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NO: 12/2002          11 - 13 March, 2002

Editorial
The Judiciary Is The Guardian Of The Rule Of Law

The Judiciary is the guardian of the rukle of law.. This is why the Supreme
Court is given the absolute authority to interpret the constitution and
determine whether any law or action is in contravention with its provisions.
The debate in the Gambia is on the appointment of a Chief Justice and the
removal of a case from the hands of Justice Grante who has been known to
demonstrate the independence of the judiciary since his handling of the
Sanna Manneh case in the late 1980’s.

People have been asking whether the executive has the aim to interfere with
the independence of the judiciary. Some claim that the most senior judge of
the Superior Courts has not been appointed to serve as Acting Chief Justice.

The executive and the judiciary need to draw fundamental lessons from the
current debate. Treason trials should indeed be handled by judges who are
known to exercise impartiality and independence. An executive has nothing to
lose by the exercise of impartial justice. Infact, persons convicted of
treason had occupied the office of Attorney General to confirm that a state
should be more interested in stifling threats than being vindictive. Who
would have thought that NCP and APRC would form an alliance?

On the other hand, members of the judiciary should preserve the dignity and
independence of their office and refuse to do anything that would put their
office into disrepute. No member of the judiciary should accept any
responsibility that they are not constitutionally qualified to handle.

Finally, it should be recognised that the constitution has given the Chier
Justice a very significant role. It states in section 121 that:

“The Chief Justice shall be the head of the judiciary and subject to the
provisions of the constitution shall be responsible for the administration
and supervision of the courts.”

Section 139 states that;

“A person shall be qualified for appointment as Chief Justice if he or she
is qualified to be appointed Judge of the Supreme Court and has been a Judge
of a Supreme court in a common law country for not less than 10 yesrs.”

According to the constitution there should be security of tenure.

Once appointed section 141 subsection (2) permits the judge to retire on
pension at any time after attaining the age 65 years and shall vacate his
office under section 141 subsection (2)(b) on attaining the age of seventy
years”.

If such provisions were adhered toone would not have the vacancy that exists
today which calls for an acting chief justice.

However, the gambia has always been dependant on judges engaged on the basis
of contract. This pattern needs to cease if the uncertainty being
experienced at the moment is to come to an end.



Joint Petition On Deposits

By PDOIS And NRP On Local Government Elections And

IEC’s Reply


The PDOIS and NRP issued a petition to call for reduction of deposits for
Local Government elections, the petition reads:

The foundation of our system of government under the Republic Constitution
is section 26 which states categorically that “Every citizen of the Gambia
of full age and capacity shall have the right, without unreasonable
restrictions

a)    to take part in the conduct of public affairs directly or through
freely chosen representatives

b) to vote and stand for elections at genuine periodic elections for public
office, which elections shall be by universal and adult suffrage and be held
by secret ballot.”

         It is therefore clear that to vote and stand for elections are
fundamental rights which shall be exercised by anyone who so decides without
facing any unreasonable restrictions.

         In our view the introduction of one thousand two hundred and fifty
dalasis (D1,250.00) as the sum to be deposited before one can stand for
elections to the office of councillor imposes a heavy financial burden on
political parties if they wish to put up candidates in over a hundred wards
throughout the country. In our view, the constitution does not permit
contributions from corporate or incorporate bodies. There is also no
appropriation of public funds towards part electoral expenses. This leaves
each party to shoulder expenses such as the provision of symbols,
photographs, movement or polling agents, fuel and transport to campaign.
Such funds are not recovered in an election. The expenses restrict the
participation of many in elections in the country. So the money drawn
through deposits could have gone to finance the movement of polling agents
and offset other costs.

        There is a reasoning that the larger the deposit the greater the
possibility of leaving the electoral terrain to serious candidates. The fact
of the matter is that election is about people expressing their consent as
to who should manage their affairs. It may be reasonable to increase the
number of votes who may nominate a person to stand as a candidate to make
the process less cumbersome. However to use money as a restricting
instrument would be undemocratic and would amount to ostracism on the basis
of financial status. This is unreasonable and unjustifiable in any genuine
democratic set up.

