This must be a case of mercenary judges gone bonkers.  It would be interesting to read/hear their basis for this ruling.  Thanks Saja - I wish the ruling was otherwise.

Soffie

-----Original Message-----
From: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Alieu Darboe
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 12:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fwd: SUPREME COURT STARTS OPPOSITION NAMS ' C ASE


News just in that the seats of the 4 opposition members of the National Assembly in The Gambia have been declared vacant by the Supreme Court of The Gambia.

Democracy is on death row in The Gambia.

Saja

-----Original Message-----
From: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Amadu Kabir Njie
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 2:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fwd: SUPREME COURT STARTS OPPOSITION NAMS ' C ASE 

Sanusi,

I believe the final bone of contention here will be whether an Alliance of Political Parties can be registered to contest elections.

There is no provision in the constitution banning such an exercise and besides, the NAMs involved are still members of their individual political parties, the same parties under whose banner they won their seats.

So even if Jammeh's 'legal luminaries' fail in their attempt to get the NAMs to vacate their seats in parliament they can almost certainly be expected to contend that NADD cannot field candidates in the presidential elections in 2006.

Of course they will have to explain why they did not challenge NADD's fielding of candidates in by-elections during the past year or so.

This whole issue is a desperate act of a conered dictator.

Afterall, in both Kenya and Senegal it was ALLIANCES of different political parties that sent the incumbents packing. Jammeh has indeed seen the writing on the wall.

What is encouraging though is the fact that The IEC agrees with the position of the NAMs. Let's hope the judges have the balls to correctly interpret the relevant clauses of the constitution.

Regards,

Kabir.



Sanusi Owens <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Kabir

Lets just ignore Jammeh's "legal luminaries". the whole issue is just a ploy to frustrate NADD's campaign. From my legal point of view, there is no case against the Opposition NAMs. In other words, the Deputy Clerk was wrong to declare their seats as vacant.

Thanks

Sanusi

Amadu Kabir Njie wrote:
I indeed wondered here (when Musa Jeng announced the impending launching of NADD and and referred to it as a Political Party) if it was appropriate to term NADD a 'Political Party' as opposed to an 'Alliance of Political Parties'. It may have seemed insignificant at the time but the legal parrots of the APRC have seized on it in order to stall NADD. There is indeed a clear difference between the two but try explaining that to Jammeh's 'legal luminaries'.

Kabir.

SUPREME COURT STARTS OPPOSITION NAMS' CASE

http://www.observer.gm/enews/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1083&Itemid=33


Written by Lamin M Dibba Wednesday, 06 July 2005

The legal battle lodged at the Supreme Court by the four opposition National Assembly Members against the Clerk of the National Assembly, Attorney General and the IEC for declaring their seats vacant, continued yesterday before a panel of five high-profile judges led by Chief Justice Stephen A Brobbery.

During yesterday's proceedings, the team of counsels for the plaintiffs led by Ousainou Darboe opened their case arguing that the Clerk of the National Assembly has violated the Constitution by declaring the seats of the plaintiffs vacant.

"This should be determined by the Supreme Court. Nadd is not a political party. It is an alliance of political parties. Political parties must have a manifesto and that was why a manifesto was not demanded by the IEC and there were elections. The plaintiffs are not members of a new political party,'' Lawyer Darboe said.

He further stated that the Memorandum of Understanding and the Nadd constitution shows that it is an alliance. "There is no evidence before the court to show that the plaintiffs have resigned or have been expelled from their parties. It is therefore a blank statement to say that the plaintiffs have ceased to be members of their parties or they have de-registered their parties with the IEC. Their membership of the alliance does not stop them from their membership of the National Assembly,'' Mr Darboe said.

In his submission the counsel for the IEC Sidney Riley, agreed with Darboe saying that the Clerk of the National Assembly has no authority to write such a letter urging the four opposition NAMs to vacate their seats.

"There is no evidence before this court that the plaintiffs have resigned or were expelled from their seats. The parties affected in such a situation should inform the Speaker in accordance with Section 91 (3) of the Constitution. The effective interpretation of Section 91 (1) is the Supreme Court and not the Clerk,'' Mr Riley said.

He added that the IEC has registered Nadd as a political party. "If Nadd is a party of individuals, then it is not a political party but it is a party of parties and the plaintiffs have therefore not lost their seats,'' he said.

But in their submission, the team of counsels, led by Emmanuel Fangbele, who appeared for the Clerk and the Attorney General, began their argument by saying that the only person who can authoritatively inform the people -if Nadd is a political party or not is the IEC and they have said that it is a political party.

"Nadd cannot register candidates for an election unless it is a political party,'' he said.

He went on to say that a press release was issued by the IEC announcing the formation of a new political party called Nadd.

"It is too late in the day to say Nadd is not a political party but an alliance. The seats of the plaintiffs have therefore become vacant in the circumstances of this case,'' Mr Fangbele argued. He further asked whether in view of Section 91 (D) of the Constitution, it is correct that the plaintiffs can belong to two political parties. "Can they maintain being members of two political parties?'' he asked. At this point the Chief Justice adjourned the case to day for continuation.




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