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. <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>