        Suffice it to say that practice had shown that people do not just
get up and become candidates because of the small sum of money to be
deposited and the number of voters who should nominate the candidate. In
past elections under the First Republic deposits to stand as a candidate for
the House of Representatives was as low as two hundred dalasis (D200.00) and
the number of nominators required was three. Despite this fact some seats
used to be won without any contest. There is therefore no evidence to deduce
that the reducing deposits would lead to the increase in the number of
candidates to the point of overwhelming those who are to exercise direction
and control over the system.

            It should therefore be highly appreciated if you would rely on
your powers stipulated under section 134 sub-section (2 )(b) to revise the
deposit payable under section 43 sub-section (1) (c) and (d) which refers to
elections to the office of mayor, chairperson of municipal council and the
office of councillors respectively. Our proposal is to reduce the deposit
for mayor, chairperson of municipalities to not more than one thousand
dalasis (D1,000.00) and councillors to be two hundred dalasis (D200.00).
This would mean a deposit of a bit more than thirty thousand dalasis
(D30,000.00) if a party wishes to contest all seats. We also hope that the
deposit for the chairperson of area councils will follow the same trend as
the municipalities.

        While anticipating your maximum co-operation in ensuring that the
rights of citizens to vote and stand for elections are not unreasonably
restricted, please accept the assurance of our highest consideration.

Signed by:

Halifa Sallah.             PDOIS Representative

Hamat NK Bah

NRP Representative



The following reply was received from the IEC:

8 March, 2002

I have been directed to acknowledge receipt of your petition of March 7th
instant and to communicate to you the decisions reached by the Commission on
the issue raised.

Having examined the arguments forwarded in your petition, but also
considering the importance of the position of the Chairperson of Area
Councils under the decentralisation scheme, the IEC has decided to peg the
deposit amounts for candidates for the Local government Elections as
follows:

1. Deposit Amounts:

Chairperson of Area Councils: D2,500.00 (two thousand five hundred dalasis),

Councillors of Area Councils: D600,00 (six hundred dalasis)

2. Number of voters to support nomination of candidates

Chairman of Area Councils: 600 (six hundred ) voters,

Councillors of Area Councils: 150 (one hundred and fifty)

The commission believes that the above figures are quite reasonable.



IEC Press Conference

Kombo North
By-Election And Local Government Elections To Go Ahead


he Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission Mr. Gabriel J. Roberts,
informed the press that the by-elections and the local government elections
will go ahead as scheduled.

He said this at a press conference at the IEC headquarters at the Kairaba
Avenue in kanifing on Thursday 7th March 2002.

In his statement to the press, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and
representatives of political parties, the chairman said the press conference
was convened to update them on the scheduled by-election for Kombo North
Constituency for which parties interested are invited to contest the
elections; that nomination papers can be collected from the IEC office in
Brikama.

He said the late Fabakary Cham had passed away suddenly on Saturday 2nd
February 2002 and the IEC is deeply in remorse for  what he described as
“this national loss”. He extended sincere condolences to the family  of
the late Honourable Fabakary Cham, his party and the nation as a whole.

The IEC chairman read out the dates identified for the by-elections which he
  said they have been published in the National Gazette as follows;

Wednesday, February 13th 2002 – Notice of By-Election was published in
National Gazette.

Thursday, March, 14th 2002 – Nomination Day. Nomination papers will be
received by the IEC between the hours of 8 o’clock in the forenoon and 4
o’clock in the afternoon at the IEC Regional Office in Brikama.

Friday, March 15th 2002 to Tuesday, March 26th 2002 – The official
campaign period will be observed.

Wednesday, March 27th 2002 – No political activity is allowed.

Thursday, March 28th 2002 – Election day.

On the local government elections, Mr. Roberts affirmed that IEC will be
conducting it shortly because as he said, it has been pending for a long
time as the commission awaits for the National Assembly to pass a
legislation that would regulate the operations of the local authorities. He
said the tardy pace at which the bill was progressing, however resulted in
the commission taking the issue of the local government elections to the
Supreme Court for intervention.

The IEC chairman then clarified that the Supreme Court advised that the
existing laws were sufficient to conduct the elections and the commission he
said, on the basis of this ruling, set into motion, modalities to conduct
the local government elections, and the dates have been set as follows;

Wednesday, February 13th 2002 – Notice of Election was published in the
National gazette.

