Joe

We should not be surprise about APRC's attitude to Pa
Sallah Jeng, the Elected Mayor of Banjul. If it had
taken President Jammeh so long to appoint a new
cabinet after his swearing ceremony, how about
allowing  the Elected Mayor to assume office.

The problem with APRC is this; they are suffering from
the hangover of military dictatorship, they are yet to
understand the politics of tolerance and good
governance. I am sure this is just the beginning for
"Poor" Pa Sallah Jeng, don't be surprise if they try
to sideline him on issues pertaining to the
administration of Banjul City Council.   The Local
Government Act does not give the Elected Mayors strong
powers of administration. With this in mind, I fear
for the people of Banjul, its seems the political
persecution against Banjulians has just started and I
fear for the worst. Knowing APRC so well, the 9
Elected Councillors from the  APRC camp will try and
make Pa Sallah Jeng's role a ceremonial one.

Just watch out the space of developments.

Sanusi Owens


Thank you
--- Joe Sambou <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Buharry,
it seems like our fears were reasonable and
> the chickens have come
> home to roost - APRC at its best.  Many on this list
> have stated that one
> cannot be independent in thought and work in
> Jammeh's cabinet, and the happy
> camp labeled us as disgruntled and sore losers.
> Well, why is Mafy dodging
> Pa Sallah?  This is the same Mafy that Pa Sallah
> mentioned on the eve of his
> victory as a very good friend.  Although my
> political leaning is opposed to
> Mafy's, I however, expected him to respect the
> people's wishes, remember,
> like he used to tell opposition supporters on the L,
> after the Presidential
> elections.  Having lived outside of the Gambia and
> exposed to better
> governance standards, I also expected for him to at
> the very least meet with
> Mr. Jeng to begin the transition process.  Please
> read on.
>
> From the independent
>
> Banjul’s new Mayor yet to assume office
>
> The handing over of the Banjul Mayorship is being
> mired in mystery as
> reports speak of unexplained delays and intolerance
> for Mayor-elect Pa
> Sallah Jeng. Pa Sallah Jeng who as an independent
> candidate caused a major
> electoral upset by claiming the city’s Mayorship in
> the April 25th local
> government election has been left desperately
> contemplating when he would to
> be sworn-in and formally handed over the city’s
> mantle of leadership, which
> he claimed from an APRC candidate, tipped as
> favourite for the post. Reports
> suggest that since Jeng was elected, a state of
> isolation and indifference
> has been applied on him by the relevant authorities
> who should facilitate
> the transition process.
>
> Reports described how Jeng has been placed in a
> ‘situation of twist and turn
> like a common job seeker’. ‘This is undone. He won
> the city and he is the
> Mayor. So why all this delay and isolation. There
> are a lot of things that
> he has to do and they are definitely wasting his
> time. This is sabotage’ an
> angry supporter of the Mayor-elect protested. When
> contacted on Thursday
> Jeng explained that he had visited the Department of
> Local Government and
> Lands over his assumption of office but was told
> that the Secretary of State
> Manlaffy Jarju had traveled out of the country.
> According to him, upon SOS
> Jarju’s return, he again tried to meet him but was
> told upon arrival at the
> department last Thursday, that it was impossible for
> him to meet the SOS at
> that moment.
>
> He said he was told that SoS Jarju was quite
> indisposed to meet him because
> he was engaged in a closed-door meeting. As I speak
> with The Independent
> now, I am expecting a call from them to inform me of
> when to visit Jarju’ a
> dejected-sounding but calmly mannered Mayor Jeng
> said last week. Asked how
> he felt about the whole situation, Jeng said, ‘I
> don’t want to feel
> aggrieved at this point. It’s good to be patient, so
> I will not make an
> issue out of it at the moment but whatever the
> outcome of the meeting, the
> people will know’.
>
> The out-of-office Mayor said he has been rescheduled
> to meet Jarju tomorrow
> Tuesday May 14. According to him, the SOS had
> earlier told him that he was
> on his first day at work after a travel, and could
> not therefore have an
> audience with him. Meanwhile as he stays in the
> wilderness there have also
> been reports of some confusion in the running of
> Banjul market. When he was
> asked about the issue, Mayor-elect Jeng said he was
> just being hinted on it
> by somebody and lamented that he could not take
> action because he was not
> yet in office.
>
> Honourable Halifa Sallah the National Assembly
> member for Serrekunda Central
> when contacted over the abnormality of the Banjul
> Mayorship handing over,
> posited that ‘in making laws one has to indicate
> very clearly when certain
> actions should take place. For example, when one
> deals with the executive,
> the constitution says that the president assumes
> office two months after
> elections’. In the case of the Local Government Act
> Halifa recalled that it
> was gazetted on April 23 and few days before the
> election it reached the
> National Assembly under a certificate of urgency.
>
> He said the Bill was not properly scrutinised to
> ensure that there was a
> proper provision for a smooth political succession.
> He said there is no law
> stipulating that a Mayor or councilor should assume
> office at a given time.
> He further said there must be an amendment to the
> act for the first sitting
> of the council after a local government election. He
> said on the other hand
> an administrative decision for the inauguration of
> the council should be
> taken as a matter of convenience.
>
>
>
>
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
> Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device:
> http://mobile.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
> To contact the List Management, please send an
> e-mail to:
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Everything you'll ever need on one web page
from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts
http://uk.my.yahoo.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
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~