From the Daily Observer CAN DARBOE RUN FOR PRESIDENT? by Augustus Mendy Political Desk As activities for the presidential election reaches its climax, the Attorney General and Secretary of State for Justice, Joseph Joof, has disclosed that Ousainou Darboe, coalition presidential candidate has to prove to the Independent Electoral Commission that he is eligible to contest the forthcoming elections. Speaking to the Daily Observer yesterday, SoS Joof disclosed that under section 62(3), Darboe was ordered by a commission of inquiry into the activities of the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation to pay back money to the SSHFCand that he appeared before Hon Justice Grant to challenge that order. He said the court dismissed that order on a preliminary objection, "so that order is still valid," he outlined. SoS Joof challenged Ousainou Darboe to satisfy the IEC requirements and the public regarding the order made against him by the commission which is still valid does not result in him being "caught by the above section of the constitution". "Obviously, if he is disqualified under section 62, then he is not qualified under section 90 for National Assembly," SoS Joof reasoned. The report of the commission indicated that "it was the unanimous view of the commission that the work could not be seen easy, to have been eagerly pursued since the source of the D30,969 came from public funds, the commission would respectfully order Mr Darboe to refund it to the corporation through the office of the Accountant General within six weeks". SoS Joof outlined that nomination of candidates requires that every aspiring presidential candidate satisfies and fills a declaration addressed to the IEC to show that they have not been liable for misconduct, negligence, corruption or any improper behaviour by any commission or committee of inquiry. "So it is for Darboe to prove that the order made against him by the commission of inquiry into the activities of the SSFHC does not fall under this section. "He has to satisfy the people and the IEC before he can be a presidential candidate even though the Brikama rally was talking about parties choosing him." Commenting on the political parties, SoS Joof disclosed that they are yet to get the final list from the IEC. GPP and NCP said they had registered but it has to be confirmed, PDP says they have no money, but what is more important is for them to register in accordance with the IEC. "Just saying we are back as political parties is not enough. You actually have to register," he said. SoS Joof outlined that only APRC, PDOIS, NRP and UDP are recognised as registered parties "UDP presidential candidate, Lawyer Darboe is yet to meet some requirements." SoS Joof also said that birth certificates were very important for anybody whose age might be called into question if they wanted to contest. "If they have no birth certificates, then dental test and other means could be used. They should be mindful of all these things," he concluded. > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------