Date : Mon, 11 Mar 2002 17:19:50 -0800 Reply Reply All Forward Put in Folder...InboxSent MessagesDraftsTrash Can Printer Friendly Version NO: 12/2002 11 - 13 March, 2002 Editorial The Judiciary Is The Guardian Of The Rule Of Law The Judiciary is the guardian of the rukle of law.. This is why the Supreme Court is given the absolute authority to interpret the constitution and determine whether any law or action is in contravention with its provisions. The debate in the Gambia is on the appointment of a Chief Justice and the removal of a case from the hands of Justice Grante who has been known to demonstrate the independence of the judiciary since his handling of the Sanna Manneh case in the late 1980’s. People have been asking whether the executive has the aim to interfere with the independence of the judiciary. Some claim that the most senior judge of the Superior Courts has not been appointed to serve as Acting Chief Justice. The executive and the judiciary need to draw fundamental lessons from the current debate. Treason trials should indeed be handled by judges who are known to exercise impartiality and independence. An executive has nothing to lose by the exercise of impartial justice. Infact, persons convicted of treason had occupied the office of Attorney General to confirm that a state should be more interested in stifling threats than being vindictive. Who would have thought that NCP and APRC would form an alliance? On the other hand, members of the judiciary should preserve the dignity and independence of their office and refuse to do anything that would put their office into disrepute. No member of the judiciary should accept any responsibility that they are not constitutionally qualified to handle. Finally, it should be recognised that the constitution has given the Chier Justice a very significant role. It states in section 121 that: “The Chief Justice shall be the head of the judiciary and subject to the provisions of the constitution shall be responsible for the administration and supervision of the courts.” Section 139 states that; “A person shall be qualified for appointment as Chief Justice if he or she is qualified to be appointed Judge of the Supreme Court and has been a Judge of a Supreme court in a common law country for not less than 10 yesrs.” According to the constitution there should be security of tenure. Once appointed section 141 subsection (2) permits the judge to retire on pension at any time after attaining the age 65 years and shall vacate his office under section 141 subsection (2)(b) on attaining the age of seventy years”. If such provisions were adhered toone would not have the vacancy that exists today which calls for an acting chief justice. However, the gambia has always been dependant on judges engaged on the basis of contract. This pattern needs to cease if the uncertainty being experienced at the moment is to come to an end. Joint Petition On Deposits By PDOIS And NRP On Local Government Elections And IEC’s Reply The PDOIS and NRP issued a petition to call for reduction of deposits for Local Government elections, the petition reads: The foundation of our system of government under the Republic Constitution is section 26 which states categorically that “Every citizen of the Gambia of full age and capacity shall have the right, without unreasonable restrictions a) to take part in the conduct of public affairs directly or through freely chosen representatives b) to vote and stand for elections at genuine periodic elections for public office, which elections shall be by universal and adult suffrage and be held by secret ballot.” It is therefore clear that to vote and stand for elections are fundamental rights which shall be exercised by anyone who so decides without facing any unreasonable restrictions. In our view the introduction of one thousand two hundred and fifty dalasis (D1,250.00) as the sum to be deposited before one can stand for elections to the office of councillor imposes a heavy financial burden on political parties if they wish to put up candidates in over a hundred wards throughout the country. In our view, the constitution does not permit contributions from corporate or incorporate bodies. There is also no appropriation of public funds towards part electoral expenses. This leaves each party to shoulder expenses such as the provision of symbols, photographs, movement or polling agents, fuel and transport to campaign. Such funds are not recovered in an election. The expenses restrict the participation of many in elections in the country. So the money drawn through deposits could have gone to finance the movement of polling agents and offset other costs. There is a reasoning that the larger the deposit the greater the possibility of leaving the electoral terrain to serious candidates. The fact of the matter is that election is about people expressing their consent as to who should manage their affairs. It may be reasonable to increase the number of votes who may nominate a person to stand as a candidate to make the process less cumbersome. However to use money as a restricting instrument would be undemocratic and would amount to ostracism on the basis of financial status. This is unreasonable and unjustifiable in any genuine democratic set up. Suffice it to say that practice had shown