Thursday, March 15th 2002, Friday, March 22nd, 2002 and Saturday, March 23rd
2002 – Have been declared the nomination days. Nomination papers will be
received by the IEC between the hours of 8 o’clock in the forenoon and 4
o’clock in the afternoon at the IEC Regional Office across the country.

Monday, April 8th 2002 to Tuesday April 23rd 2002 – Will be official
campaign period.

Wednesday, April 24th 2002 – No political Activity will be allowed.

Thursday April 25th  2002 – Election Day.

The chairman said the commission has held meetings with the authorities of
the current local government establishments across the country to get a
final picture of the boundaries of wards within their respective areas.

He said the position of the IEC is that a constituency and a ward should not
have the same boundaries and parameters and that the electorate of a higher
office should not be the same as for a lower one. He also said the
commission has found it impracticable to allocate more than one ward to each
if the following constituencies in the Janjangbureh administrative area viz.

Nianija, Janjangbureh, Niamina West and Niamina Dankunku constituencies.

He finally implore the press to facilitate the dissemination of the
information received to all Gambians and also carry fair and equitable
coverage of the electoral process. He then read out the demarcation of wards
per constituency in each administrative area as follows and said the
Department of State for Local Government has not yet approved the
demarcation.

Number Of Wards Per Constituency

Banjul Administrative Area

Banjul South Constituency3

Banjul Central constituency            3

Banjul North Constituency3

Kanifing Administrative Area

Serrekunda West Constituency     5

Serrekunda East Constituency      4

Jeshwang Constituency 3

Serrekunda Central Constituency   3

Bakau Constituency 2

Brikama Administrative Area

Foni Jarrol Constituency 2

Foni Bondali Constituency 2

Foni Kansala Constituenc 2

Foni Bintang Constituency 2

Foni Berefet Constituency 2

Kombo East Constituency 3

Kombo South Constituency            3

Kombo North Constituency4

Kombo Central Constituency            4



Kerewan Administrative Area

Lower Niumi Constituency 2

Upper Niumi Constituency 2

Jokadu Constituency 2

Upper Baddibu constituency             2

Central Baddibu Constituency            2

Illiasa Constituency  2

Sabach Sanjal Constituency  2

Mansakonko Administrative Area

Kiang  West Constituency 2

Kiang Central Constituency 2

Kiang East Constituency2

Jarra West Constituency2

Jarra Central Constituency2

Jarra East Constituency2

Janjangbureh Administrative Area

Lower Saloum Constituency            2

Upper Saloum constituency                  2

Nianija Constituency 2

Niani Constituency 2

Sami Constituency     3

Upper Fulladu West Constituency            2

Janjangbureh Constituency1

Lower Fulladu west Constituency            3

Niamina East Constituency            2

Niamina West Constituency            1

Niamina Dankunku Constituency            1

Basse Administrative Area

Jimara Constituency 2

Basse Constituency 2

Tumana Constituency 2

Kantora Constituency2

Wuli East Constituency  2

Wuli West Constituency  2

Sandu constituency 2

Suwaibou Touray of FOROYAA Newspaper  asked what criteria the commission
used to demarcate the wards, whether they would consider to reduce the
(five thousand dalasis levied as deposit which is very exorbitant and is
barring many Gambians from exercising the fundamental right to stand for
election, and whether holding local government elections without the Local
Government ACT would not create confusion when those elected would not know
their rolebecause such role or functions are to be specified by the said
Act.

The Chairman, in response, said they have met local government
establishments, alkalolu, grassroots people, etc. before they made the
demarcation.

On the deposits the Chairman said categorically that it is going to remain
at five thousand dalasis for the National Assembly elections but for the
local government elections it is subject to review.

On the Local Government Act, he said they are consulting with the executive.

Mr. Demba Jawo, Chairperson of the Gambia Press Union asked whether
population had no part  to play in the demarcation of wards. Mr. Maleh
Sallah said population was considered in the demarcation exercise.

FOROYAA again asked what would happen if by the time of elections the
Department of Local Government did not approve the demarcation, the chairman
emphatically said they would approve it because as he asserted, the
government will not sabotage the electoral system because it is in their
interest that this elections takes place.





