties] in the IEC “in order to enhance a justifiable,
trustworthy and a democratic IEC”.
He also challenged IEC to facilitate the registration of Gambians
abroad “because they have the right to vote since they contribute to the
development of the country”. He called on the IEC to change the current
voter registration procedure to a better one for the coming 2005
elections. “It will be only fair that Gambians abroad be registered and
vote and determine their leader in the country,” the Saloum politician said.

Well-prepared
Mr Bah said his party is “well-prepared” to participate in the local
government elections and will soon embark on a “sensitisation campaign”.
Commenting on the state of affairs in the country, Mr Bah said, “The third
arm of government is being threaten in recent days. The attempt on Lawyer
Sillah’s life is worrisome. The independence of the judiciary is
threatened. Gambians are not familiar with such a situation and we are now
living in fear. Our stability and peace which is our gold and diamond, is
threatened.”

He appealed to Gambians to “replace hatred with love”.
Mr Bah called on Government to fulfil its obligation in the best interest
of the country as “government has failed to present the audited account in
the budget. This represents lack of transparency and accountability of
government which is why we have lost our international credit to the IMF
and the World Bank.”

He said if the government had listened to the opposition, the current
economic crisis would have been avoided. An NRP government, he said, would
not have experienced such difficulties.

He also argued that a 10 per cent increase in salaries of civil
servants “will not help a lot since there is an over 50 per cent
depreciation of the Dalasi”.

© Copyright 2003 by Observer Company

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