that people do not just get up and become candidates because of the small sum of money to be deposited and the number of voters who should nominate the candidate. In past elections under the First Republic deposits to stand as a candidate for the House of Representatives was as low as two hundred dalasis (D200.00) and the number of nominators required was three. Despite this fact some seats used to be won without any contest. There is therefore no evidence to deduce that the reducing deposits would lead to the increase in the number of candidates to the point of overwhelming those who are to exercise direction and control over the system. It should therefore be highly appreciated if you would rely on your powers stipulated under section 134 sub-section (2 )(b) to revise the deposit payable under section 43 sub-section (1) (c) and (d) which refers to elections to the office of mayor, chairperson of municipal council and the office of councillors respectively. Our proposal is to reduce the deposit for mayor, chairperson of municipalities to not more than one thousand dalasis (D1,000.00) and councillors to be two hundred dalasis (D200.00). This would mean a deposit of a bit more than thirty thousand dalasis (D30,000.00) if a party wishes to contest all seats. We also hope that the deposit for the chairperson of area councils will follow the same trend as the municipalities. While anticipating your maximum co-operation in ensuring that the rights of citizens to vote and stand for elections are not unreasonably restricted, please accept the assurance of our highest consideration. Signed by: Halifa Sallah. PDOIS Representative Hamat NK Bah NRP Representative The following reply was received from the IEC: 8 March, 2002 I have been directed to acknowledge receipt of your petition of March 7th instant and to communicate to you the decisions reached by the Commission on the issue raised. Having examined the arguments forwarded in your petition, but also considering the importance of the position of the Chairperson of Area Councils under the decentralisation scheme, the IEC has decided to peg the deposit amounts for candidates for the Local government Elections as follows: 1. Deposit Amounts: Chairperson of Area Councils: D2,500.00 (two thousand five hundred dalasis), Councillors of Area Councils: D600,00 (six hundred dalasis) 2. Number of voters to support nomination of candidates Chairman of Area Councils: 600 (six hundred ) voters, Councillors of Area Councils: 150 (one hundred and fifty) The commission believes that the above figures are quite reasonable. IEC Press Conference Kombo North By-Election And Local Government Elections To Go Ahead he Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission Mr. Gabriel J. Roberts, informed the press that the by-elections and the local government elections will go ahead as scheduled. He said this at a press conference at the IEC headquarters at the Kairaba Avenue in kanifing on Thursday 7th March 2002. In his statement to the press, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and representatives of political parties, the chairman said the press conference was convened to update them on the scheduled by-election for Kombo North Constituency for which parties interested are invited to contest the elections; that nomination papers can be collected from the IEC office in Brikama. He said the late Fabakary Cham had passed away suddenly on Saturday 2nd February 2002 and the IEC is deeply in remorse for what he described as “this national loss”. He extended sincere condolences to the family of the late Honourable Fabakary Cham, his party and the nation as a whole. The IEC chairman read out the dates identified for the by-elections which he said they have been published in the National Gazette as follows; Wednesday, February 13th 2002 – Notice of By-Election was published in National Gazette. Thursday, March, 14th 2002 – Nomination Day. Nomination papers will be received by the IEC between the hours of 8 o’clock in the forenoon and 4 o’clock in the afternoon at the IEC Regional Office in Brikama. Friday, March 15th 2002 to Tuesday, March 26th 2002 – The official campaign period will be observed. Wednesday, March 27th 2002 – No political activity is allowed. Thursday, March 28th 2002 – Election day. On the local government elections, Mr. Roberts affirmed that IEC will be conducting it shortly because as he said, it has been pending for a long time as the commission awaits for the National Assembly to pass a legislation that would regulate the operations of the local authorities. He said the tardy pace at which the bill was progressing, however resulted in the commission taking the issue of the local government elections to the Supreme Court for intervention. The IEC chairman then clarified that the Supreme Court advised that the existing laws were sufficient to conduct the elections and the commission he said, on the basis of this ruling, set into motion, modalities to conduct the local government elections, and the dates have been set as follows; Wednesday, February 13th 2002 – Notice of Election was published in the National gazette. Thursday, March 15th 2002, Friday, March 22nd, 2002 and Saturday, March 23rd 2002 – Have been declared the nomination days. Nomination papers will be received by the