Halifa Sallah’s Contribution To The Adjournment Debate

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise with tremendous humility to contribute to the
adjournment Debate.”  In response to the comments made by the member  for
Kantora that Halifa Sallah had hypnotized members to take a critical look at
the president’s speech instead of expressing thanks as called for by the
motion, Halifa Sallah indicated the following: “The member for Kantora, I
believe needs to read the Standing Orders properly. Standing Order 29 talks
about secondment of motions. Order 31 calls on the Speaker to make a
proposal and then there is debate. Debate, I believe, in any language is
examining the pros and cons of a topic. I hope that the issue I was raising
from the very beginning about the parliamentary association, the Standing
Order Committee that will be established will facilitate greater
understanding of procedures. You cannot have order without procedures. It is
very evident here,  in the Standing Orders, that even the name of the
president should not be utilised to influence the National Assembly. It is
there in the Standing Orders. (At this stage the Speaker interjected to
point out that in his opinion the name of the president was not being used.
He however mentioned that he was not incompetent; that he was new in the
seat; that it would take time before most of the members acquaint themselves
with the Standing Orders noting that some are fully conversant with them;
that by the time they return everybody would have been familiar with the
Standing Orders; that he hoped that all members would have gone through it
item by item. At this point, Halifa Sallah got up again to say that the
Speaker’s point had been taken.”

He then went on to say that it is significant that the member for Tumana was
trying to refute his position on the 71,000 tonnes that would be left if

60 000  tonnes were purchased out of a scale of 131 000 tonnes. Halifa
indicated that in mathematics multiplication is seen as addition by other
means; that 2+2 and 2x2 will be equal to four; that he thought that the
member for Tumana was going to say that he was wrong in his figures that 71
000 tonnes would still be left unpurchased this season; that he was glad
that he confirmed that 71 000 tonnes would still be left; that the member
for Tumana was saying that there was no crisis because the 71 000 tonnes
would be purchased locally. Halifa said that that was the opinion of the
member and he would argue on facts and not opinions; that it was left to the
member and the farmers.

Halifa went on to state that the member for Tumana was insisting that there
was no crisis in the groundnut subsector only to confirm a more devastating
crisis. He argued that while he, Halifa, was talking abourt crisis of
marketing the member for Tumana was talking about the crisis of consumption
to the point of recommending diversification of agriculture. He said that if
this was not crisis he did not know what crisis meant. He indicated that the
member for Tumana had said that people in the world were not consuming
groundnuts because of their notion that it causes cancer. Halifa indicated
that even though it was a misconception that groundnuts causes cancer, that
it is mouldy nuts that can cause cancer, the member for Tumana nonetheless
accepted that the groundnut subsector was facing a crisis. He said that that
was what was important.

Halifa further stated that it was significant to talk about the position of
the majority leader. He said:

“He indicated as a response to my assertion on the Foreign Reserve of
Central bank, that probably I did not have a source. It is important to say
that my source is what the Secretary of State for Finance and Economic
Affairs had said here (in the budget speech page 5). What he said here in
the Budget Speech is quite clear. He read the following:

“The net foreign assets of the banking system at D894.7 million at the end
of September, 2001 reflected a substantial decline of 30.7% compared to end
of December 2000. The net foreign assets of the Central Bank went down 12.1%
reflecting the D234.6 million draw down in gross official reserves. The drop
in external reserves of the Bank was due to the heavy debt service payments
and Central Bank’s intervention to sell foreign exchange in the inter-bank
market in order to reserve the build-up in commercial bank arrears.”

Halifa then went on to say, “This is not Halifa Sallah talking.  It is the
Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs who indicated it on page
5 of his Budget Speech. I have no reason to distort statistics. What I am
interested in are facts and the relevance of those facts.

“I have mentioned here about the debt crisis. The member for Kiang Central
said that this is not a problem; that  they should take more debts because
they are building projects. Here again this is not Halifa Sallah speaking.
It is the Secretary of State for finance speaking. At page 8 of his budget
speech, the Secretary of State for Finance indicated the following: “The
debt burden is no longer sustainable, and is hampering our efforts to
alleviate poverty proven by the debt service to budget ratio, which at
present stands at 30%.”

Halifa emphasized that the debt burden is unsustainable; that that was what
the secretary of state was saying; that it was important for the member for
Kiang Central to understand the gravity of the debt burden.

Halifa Sallah then went on to say that in talking about the groundnut
subsector the member for Foni Bintang Karanai said that there is
rehabilitation in this area as, according to him, the Denton Bridge
facilities are being rehabilitated.

