I guess his honorary Mansa just appoints chief justices without consulting 
either the parliament or rest of judiciary.  

Can someone help me out with what the constitution says about this?  If the 
appointment is unconstitutional why didn't concerned NAMs discuss it in 
parliament?  

IMO - these foreigners are really suspect


Chief Justice’s appointment “unconstitutional” Lawyers disagree with Itam’s 
appointment Bar called to take action

The appointment of Justice Okoi Itam as Chief Justice has not gone down well 
with some members of The Gambia Bar Association who described it as wrong and 
unconstitutional. The disapproving members of the bar argued that Itam was 
appointed as Chief Justice by the president without giving due respect and 
consideration to what they called unambiguous constitutional stipulations, 
which call for the appointment of the most senior judge under the 
circumstances of a vacancy. One lawyer told The Independent that Gambian 
lawyers should take issue with the matter and challenge it on the grounds of 
its lack of constitutional appeal.
She believes that to keep mum over the issue would be one of the greatest 
disservice against the time-honoured cause of the judiciary, which must be 
seen to respect constitutional declarations. According to her Justice Itam’s 
appointment as Acting chief justice of the country was indefensible. She 
quoted Section 140 of the constitution, which deals with vacancy in office of 
Chief Justice. “In the event of there being a vacancy in the office of the 
Chief Justice, or if he or she is, for any reason unable to perform the 
function of his or her office, the president may appoint the most senior 
judge of the Supreme Court to act in that office” she quoted the section as 
stating. 
The lawyer who said Itam’s appointment signifies an undesirable precedence 
for breaking norms set out by the constitution, further argued that even if 
the president had not appointed the most senior judge of the Supreme Court, 
his appointee should have come from within the Supreme Court instead of the 
High Court, the lowest court in the higher courts of the country, where 
Justice Itam belongs. She also suggested that in view of the strength of 
these hurdles against his appointment, Justice Itam would have been better 
off rejecting the offer to act as Chief Justice. 
According to another lawyer, “Itam’s appointment is very irregular, which 
makes it feasible to challenge it in the Supreme Court. It is just a matter 
of interpretation of the constitution,” he posited. Other lawyers of the bar 
also did not hide their disapproval of Justice Itam’s appointment as acting 
Chief Justice. They called on the Bar to take action against what they called 
the naked violation of the constitution, “which is explicit about the 
issue”. Efforts to speak to Justice Itam and the Judicial Secretary Reuben 
Phillot were futile. Acting Chief Justice Itam who has not been sworn in has 
no power to preside over any case under the circumstances. The appointment of 
Itam, was reportedly hastily made last week. 


    
    

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