IEC between the hours of 8 o’clock in the forenoon and 4 o’clock in the afternoon at the IEC Regional Office across the country. Monday, April 8th 2002 to Tuesday April 23rd 2002 – Will be official campaign period. Wednesday, April 24th 2002 – No political Activity will be allowed. Thursday April 25th 2002 – Election Day. The chairman said the commission has held meetings with the authorities of the current local government establishments across the country to get a final picture of the boundaries of wards within their respective areas. He said the position of the IEC is that a constituency and a ward should not have the same boundaries and parameters and that the electorate of a higher office should not be the same as for a lower one. He also said the commission has found it impracticable to allocate more than one ward to each if the following constituencies in the Janjangbureh administrative area viz. Nianija, Janjangbureh, Niamina West and Niamina Dankunku constituencies. He finally implore the press to facilitate the dissemination of the information received to all Gambians and also carry fair and equitable coverage of the electoral process. He then read out the demarcation of wards per constituency in each administrative area as follows and said the Department of State for Local Government has not yet approved the demarcation. Number Of Wards Per Constituency Banjul Administrative Area Banjul South Constituency3 Banjul Central constituency 3 Banjul North Constituency3 Kanifing Administrative Area Serrekunda West Constituency 5 Serrekunda East Constituency 4 Jeshwang Constituency 3 Serrekunda Central Constituency 3 Bakau Constituency 2 Brikama Administrative Area Foni Jarrol Constituency 2 Foni Bondali Constituency 2 Foni Kansala Constituenc 2 Foni Bintang Constituency 2 Foni Berefet Constituency 2 Kombo East Constituency 3 Kombo South Constituency 3 Kombo North Constituency4 Kombo Central Constituency 4 Kerewan Administrative Area Lower Niumi Constituency 2 Upper Niumi Constituency 2 Jokadu Constituency 2 Upper Baddibu constituency 2 Central Baddibu Constituency 2 Illiasa Constituency 2 Sabach Sanjal Constituency 2 Mansakonko Administrative Area Kiang West Constituency 2 Kiang Central Constituency 2 Kiang East Constituency2 Jarra West Constituency2 Jarra Central Constituency2 Jarra East Constituency2 Janjangbureh Administrative Area Lower Saloum Constituency 2 Upper Saloum constituency 2 Nianija Constituency 2 Niani Constituency 2 Sami Constituency 3 Upper Fulladu West Constituency 2 Janjangbureh Constituency1 Lower Fulladu west Constituency 3 Niamina East Constituency 2 Niamina West Constituency 1 Niamina Dankunku Constituency 1 Basse Administrative Area Jimara Constituency 2 Basse Constituency 2 Tumana Constituency 2 Kantora Constituency2 Wuli East Constituency 2 Wuli West Constituency 2 Sandu constituency 2 Suwaibou Touray of FOROYAA Newspaper asked what criteria the commission used to demarcate the wards, whether they would consider to reduce the (five thousand dalasis levied as deposit which is very exorbitant and is barring many Gambians from exercising the fundamental right to stand for election, and whether holding local government elections without the Local Government ACT would not create confusion when those elected would not know their rolebecause such role or functions are to be specified by the said Act. The Chairman, in response, said they have met local government establishments, alkalolu, grassroots people, etc. before they made the demarcation. On the deposits the Chairman said categorically that it is going to remain at five thousand dalasis for the National Assembly elections but for the local government elections it is subject to review. On the Local Government Act, he said they are consulting with the executive. Mr. Demba Jawo, Chairperson of the Gambia Press Union asked whether population had no part to play in the demarcation of wards. Mr. Maleh Sallah said population was considered in the demarcation exercise. FOROYAA again asked what would happen if by the time of elections the Department of Local Government did not approve the demarcation, the chairman emphatically said they would approve it because as he asserted, the government will not sabotage the electoral system because it is in their interest that this elections takes place. Halifa Sallah’s Contribution To The Adjournment Debate Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise with tremendous humility to contribute to the adjournment Debate.” In response to the comments made by the member for Kantora that Halifa Sallah had hypnotized members to take a critical look at the president’s speech instead of expressing thanks as called for by the motion, Halifa Sallah indicated the following: “The member for Kantora, I believe needs to read the Standing Orders properly. Standing Order 29 talks about secondment of motions. Order 31 calls on the Speaker to make a proposal and then there is debate. Debate, I believe, in any language is examining the pros and cons of a topic. I hope that the issue I was raising from the very beginning about the parliamentary association, the Standing Order Committee that will be established will facilitate greater understanding of procedures. You cannot have order without procedures. It is very evident here, in the