Halifa Sallah noted that the Secretary of State for finance again indicated
that the Denton Bridge and Kaur facilities have been handed over to the
Gambia Divestiture Agency (GDA) in preparation for their divestiture before
2002/2003 groundnut  season. Halifa again argued that despite the
privatisation after the GGC crisis costing the country $11.4 million
“there is still no end to the problem.” He concluded, “So clearly
there is a crisis. I am not exaggerating.”

Halifa then went on to take on the argument that there is nothing to
criticise: “We must look at the fact that 69% of our population are poor
and we say that we are caring; we love our people; we want to remove them
from poverty. Who can convince me that you are interested in removing the
poverty of Gambian people by questioning the facts that I mentioned here?
What can convince me that I don’t love the country; that you love the
country more.” He pointed out that if roads are built without considering
drainage facilities or the positioning of pipes they will be eroded to put
pipes to be washed away because of inadequate drainage facilities. He noted:

“Look at the Serrekunda-Brikama high way. How many times had it been
washed away after maintenance? I am merely stating the facts.”

Arguing on the majority leader’s position that national assembly members
can only smile and shake hands with the electorate, Halifa said, “The
government is responsible for making and implementing policies and we are
responsible for scrutinising those policies;  that is why this august body
is given authority, the authority of a court to command people to come here.
We can set up any committee and they should give evidence when we know that
the national interest is not being preserved.

“This is a working body but the majority leader said the national assembly
members cannot do anything but give their hands and show their faces to
their electorate. Then this place is a talking shop and not a working body
and I would not be interested in being part of such a body. But I believe we
have the capacity. If we have the will, if we have a sense of mission, if we
have vision. We have the capacity to influence the processes in this country
and this why I am here. I don’t know why others are here  but I am here to
influence a process. Any day I feel that I cannot influence a process I will
resign and go and do something else. So it is significant to understand that
we have a responsibility.”

In response to the member for Tumana’s claim that the Soviet Union had
failed, Halifa argued that such statements should not be uttered by
Africans; that he was in Bundung Borehole where he saw a barefooted child
scarvenging to get bottles from a thrash dump. He argued that the problem of
Africa is not the poverty of resources but the poverty of the mind. He
argued that instead of looking at our realities to see the suffering of our
people, acknowledge them and try one’s best to solve them, we refuse to
accept the truth. He emphasized that we should not be proud of the poverty
of our people; that the present programmes are not sufficient to eradicate
the poverty of the people; that one should not be condemned for doing his or
her best but that one should not see one’s best as everybody’s best.

Furthermore, Halifa said that people must be able to articulate their
problems and see to it that they are solved. He said: “That is why we have
democracy; the capacity of a people to select their leaders. Democracy is
not an academic exercise. It is the practice of recognising  the republican
status of a people; that they own a country. The lesson why democracy is a
fallacy in many places is that the people are not empowered, they are not
educated  they are not involved in the administrative life of their
countries. People act on their behalf rather than knowing that they are
required to do what is in their interest. Democracy will attain its highest
level where there is a conscious and organised people. That is what we have
not achieved here; that is the problem.

“And when we talked about education, about ideas, language, the majority
leader said language is not significant to the carpenter. But to be a
carpenter you have to have the language of mathematics. You must know the
dimensions of the pieces of wood you are putting together. This is
knowledge. It requires a language to communicate. There will be no education
without communication and language is the most sophisticated medium of
communication. So we cannot belittle language, we cannot belittle ideas.
Look at the World Trade Organisation. It has been mentioned in the speech
about fair rules but we all know that there is no fairness in world trade.
You look at the monetary system of the world.

“The dollar is not backed by anything. It is just paper money. We’ll go
into that later. But it is the African intellectuals who must begin to
examine these things, challenge these things in the world body. We cannot be
afraid of ideas. In fact, this 21st century is a battle of ideas. All those
who do not have ideas will falter and perish. It is important for us to bear
that in mind.

“I’m not here to give lectures to anybody. I hate intellectual arrogance
and I concede that many a time we have our degrees but cannot translate them
into practice. But what is important is the transformation of knowledge into
practice. If that was what the majority leader was saying then we would
agree on that point. But to say that knowledge and ideas are not
significant….” Halifa paused and then continued, “Well, may be that is
not what he was saying.

