From http://www.observer.gm

News
Halifa challenges traffic ban during OCN
By Alagie Jobe & Pa Malick Faye
Apr 13, 2004, 11:37


Halifa Sallah, the Minority leader, has said that President Jammeh’s
pronouncement on ‘Operation Clean the Nation (OCN)’ “somehow makes sense”
but slammed the ban on the movement of vehicles as “unconstitutional”.

Speaking at the National Assembly adjournment debate Thursday, the
Serrekunda Central representative queried, “How can a president make an
address and tell a nation that on a particular day because of a particular
act he declared, no vehicle is supposed to move around, that a particular
thing must be done by everybody. Which authority has that authority in this
world?”

He said section 20 of the constitution asserts that “there should be no
forced labour in this country and nobody shall be required to perform force
labour” that section 25 sub-section 2 also clearly asserts that “every
person lawfully within The Gambia shall have the right to move freely
throughout The Gambia”, noting that this can only be limited by law.

He said the government and the people of The Gambia should respect the
letter and spirit of the Gambians constitution “so that we can create peace
and transparency in this nation. Without respecting the letter and spirit
of this constitution, we will create violence and disturbance in this
nation.”

He said the banning of nawettan football [in rural farming communities] and
the banning of the free movement of vehicles [during Operation Clean the
Nation] by the President are “a great ignorance of the law and ignorance of
the law is no excuse. If anybody in my constituency is arrested - I have a
constituency development fund and when I go around - I will announce that I
will be willing to support that person to go to courts and take any
security officer who violates their rights. The spirit of cleaning our
environment is a question of work and services and work is paid for and
services is voluntarily so we should encourage voluntarism in our nation
such as communal labour, but we also need to pay work,” he said.

He urged government to look into the cleansing services at the area
councils including BCC and KMC “because many of the cleansing services
workers are complaining that they are overworked and underpaid. He said the
Bakoteh dump site is undermining the health of children in the SoS village.

However, in a veiled reference to Mr Sallah’s statements, National Assembly
Member Fatoumata Jahumpa-Ceesay on Saturday said, “environmental sanitation
is a constitutional requirement as the House enacted the Environment
Management Act of which the president is the chairman of the National
Environment Management Council.”

© Copyright 2003 by Observer Company
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