Standing Orders, that even the name of the president should not be utilised to influence the National Assembly. It is there in the Standing Orders. (At this stage the Speaker interjected to point out that in his opinion the name of the president was not being used. He however mentioned that he was not incompetent; that he was new in the seat; that it would take time before most of the members acquaint themselves with the Standing Orders noting that some are fully conversant with them; that by the time they return everybody would have been familiar with the Standing Orders; that he hoped that all members would have gone through it item by item. At this point, Halifa Sallah got up again to say that the Speaker’s point had been taken.” He then went on to say that it is significant that the member for Tumana was trying to refute his position on the 71,000 tonnes that would be left if 60 000 tonnes were purchased out of a scale of 131 000 tonnes. Halifa indicated that in mathematics multiplication is seen as addition by other means; that 2+2 and 2x2 will be equal to four; that he thought that the member for Tumana was going to say that he was wrong in his figures that 71 000 tonnes would still be left unpurchased this season; that he was glad that he confirmed that 71 000 tonnes would still be left; that the member for Tumana was saying that there was no crisis because the 71 000 tonnes would be purchased locally. Halifa said that that was the opinion of the member and he would argue on facts and not opinions; that it was left to the member and the farmers. Halifa went on to state that the member for Tumana was insisting that there was no crisis in the groundnut subsector only to confirm a more devastating crisis. He argued that while he, Halifa, was talking abourt crisis of marketing the member for Tumana was talking about the crisis of consumption to the point of recommending diversification of agriculture. He said that if this was not crisis he did not know what crisis meant. He indicated that the member for Tumana had said that people in the world were not consuming groundnuts because of their notion that it causes cancer. Halifa indicated that even though it was a misconception that groundnuts causes cancer, that it is mouldy nuts that can cause cancer, the member for Tumana nonetheless accepted that the groundnut subsector was facing a crisis. He said that that was what was important. Halifa further stated that it was significant to talk about the position of the majority leader. He said: “He indicated as a response to my assertion on the Foreign Reserve of Central bank, that probably I did not have a source. It is important to say that my source is what the Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs had said here (in the budget speech page 5). What he said here in the Budget Speech is quite clear. He read the following: “The net foreign assets of the banking system at D894.7 million at the end of September, 2001 reflected a substantial decline of 30.7% compared to end of December 2000. The net foreign assets of the Central Bank went down 12.1% reflecting the D234.6 million draw down in gross official reserves. The drop in external reserves of the Bank was due to the heavy debt service payments and Central Bank’s intervention to sell foreign exchange in the inter-bank market in order to reserve the build-up in commercial bank arrears.” Halifa then went on to say, “This is not Halifa Sallah talking. It is the Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs who indicated it on page 5 of his Budget Speech. I have no reason to distort statistics. What I am interested in are facts and the relevance of those facts. “I have mentioned here about the debt crisis. The member for Kiang Central said that this is not a problem; that they should take more debts because they are building projects. Here again this is not Halifa Sallah speaking. It is the Secretary of State for finance speaking. At page 8 of his budget speech, the Secretary of State for Finance indicated the following: “The debt burden is no longer sustainable, and is hampering our efforts to alleviate poverty proven by the debt service to budget ratio, which at present stands at 30%.” Halifa emphasized that the debt burden is unsustainable; that that was what the secretary of state was saying; that it was important for the member for Kiang Central to understand the gravity of the debt burden. Halifa Sallah then went on to say that in talking about the groundnut subsector the member for Foni Bintang Karanai said that there is rehabilitation in this area as, according to him, the Denton Bridge facilities are being rehabilitated. Halifa Sallah noted that the Secretary of State for finance again indicated that the Denton Bridge and Kaur facilities have been handed over to the Gambia Divestiture Agency (GDA) in preparation for their divestiture before 2002/2003 groundnut season. Halifa again argued that despite the privatisation after the GGC crisis costing the country $11.4 million “there is still no end to the problem.” He concluded, “So clearly there is a crisis. I am not exaggerating.” Halifa then went on to take on the argument that there is nothing to criticise: “We must look at the fact that 69% of our population are poor and we say that we are caring; we love our