“But my understanding is that he maintains that being productive in the
technical sense is what is important. For me I see a union between ideas and
practice. They are connected with, dependent on and determined by each
other. To try to divorce the two as if they are independent of each other
would be a distortion of reality. Knowledge leads but the person with
knowledge must translate that knowledge into practice and it is that
practicable knowledge which leads and practice follows I will accept that
concept.”

Halifa added that some of the comments gave the impression that he was
talking about integrated planning in the academic sense and that somebody
mentioned that these are just theories that one can accept or reject. Halifa
then said: “We are not talking about accepting theories. We are talking
about feeding people. Anybody can go and help to develop the Gambia but we
must have the knowhow.”

Addressing the concern of the member for Tumana that only 5% is being spent
on teaching-learning materials, Halifa quoted the following from the
National Human Development Report:

“However, salaries account for 75 per cent of education sector recurrent
expenditure whilst operational maintenace and teaching/learning supllies
receive only about 5 per cent each, This disproportionate distribution does
not reflect the stated policy priority of increased expenditure on books and
other learning materials.” He then went on to say: “The member for
Tumana talked about 3% something and stopped there. He didn’t continue.
Most probably he is talking about learning materials.” He continued by
saying that access is being achieved in education; that emphasis should be
more on quality now.

He added: “You cannot develop a nation without acknowledging its
realities; without understanding the problems. It is significant to really
bear in mind that integrated planning is the key.” On the issue of
electricity, Halifa asked: “Who says that we should not have
electricity-generators of thousands of megawatts? What is being emphasised
is the need for integrated planning. At this very moment you have low
supplies in certain areas and none in other areas. These are the things that
need to be studied.” He said this would facilitate better planning.

In concluding Halifa Sallah again argued against the view that he is an
intellectual show piece: “I must say that I am not in this National
Assembly to build an image. I have lived all my life trying to fight image
building. We are trained to commit what we call class suicide; not to want
privilege at the expense of our people; and the day that you see me follow
privilege at the expense of our people then you can accuse me of betraying
the trust and aspirations of our people. I am here to work and not to build
an image.”







Permanent Secretaries Or Temporary Ones

Recently, Mr Badara Joof was recalled to assume the post of Permanent
Secretary at the Department of State for Education. Within a short period of
time it was again reported that he had been moved to the Department of State
for Local Government and Lands.

This raises the question of security of term of employment of Permanent
Secretaries.

The role of a Permanent Secretary is clear under the constitution. It states
under section 81 sub section (1) that:

“Where the vice president or a Secretary of State has been charged with
responsibility for any Department of the government he or she shall exercise
general direction and control over  that department and subject to such
direction and control the department shall be under the supervision of a
permanent secretary whose office shall be an office in the public
service.”

Section 173 subsection (3) adds that;

“The power to make an appointment  to the office of permanent secretary of
a department of a government shall be exercised by the Public Service
Commission in consultation with the head of civil service”.

It is therefore very strange that Permanent Secretaries can be appointed,
retired, recalled, redeployed within days and weeks. Something must be wrong
with such trends.

The head of the civil service and the public service commission should
revisit the developments and advice the president accordingly so that there
will be certainty and constancy in administering the departments of state.



Is Ex-President Jawara On His Way To The Gambia

Our reporter was informed that after the departure of Ex-President
Jawara’s children his reisdence at Fajara had been put under renovation.
The members of the PPPare rather quiet.

Apparently, some members of the party would want collective bargaining. They
would want the unconditional return of the president to be linked to a
handing over of the assets of the members of the former government. Some
have  express concern that  the amnesty was verbal. President Jammeh has so
far hesitated to engage in any collective bargaining. What is available for
members of the past government is to join APRC and hope that in short or
long term their loyalty will be realised. What is undeniable is that the
Amnesty for Ex-President Jawara has created a rift in the camp of the PPP
and has stifled the militancy of its members. Uncertainty has gripped most
of them. They are simply waiting for the unknown.

Whether Ex-President Jawara appears or not, the political land scape in the
Gambia has changed for good. These coming five years are likely to witness
the most deep rooted change and alliances in the political history of the
country. With the people taking charge of their destiny it shall be change
for the better.








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