Musa,
I think it is every citizen's duty to defend the constitution. The questions
are when do our actions constitute defense of the constitution and what
mechanism there is to determine our actions to defend the constitution
constitutional? In short there is a very fine line between what could be
defense of and attack on the constitution. Unfortunately, as some will say
it is not a fence!
As for your example below, the issue of constitutionality must still be
resolved.
Malanding
-----Original Message-----
From: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Musa Jeng
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 1:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Coup Applauded By Politicians And Ordinary People- the
wrong way forward
MAlanding,
I am not a supporter of the idea of rmoving an elected government. But, I
wonder does'nt security
apparatus like the army, the responsibilty to protect the constitution from
external threat and
internal, even if it involves an elected government. If an elected
Government who had initially
removed an elected government through the barrel of the gun, manipulated the
constitution through
political chicanery to get elected, and is willing and continued to do
whatever it takes to remain
in power, even if it means tinkering with the constitution. Yes, coup is
definitely not the ideal
option in any situation, but I am not sure we are dealing with an ideal
situation at all.
Just thinking aloud
Musa Jeng
Malanding Jaiteh wrote:
> I believe that applauding this coup may be sending a wrong message. We as
a
> people must learn to recognize that it is not incumbent upon any one group
> no matter their noble intention, to overthrow a government elected by the
> majority. I am no expert on Guine Bissau constitution but I do not think
> 'chaotic rule' and inefficiency are legitimate reasons for overthrowing an
> elected government. All this does is to set stage for another group of
coup
> makers.
>
> Malanding
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Momodou Camara
> Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 1:17 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: FWD:Coup Applauded By Politicians And Ordinary People
>
> Coup Applauded By Politicians And Ordinary People
>
> UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
> NEWS
> September 15, 2003
> Posted to the web September 15, 2003
> Bissau
>
> Guinea-Bissau's new military leaders met on Monday with politicians, civil
> society representatives and religious leaders, many of whom congratulated
> coup leader General Verissimo Correia Seabra for removing the chaotic
> civilian government of ex-president Kumba Yala.
>
> Carlos Gomes, leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-
> Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which ruled the small West African country
> until 1999, said the army had saved democracy.
>
> Francisco Fadul, the head of the interim government which ruled Guinea-
> Bissau in the period leading up to elections in 2000 which brought Kumba
> Yala to power, also welcomed his overthrow. He said the army had saved the
> country from dictatorship.
>
> Fernando Gomes, of the Guinea-Bissau Resistance - Bafata Movement, an
> estranged former ally of Kumba Yala, said he regretted that the coup had
> upset constitutional order and it was important that elections be held
> soon.
>
> In the streets of the capital Bissau, ordinary people greeted Sunday's
> bloodless coup with a sense of relief following three years of incessant
> government reshuffles and repeated strikes by civil servants demanding
> their unpaid wages.
>
> The new authorities scrapped a dawn to dusk curfew imposed 24 hours
earlier
> and lifted restrictions which had been placed temporarily on the free
> movement of vehicles and people. Shops and markets reopened and the
> authorities reopened the airport and the land frontiers with Senegal and
> Guinea-Conakry.
>
> The six-hour meeting between army commanders and political and civil
> society leaders focused on the formation of a transitional government to
> lead this former Portuguese colony into fresh elections next year, but no
> ministerial appointments were announced.
>
> The new administration is due to be backed by a broad-based consultative
> body to be called the national transitional council.
>
> The meeting ended with a joint resolution strongly backing Sunday's coup.
> The resolution said the army's removal of Kumba Yala had rescued Guinea-
> Bissau from the prospect of civil war. It welcomed the coup leaders'
> commitment to holding elections and called on the international community
> to give formal recognition to the 32-member Committee for the Restoration
> of Constitutional and Democratic Order (CMROCD) which has effectively
> siezed power.
>
> Correia Seabra stressed that he was strictly an interim leader and pledged
> to hand over power to "a credible civilian figure." He has so far declined
> to say when elections would be held, but participants at the meeting said
> it would not be before the end of this year.
>
> The army intervened 48 hours after the National Electoral Commission said
> voters' lists would not be ready in time to conduct free and fair
> parliamentary elections on 12 October that had been postponed four times
> already.
>
> While there were no public demonstrations in support of the coup, the
> military intervention was broadly welcomed in this desperately poor
country
> of 1.3 million people.
>
> Ordinary citizens, chatting on buses or in taxis, said the coup should
have
> happened long ago. They were adamant that Kumba Yala and deposed Prime
> Minister Mario Pires were overwhelmingly to blame for the country's
> difficult economic situation. Most civil servants had not been paid for up
> to nine months.
>
> The main trade union organisation, the National Union of Guinean Workers
> (UNTG), called off a general strike it had been trying to organise in
> protest at Kumba Yala's erratic rule and urged people to go into work as
> usual.
>
> Kumba Yala and Pires were both allowed to return home on Monday morning,
> but were placed under house arrest.
>
> Although the coup was generally greeted as a welcome fait accompli at
home,
> it continued to draw criticism abroad.
>
> UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the putsch and called "on the
> parties concerned not to resort to any acts of violence or retribution".
>
> South Africa expressed its "unequivocal condemnation" of the military
> takeover, joining Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, Sao Tome and the African
> Union in condemning Correia Seabra for seizing power
>
> But there was no sign of a concerted campaign to have Kumba Yala
> reinstated, like that which forced coup leaders in the island state of Sao
> Tome and Principe to back down in July and allow elected president
Fradique
> de Menezes to return to power a week after he was overthrown.
>
> Even organisations which would normally be strongly opposed to military
> intervention voiced little sympathy for the departed civilian leader.
>
> The human rights organisation RADDHO in neighbouring Senegal described
> Kumba Yala as "an ethnocratic head of state who did absolutely nothing to
> prevent what happened to him".
>
> Yala had been widely accused of favouring members of his own Balante
ethnic
> group and of discriminating against Muslims who comprise nearly half the
> population.
>
> Foreign governments have already initiated diplomatic contacts with the
> military leaders in Guinea-Bissau.
>
> The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has deployed
> 650 soldiers from Guinea-Bissau as part of its peacekeeping force in
> Liberia, was due to send a delegation of ministers to Bissau late on
> Monday. .
>
> Meeting in Lisbon on Monday, ambassadors from members of the Community of
> Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) came out against the coup and
appealed
> for the reestablishment of order. But they also urged the meeting of
> soldiers and civilians in Bissau "to obtain solutions to the country's
> problems through dialogue."
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> Copyright © 2003 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. All rights
> reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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