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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~