Saihou Mballow
Many thanks for informing us about the voter
registration exercise.
It is without doubt that there are legal avenues
available to all aggrieved persons to challenge the
decision of the IEC to issue voter's card to
non-Gambians. My only concern is the time available to
successfully pursue these petitions. Given that
presidential elections are to take place in October
and the Supreme Court, High Court, Court of Appeal
will soon go in recess, there is the likelihood that
most of these cases won't be heard on time for the
Presidential Elections, Since a legal challenge by a
petitioner does not necessarily regard a voter's card
as void, there is the possibility that these
fraudulent voters could easily exercise their dubious
right in the forthcoming elections. My suggestion to
all those challenging the decisions of the IEC is to
first apply to courts to order an alleged fraudulent
voter be denied the opportunity to cast its vote until
all legal avenues are thoroughly exhausted. This would
actually deter them from voting whilst a case is still
pending in the law courts.
Any thoughts?
Have a wonderful day
Sanusi
--- saihou Mballow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >
Mr.Dampha,
> i must begin by thanking you for
> forwarding
> my posting to the L ,the other day when i had
> trouble
> with my computer and for expressing your concern
> about
> the recent ended voter registration exercise.
>
> First,i would like to take this opportunity to thank
> the UDP registration agents who participated during
> the exercise for the impressive showing and courage
> done under extreme pressure and against a state
> machinery that saw no bounds and spared no efforts
> in
> its use of national resources as you rightly stated
> the immigration,NIA,police,chiefs and agents of the
> July 22nd movement.
>
> we have heard through the press,the widespread
> intimidation and harassment perpetrated by the
> government on UDP registration agents.
>
> UDP registration agents reported incidents of
> intimidation by some district chiefs who are also
> the
> chairmen of the July 22nd movement in their
> respective
> administrative areas.The chiefs named are
> chief-Sambujang Jagne of Farafenni and
> chief-Jarjussey
> of Jarra Soma.However,these matters will be deal
> with
> immediately by the party's legal secretary-Mariam
> Denton at the revising courts.
>
> Also there are reports that so many illegal
> registered
> voters took place mainly around Sere Kunda
> ,Farafenni
> and Fonis but some of these cases are going to be
> difficult to prove hence, the claimants had the
> backing of the immigration and some village elders.
>
> The alleged intimidation and harassment played by
> the
> government had a decisive role in the low turnout
> registration of voters.
>
>
> For the principle of transparency,the IEC is
> expected
> in a matter of days to consult with the chief
> Justice
> for the appointment of Magistrates for the revising
> courts and to come up with a press release stating
> the
> following:
>
> [a] Total number of registered voters in each
> administrative area.
>
> [b] Total number of rejected registered voters in
> each
> administrative area.
>
> [c] Overall total number of registered voters nation
> wide.
>
> Dampha,still there is an avenue for one to appeal to
> the supreme court against a decision of a revising
> court on section 29. of the elections decree and i
> will bring that portion later.
>
> Finally,UDP will always dedicate itself to the
> worthy
> and patriotic objective that it has set itself to
> achieve and would play its full part for the
> betterment of our nation as a genuine opposition
> party.
>
> Saihou
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Dampha Kebba <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Mr. Mballow, thanks again for the information.
> > However, I have to tell you
> > that this is a very disturbing piece of news. My
> > major problem is with
> > Section 28: "GROUNDS ON WHICH APPEAL FROM REVISING
> > COURT BARRED: NO APPEAL
> > or notice of appeal SHALL BE received or ALLOWED
> > against the decision of a
> > revising court on any question of fact or upon the
> > admissibility or effect
> > of any evidence or admission adduced or made in
> any
> > case to establish any
> > matter of fact only." Emphasis mine.
> >
> > Mballow, this Section severely restricts the
> ability
> > of 'objectors' to
> > challenge the decisions of these revising courts
> > (magistrates). Now, if the
> > magistrate makes a mistake in his fact-finding,
> > there is nothing one can do
> > about that. If we have the name of a dead person
> on
> > the rolls and we sought
> > to bring in a Death Certificate to prove that the
> > person is dead and the
> > magistrate refuses to admit that piece of
> evidence,
> > we cannot appeal against
> > that ruling. If some village elder stands up and
> > says that Isatou Kujabi is
> > not a Gambian and as a matter of fact, just moved
> > into the village from
> > Casamance after Yaya came to power, and the
> > magistrate decides to ignore
> > those facts, there is nothing we can do about
> that.
> >
> > Granted, a lawyer of Ousainou Darboe's caliber can
> > wriggle his way out of
> > these types of restrictions on litigants' rights
> of
> > appeal. Darboe can
> > always couch an issue to make it a 'question of
> law
> > (as opposed to a
> > 'question of fact' which is taboo with these
> > restrictive rules). For
> > example, in the above scenario Darboe can argue
> that
> > the evidence from the
> > village elder is coming in to prove a point of
> law;
> > i.e. legal residence.
> > Therefore, if mistakes are made by the magistrate
> > regarding that point, the
> > decision will be 'appealable'. But this is a
> > long-winded argument and grief
> > we do not need.
> >
> > This is a bad law, especially in an environment
> > where the illegal government
> > we have is going to collaborate with the IEC to
> > register ineligible voters.
> > We have a government that has made an elaborate
> and
> > a concerted effort to
> > rig the rolls. The shenanigans started when the
> > Immigration Department would
> > go to people's houses to illegally grant them our
> > national identification
> > documents. Here we are NOT just dealing with minor
> > irregularities in the
> > voter registers that can be easily fixed by a lay
> > magistrate without any
> > contentious arguments from the parties involved.
> > Here we are dealing with a
> > racket. We are dealing with an illegal government
> > that will do anything to
> > steal the elections. We are dealing with a whole
> > government machinery. State
> > House, NIA, Immigration, Police Department, IEC,
> all
> > bent on populating the
> > rolls with non-Gambians that are going to vote for
> > APRC. Compound that with
> > the 'refugee problem' we have. Add to that the
> fact
> > that our borders are
> > very porous and we all share the same physical
> > characteristics in the
> > Sub-region. You take all that to consideration,
> you
> > realize that you are
> > dealing here with a potentially very volatile
> > situation. At the very least,
> > we are dealing with a 'challenge' process that is
> > going to be highly
> > contentious. This is not about some cosmetic
> changes
> > on the rolls. If we
> > look back to the chaos that characterized the
> > registration process (APRC
> > stalwarts forcing IEC to shut down their
> operations
> > at various registration
> > centers), we can tell that we are going to have
> > heated arguments dealing
>
=== message truncated ===
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