Ebrima, there was another propose amendment to the constitution in
late August dealing with journalists.
I was in Banjul the latter part of August through September 10th;
whiles there, a commission had been empanelled to deal with libelous and
scandalous reporting. The commission proposed punishment for such findings up to
imprisonment; the commission also suggested that they'll be the one handing out
such punishment. My nephew, who is a lawyer was asked by journalists to give a
paper addressing these measures; he consulted with me before delivering the
paper. I cautioned that the role of a commission should never supplant the role
of the judiciary; that a commission's only function is a finding of fact but the
legal interpretation of those facts rests wholly on the judiciary; commission
member s are appointed and owe their allegiance to the one who appointed them. I
also asked whether the "Treasonable Felon" (Cheyassin) is at the bottom of this.
Can your sources comment on this and tell us what ever came of
that?
Thanks
Daddy Sang
----- Original Message -----
From:
Ebrima Ceesay
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 12/5/00 3:12:13 PM
Subject: Re: Cheyassin: No Consultation
with people on proposedConstitutional changes
Gambia-L:
The unedited e-mail below is a short commentary from a source in the
Gambia.
Ebrima
_______________________________________________________________________
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Cheyassin: No Consultation with people on proposed
Constitutional
changes
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000
Ebrima,
This Jammeh Administration is characterised by many as inept, dishonest
and
corrupt. Pap Cheyassin is an epitome of such characterisation. At his
news
conference, he blatatly lied to the press and the general public, by
giving
the impression that a process of consultation with those whose lives
will
be affected by the proposed amendments, that is the political
parties,
members of civic society and the population in general, has started.
When
he said that "the State has completed its consultations on the
(various)
changes it seeks to make on the 1997 Constitution", he was attempting
to
convey the impression that indeed the stakeholders had been consulted
on
the proposed changes. This is
indeed furthest from the truth. In fact, up to the moment
that I am
scribbling this message, the members of the public are unaware of
which
section of the Constitution is being proposed for amendment by
Cheyasin
Secka. If the people were consulted, there would certainly not be
the
uncertainty and speculations as to the affected sections.
In anticipating that such a charge will be levelled against him, he
assured
Gambians that "the State will give its reasons for the proposed changes
and
that the press will inevitably make their contribution." This process
is
totally unacceptable. There should have been a national conference or
at
least a national workshop/seminar where the merits and de-merits of
each of
the Government's proposal are discussed with the participation of
members
of civic society and political parties. The manner in which
Cheyassin
intends to proceed with this extremely important proposal is
unacceptable
and will be resisted by at least the UDP and the NRP. Since PDOIS may
also
be affected directly, they are also likely register their opposition
to
both the proposed amendments and the process of consultaion adopted
by
Cheyassin Secka.
All the same, indications are that both the UDP and NRP may boycott
the
presidential election in 2001, if the National Assembly should ever
endorse
these proposals. The elections will be left to the APRC
alone to contest
and then face the wrath of the International Community. What
these
nonentities fail to realise is that the current Jammeh Government is
an
illegitimate Government which should be trying to gain legitimacy in
the
months ahead. But instead, they are deepening and widening the
isolation of
the Gambia.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : 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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Carolann Durda
--- [log in to unmask]
--- EarthLink: It's your Internet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
