Issue No. 8/ 2004, 26-28 January, 2004 EDITORIAL National Assembly Should Boycott 2004 Presidential Address If… Standards and principles of democratic governance have no party colours. Whoever finds himself or herself at the helm of the executive should respect the standard to lead without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. That is what is required of the executive and all those public servants who are supposed to administer the delivery of public services. The minority leader and the rest of the members of the National Assembly should not pay lip service to the principle of separation of powers between the executive and the National Assembly. This is introduced in the 1997 constitution so that there will be no executive, legislative and judicial tyranny. The judiciary is empowered to declare laws made by the legislature that are at variance with the constitution void. The legislators are also empowered to set up tribunals to investigate any allegation of malpractice by any judge. The question of crime and punishment is a matter of the law, the law enforcement officer and the courts. National Assembly members are not above the law. When they are accused of violating the law they should be charged and taken before a court for trial. No one should be punished outside the law, before being found guilty of a crime. The majority leader is a National Assembly member for a constituency. He was charged and detained in connection with YDE transactions with GPA and Customs. He was released on bail and a trial ensued without interruption. After the attempted murder of Ousman Sillah, he, with many others were arrested and detained. FOROYAA is not aware that he is charged. He has been detained for more than the 72 hours established for lawful detention prior to appearance before a court. His continued detention is therefore unlawful. He has missed some National Assembly meetings because of the detention. Such detention is an affront to the constitution and the National Assembly. It is not the majority leader, Baba Jobe who matters but the integrity of the constitution and he National Assembly. Section 110 of the constitution states: "Any act or omission which obstructs or impedes the National Assembly in the performance of its functions or which obstructs or impedes any member or officer of the National Assembly in the discharge of his or her duties or affronts the dignity of the National Assembly and, in addition or any liability in respect thereof under the criminal law, the offender shall be liable to reprimand or admonition by the National Assembly, and if the offender is a member of the National Assembly, suspension or expulsion from the National Assembly." To arrest a National Assembly member and detain him or her for over 72 hours and deprive him or her from attending meetings constitutes an obstruction. The executive must not be allowed to hold the National Assembly in low esteem. National Assembly members can cast a vote of no confidence on the executive. They can remove secretaries from office. So if they allow a National Assembly member to be held in detention without charge for more than 72 hours then they are not worthy of being representatives of the people. The time has come for the National Assembly members to stand for principles and standards, irrespective of party affiliation. There is no dishonour to stand for justice to be done and seen to be done even if the person is later found by the courts to have engaged in dishonourable conduct. Should the status quo remain till the annual address of the National Assembly, all National Assembly members should boycott the address. Prior to that they should sign petitions calling for the immediate release on bail or appearance before a court for the judiciary to decide. If deaf ears are paid to this the National Assembly should meet in an emergency session to consider matters of contempt of the National Assembly by the majority leader’s incarcerators. If the National Assembly members fail to do this then the public should conclude that they are not worthy of their functions. This is how matters stand. _________________________________________________________________ Optimize your Internet experience to the max with the new MSN Premium Internet Software. http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200359ave/direct/01/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~