people; we want to remove them from poverty. Who can convince me that you are interested in removing the poverty of Gambian people by questioning the facts that I mentioned here? What can convince me that I don’t love the country; that you love the country more.” He pointed out that if roads are built without considering drainage facilities or the positioning of pipes they will be eroded to put pipes to be washed away because of inadequate drainage facilities. He noted: “Look at the Serrekunda-Brikama high way. How many times had it been washed away after maintenance? I am merely stating the facts.” Arguing on the majority leader’s position that national assembly members can only smile and shake hands with the electorate, Halifa said, “The government is responsible for making and implementing policies and we are responsible for scrutinising those policies; that is why this august body is given authority, the authority of a court to command people to come here. We can set up any committee and they should give evidence when we know that the national interest is not being preserved. “This is a working body but the majority leader said the national assembly members cannot do anything but give their hands and show their faces to their electorate. Then this place is a talking shop and not a working body and I would not be interested in being part of such a body. But I believe we have the capacity. If we have the will, if we have a sense of mission, if we have vision. We have the capacity to influence the processes in this country and this why I am here. I don’t know why others are here but I am here to influence a process. Any day I feel that I cannot influence a process I will resign and go and do something else. So it is significant to understand that we have a responsibility.” In response to the member for Tumana’s claim that the Soviet Union had failed, Halifa argued that such statements should not be uttered by Africans; that he was in Bundung Borehole where he saw a barefooted child scarvenging to get bottles from a thrash dump. He argued that the problem of Africa is not the poverty of resources but the poverty of the mind. He argued that instead of looking at our realities to see the suffering of our people, acknowledge them and try one’s best to solve them, we refuse to accept the truth. He emphasized that we should not be proud of the poverty of our people; that the present programmes are not sufficient to eradicate the poverty of the people; that one should not be condemned for doing his or her best but that one should not see one’s best as everybody’s best. Furthermore, Halifa said that people must be able to articulate their problems and see to it that they are solved. He said: “That is why we have democracy; the capacity of a people to select their leaders. Democracy is not an academic exercise. It is the practice of recognising the republican status of a people; that they own a country. The lesson why democracy is a fallacy in many places is that the people are not empowered, they are not educated they are not involved in the administrative life of their countries. People act on their behalf rather than knowing that they are required to do what is in their interest. Democracy will attain its highest level where there is a conscious and organised people. That is what we have not achieved here; that is the problem. “And when we talked about education, about ideas, language, the majority leader said language is not significant to the carpenter. But to be a carpenter you have to have the language of mathematics. You must know the dimensions of the pieces of wood you are putting together. This is knowledge. It requires a language to communicate. There will be no education without communication and language is the most sophisticated medium of communication. So we cannot belittle language, we cannot belittle ideas. Look at the World Trade Organisation. It has been mentioned in the speech about fair rules but we all know that there is no fairness in world trade. You look at the monetary system of the world. “The dollar is not backed by anything. It is just paper money. We’ll go into that later. But it is the African intellectuals who must begin to examine these things, challenge these things in the world body. We cannot be afraid of ideas. In fact, this 21st century is a battle of ideas. All those who do not have ideas will falter and perish. It is important for us to bear that in mind. “I’m not here to give lectures to anybody. I hate intellectual arrogance and I concede that many a time we have our degrees but cannot translate them into practice. But what is important is the transformation of knowledge into practice. If that was what the majority leader was saying then we would agree on that point. But to say that knowledge and ideas are not significant….” Halifa paused and then continued, “Well, may be that is not what he was saying. “But my understanding is that he maintains that being productive in the technical sense is what is important. For me I see a union between ideas and practice. They are connected with, dependent on and determined by each other. To try to divorce the two as if they are independent of each other would be a distortion of reality. Knowledge leads but the person with knowledge must translate that knowledge