Jabou and Abdou,


I guess Abdou has summed it all “Constitutional Coup" infact it is a 
constitutional robbery. Just listen to the kind of people ruling our 
country. If you carefully read Hon Fabakary Tombong Jatta's defence is just 
laughable. Can you imagine the kind of people seating in our national 
Assembly? This is really a choke.




The Struggle Continues!!!
Ndey Jobarteh






>From: [log in to unmask]
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list              
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Fwd: National Assembly amends Section 63(2)
>Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 18:59:59 EDT
>
>
>More evidence that we are dealing with  people who have no regard for any
>laws!!
>I think sister Ndey Jobarteh mentioned  the necessity for electoral reforms
>if these were undertaken in a  timely manner but one has to be dealing with
>people who respect and abide  by the constitution instead of people who 
>shape the
>constitution to  satisfy their needs.
>
>Written by Alhagie Jobe
>Thursday, 17 August 2006
>Members of the National Assembly, on Monday amended  Section 63 (2) of the
>1997 Constitution Bill, consitutionalising the date  for the Presidential
>elections in September, instead of  October.
>Presenting the Bill, Sheikh Tijan  Hydara, Attorney-General and Secretary 
>of
>State for Justice said the new  amendment proposes that the elected 
>President
>shall take the prescribed  oaths and assume office on the exact day, when 
>the
>term of office for the  incumbent President comes into expiration.
>
>SoS Hydara then told the members of the National Assembly that “the  only
>requirement that must be satisfied is that of Section 46 of the  
>Constitution,
>which provides that elections can be held within three  months, before the
>expiration of the incumbent President’s term of office.  With this 
>proposed
>amendment, the IEC will no longer be restricted to hold  Presidential 
>elections on a
>particular date within the last three months,  before the expiration of the
>incumbent’s term,” he said.
>
>SoS Hydara pointed out that this  amendment to Section 63 necessitated the
>amendment to Section 96 of the  Constitution, adding that “the latter 
>provides
>that elections to the  National Assembly shall be held three months, after 
>the
>date of the  Presidential elections”.
>
>He then observed that the proposed amendment to Section 63  indicates that 
>Nat
>ional Assembly elections may fall on the date that the  “President elect
>takes his or her oath of office, and also the word three  in section 96 be 
>changed
>to four”.  According to him, this will give  provision for the National
>Assembly elections to be held the following  month, after the President 
>elect takes
>his, or her prescribed oaths to the  office.
>
>However, SoS Hydara noted that Section 63(1) is an entrenched  clause that
>must go through a “special procedure, before it is amended.  This process 
>has
>commenced since April 2006 and it is now time for it to  be tabled before 
>the
>National Assembly”.
>
>To back up the amendment, Hon Sellu Bah, NAM for Basse described  the Bill 
>as
>preventive to imminent “problems. It will rectify and  safeguard any 
>possible
>confusion in both the Presidential and any National  Assembly elections”.
>
>Hon Halifa Sallah, NAM for Serrekunda Central said the amendment  was
>suggestive of an inditement made by the IEC, saying the scheduled date  for 
>the
>Presidential elections is not in line with the required Section of  the
>Constitution. “What we are amending today reveals the shortcomings of  
>the IEC. Today, if
>we pass this Bill, then the date will be unlawfully  legitimised,” he
>asserted.
>
>According to him, the IEC Code of Conduct requires fair play and  integrity
>in an election. “Therefore, I have every right to say that this  officers 
>are
>not capable and effective. We do not need people, who do not  or cannot
>administer such an office like the IEC,” he  said.
>
>At this jucnture, Hon Fabakary Tombong Jatta, NAM for Serrekunda  East
>expressed his disappointment with the opposition bench of the  National 
>Assembly,
>saying “I was expecting the opposition to congratulate  Shiehk Tijan 
>Hydara,
>Secretary of State for Justice, instead of being  controversial to the 
>Bill. Is
>it that the oppositions are not ready for an  election, or less confident 
>about
>themselves?”
>
>Hon Jatta asserted that the IEC was operating according to the  
>Constitution,
>adding that “if the ruling party did not complain of the  scheduled date 
>by
>the IEC for the election-which really shorten the term  of the incumbent
>President- then I see no reason why the opposition should  complain.”
>
>He said the date did not fall in the Ramadan and during the period  of 
>heavy
>rains. “This means that it satisfies everyone. No one should  complain 
>about
>it,” he said.
>
>He then impored his counterparts to “unanimously amend the Bill to  
>ensure
>that the election take place as scheduled.”
>
>Hon Netty  Baldeh, NAM of Tumana, expressed similar  sentiments.
>
>
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