BY PA NDERRY M'BAI
Attempts by Gambia's opposition coalition NADD to convene a major political rally in Serre Kunda Saturday, failed as The Inspector General of police Ousman Sonko, denied them permit, unimpeachable sources hinted today.
JAMMEH WORRIED
ABOUT HIS FUTURE.
The police command in Banjul turned down the opposition's request to hold public rally, citing security reasons to justify the denial for peaceful assembly. The denial was greeted with shocking waves by NADD top officials and supporters across the country.
Under the country's constitution, the opposition had the right to convene such meetings. But for some reasons, the police refused to comply with such constitutional provisions. Sources say the opposition had been denied permit by the police on numerous times and had never defied police attempts to deny them their constitutionally guaranteed rights to hold public rallies.
The denial followed the detention of NADD officials by the state. NADD postponed its Brikama meeting, which was scheduled for November, 27TH,2005 Its Serre kunda meeting, suffered set backs, as the police command is not willing to entertain any meeting at this hour.
Meanwhile, there are mixed reactions to the police's action, as pro democracy activists accuses the Jammeh administration of undermining the basic rights of Gambians. Mr.Pa Samba Jaw, is a leading human rights and pro democracy activist. Mr.Jaw says the government's action was unjustifiable and uncalled for.
"This is totally unacceptable and it is an affront to democracy and the constitution. It further demonstrates how far Jammeh would go to try to silence the opposition. It is imperative for the opposition to stop playing into the hands of Jammeh by going through this legal process. There is only one way to deal with Jammeh and his undemocratic tendencies and that is by taking him on head on, by defying his foolish dictatorial orders."said Mr.Jaw in an interview with this paper.
Mr.Jaw says Jammeh's repressive and dictatorial policies should be greeted by defiance. He says the opposition should disregard the police permit denial and convened a rally. "They should go ahead and hold a rally. They don't need Jammeh's clearance to hold a rally. We all know where the orders to deny NADD a permit is coming from. It is coming directly from the State house in Banjul." he insists.
Pa Samba says it is time for Gambia's opposition to depart from politics of inaction and engage the "Jammeh dictatorship" "First of all, it was the illegal arrest of NADD officials and nothing happens. Now is the denial of the people's constitutional rights to peaceful assembly. The question that one needs to ask is, what next Jammeh is going to do. It is always from one extreme to the other. NADD should break the culture of inaction." he maintains.
Meanwhile, this paper has been reliably informed about NADD's intention of challenging the police's permit denial in court. This paper will keep its readers posted about developements.
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Model Search - Could you be the next catwalk superstar? Check out the competition now
いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい
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 Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい
|