into practice and it is that practicable knowledge which leads and practice follows I will accept that concept.” Halifa added that some of the comments gave the impression that he was talking about integrated planning in the academic sense and that somebody mentioned that these are just theories that one can accept or reject. Halifa then said: “We are not talking about accepting theories. We are talking about feeding people. Anybody can go and help to develop the Gambia but we must have the knowhow.” Addressing the concern of the member for Tumana that only 5% is being spent on teaching-learning materials, Halifa quoted the following from the National Human Development Report: “However, salaries account for 75 per cent of education sector recurrent expenditure whilst operational maintenace and teaching/learning supllies receive only about 5 per cent each, This disproportionate distribution does not reflect the stated policy priority of increased expenditure on books and other learning materials.” He then went on to say: “The member for Tumana talked about 3% something and stopped there. He didn’t continue. Most probably he is talking about learning materials.” He continued by saying that access is being achieved in education; that emphasis should be more on quality now. He added: “You cannot develop a nation without acknowledging its realities; without understanding the problems. It is significant to really bear in mind that integrated planning is the key.” On the issue of electricity, Halifa asked: “Who says that we should not have electricity-generators of thousands of megawatts? What is being emphasised is the need for integrated planning. At this very moment you have low supplies in certain areas and none in other areas. These are the things that need to be studied.” He said this would facilitate better planning. In concluding Halifa Sallah again argued against the view that he is an intellectual show piece: “I must say that I am not in this National Assembly to build an image. I have lived all my life trying to fight image building. We are trained to commit what we call class suicide; not to want privilege at the expense of our people; and the day that you see me follow privilege at the expense of our people then you can accuse me of betraying the trust and aspirations of our people. I am here to work and not to build an image.” Permanent Secretaries Or Temporary Ones Recently, Mr Badara Joof was recalled to assume the post of Permanent Secretary at the Department of State for Education. Within a short period of time it was again reported that he had been moved to the Department of State for Local Government and Lands. This raises the question of security of term of employment of Permanent Secretaries. The role of a Permanent Secretary is clear under the constitution. It states under section 81 sub section (1) that: “Where the vice president or a Secretary of State has been charged with responsibility for any Department of the government he or she shall exercise general direction and control over that department and subject to such direction and control the department shall be under the supervision of a permanent secretary whose office shall be an office in the public service.” Section 173 subsection (3) adds that; “The power to make an appointment to the office of permanent secretary of a department of a government shall be exercised by the Public Service Commission in consultation with the head of civil service”. It is therefore very strange that Permanent Secretaries can be appointed, retired, recalled, redeployed within days and weeks. Something must be wrong with such trends. The head of the civil service and the public service commission should revisit the developments and advice the president accordingly so that there will be certainty and constancy in administering the departments of state. Is Ex-President Jawara On His Way To The Gambia Our reporter was informed that after the departure of Ex-President Jawara’s children his reisdence at Fajara had been put under renovation. The members of the PPPare rather quiet. Apparently, some members of the party would want collective bargaining. They would want the unconditional return of the president to be linked to a handing over of the assets of the members of the former government. Some have express concern that the amnesty was verbal. President Jammeh has so far hesitated to engage in any collective bargaining. What is available for members of the past government is to join APRC and hope that in short or long term their loyalty will be realised. What is undeniable is that the Amnesty for Ex-President Jawara has created a rift in the camp of the PPP and has stifled the militancy of its members. Uncertainty has gripped most of them. They are simply waiting for the unknown. Whether Ex-President Jawara appears or not, the political land scape in the Gambia has changed for good. These coming five years are likely to witness the most deep rooted change and alliances in the political history of the country. With the people taking charge of their destiny it shall be change for the better. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [log in to unmask] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Get more from the Web. 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