Hamat Bah Files Election Petition

The candidate for the National Alliance for Democracy and Development,
Mr Hamat Bah, who contested the Upper Saloum seat at the by-election
held on 29 September, 2005 has filed an election petition in the High
Court. The APRC candidate, Mr Sainey Mbye, was declared elected by the
Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) at the election.

In his petition, Mr Bah is requesting the court to determine that Mr
Sainey Mbye was not duly elected or returned, or that the election was
void by reason of intimidation, undue influence and/or deception.



1. According to the petition, prior to the holding of the by-election,
when Mr Bah became aware of the transfers of voters in violation of the
Elections Decree, he addressed a letter to the IEC demanding that the
said transfers be expunged from the register of voters. The IEC
responded in a letter expressing its unwillingness to do so.

The petition lists down sixty names of persons it alleges have not
changed their residence but were allowed to transfer their votes to Upper
Saloum from Niamina East, Sami, Kombo North, Banjul Central and
Jeshwang.



2. The petition also lists down the names of thirteen (13) persons who
voted at the by-elections even though their names do not appear on the
register of voters, contrary to the order the high court gave the IEC
that it should not allow any person whose name does not appear on the
register of voters to vote at the by-election.



3. The petition further claims that the election was void by reason of
intimidation and/or undue influence of the voters by security agents
who were acting in furthering the fortunes of the APRC candidate in the
following manner:

a) During the campaign and few days before polling, nine (9) persons
(all listed) mostly from Taiba were arrested by the immigration personnel
at Kaur under the pretext that they were in possession of the national
ID cards when they were not Gambians. Mr Bah protested to the Director
General of Immigration and the SoS for the Interior but to no avail.
The arrestees were deprived of their right to vote because they were not
released till 6 p.m. on Thursday 29th September, after the closure of
polls.

b) The police intervention unit (PIU) commonly known as the
paramilitary, under the command of Manlafi Sanyang on Monday, 26th September 2005
arrested four (4) NADD supporters (all listed) from Taiba, where Mr
Hamat Bah enjoys unrivalled support. The four NADD supporters were
detained at the Njau Police Station till Friday, 30th September 2005 (ie.
after the closure of polls) when they were released. They have not been
charged to court with the commission of any offence.

c) The armed personnel of the PIU went to Taiba Village where they
fired shots in the air and threatened to arrest any person who goes out to
vote.

d) On the day of the by-election armed personnel of the PIU mounted a
check point at Kerr Gibi. Any person from Taiba, Kerr Auldi and other
villages will have to pass through Kerr Gibi in order to get to the
polling station allocated to voters from Taiba. One Alpha Sallah of Kerr
Auldi was detained by the PIU at the check point. As a result of the
intimidation, voters from Taiba, Kerr Auldi and other villages refrained
from voting.

e) CRD Commissioner MS Njie threatened village heads that if they do
not marshal support for the APRC candidate, Sainey Mbye, he will dismiss
them from their position as village heads; that the commissioner did
proceed to dismiss at least three village heads as a warning to other
village heads that he means business.

f) The commissioner used government resources, accompanied and
addressed political gatherings in support of the ruling APRC.

g) The Commissioner used government vehicles and accompanied and
addressed political gatherings in support of the ruling party’s candidate.



4. APRC Chairperson, Ndumbeh Sallah and Assistant Chairperson, Adama
Balleh Bah took the voters’ cards of  22 NADD supporters at the village
of Kerr Sulay on the pretext that unless they surrender their voters’
cards they will not benefit from food aid which the government was about
to distribute in the constituency. They were deprived of their right to
vote because when they demanded for their voters’ cards they were told
that these will be made available to them as soon as the food aid is
distributed.



5. Hulay Njie, APRC Chairperson, and Dawda Njie, an APRC village
mobiliser deceived 22 persons to part with their voters’ cards to them by
falsely telling them that an organization in Banjul was to provide loans
for them for animal rearing but that no one will benefit from the loans
unless he/she surrenders his/her voter’s card to them. These people did
surrender their voters’ cards in the hope of receiving the loan but
when they demanded for their cards, Hulay Njie and Dawda Njie failed to
return to them and consequently did not vote.



The petitioner, Mr. Hamat Bah, wants the court to determine that Sainey
Mbye, the APRC candidate, was not duly elected or returned, or that the
election was void by reason of intimidation, undue influence and/or
deception.






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