"President Jammeh Was Wrong" The Independent (Banjul) June 8, 2001 Posted to the web June 8, 2001 Omar Bah Banjul, the Gambia Halifa Sallah, a Gambian sociologist and politician has issued a statement refuting President Jammeh's assertion that no question should be raised to disqualify from being registered a holder of either a birth certificate, Gambian passport, Gambian I.D Card, or a document certified by five elders residing in the applicant's place of birth. President Jammeh was quoted as saying in the presence of a council of elders in his office that any national document will be enough to qualify any holder a voter's card. According to Mr. Sallah, section 18 of the Elections decree empowers the registering officers to examine all applications for registration. He said that they could call for, receive and consider evidence that they may think touch upon the validity of any person's claim of citizenship. He added that they could even administer oaths to scrutinize evidence, and also seek assistance from witnesses to determine any claim. "The president was therefore wrong to say that once a person has these documents, the registering officers should not raise questions. It is the executive and members of the National Assembly who should tell the truth to the people. They have power to make laws on citizenship," he noted. Mr. Sallah however, went on to advise people who are not Gambian citizens to press for naturalisation whenever they are approached by any politician to acquire a voter's card. Mr. Sallah said non-Gambians who want to get voters' cards should apply to become citizens first. He said politicians who would want non-Gambians to register without being naturalised citizens just have their selfish interest to advance. Mr. Sallah went on to blame the registering officers for disallowing some honest claims of Gambian citizenship. According to him, people who have stayed in the country for a long time should be shown how to naturalize and become Gambian citizens before they are issued voter's cards. He further stated that the executive and the National Assembly have the powers to ensure that all those who are born in The Gambia become citizens. On recent reports surrounding the issuing of national ID cards, Mr. Sallah said that the issuing of ID cards in places like the KMC premises has been a matter of concern for its supposed lack of transparency. However Mr. Sallah added that press reports of the situation has awakened registration officers to the problem. They are applying section 18 of the Elections decree more stringently according to him. He said if only section 18 were applied religiously it would have been difficult to escape scrutiny. Elaborating more on the citizenship issue, Mr. Sallah stated that under the 1965 constitution, people who have stayed in the country for seven years could naturalize to become citizens of The Gambia. He said the former regime should have explained this to the people a long time ago so that they could have acquired their citizenship lawfully. There was a provision in the 1965 constitution he said, which gave power to people born in the Gambia to be registered as citizens before 18th February 1967, whom he said were also never informed of this right. Mr. Sallah further stated that interestingly enough, laws were made for investors to have Gambian citizenship. He said that Africans from the Caribbean and the US have been given Gambian passports and Gambian citizenship. "There are however many people from neighbouring countries who have lived here for decades and have children who were born here, but nothing has been made to help them acquire citizenship. This is creating a lot of confusion. At the moment, those who are 18 years and above depend on laws on citizenship, which says that a person must be born in The Gambia, one of whose parents or grandparents must be born in the Gambia before he could be considered a citizen" he explained. Mr. Sallah said that the presence of party agents in registration centres is to ensure transparency during voting. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------