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Momodou
Denmark
11826 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Feb 2007 : 14:59:20
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Foroyaa Editorial
WHO CHOSE THE SPEAKER, THE PRESIDENT OR THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY?
Separation Of Powers Is The Casualty
If one were to ask The Gambian people who selected the Speaker of the National Assembly many would indicate that it is President Jammeh who did the selection as announced over GRTS.
The actual constitutional position however is that, it is the National Assembly who should elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
Once new deputies are elected and the National Assembly convened for the 1st time, Section 93 Subsection (5) of the constitution states that “No business shall be transacted in the National Assembly other than the election of Speaker or Deputy Speaker when either of those offices is vacant.” Hence when the newly elected members to the National Assembly first met on Thursday 8th February 2007 their first task was to elect a Speaker and Deputy Speaker and then take their oath.
The Chief Justice appeared precisely to preside at the election of Speaker. This is confirmed by Section 93 Subsection (2) of the constitution. It states that “the Chief Justice shall preside at the election of a Speaker.”
The unfortunate thing about The Gambia is that before the National Assembly members met to elect a Speaker the announcement had already been made as to who the occupier of the seat would be.
The members finally discovered that they were there just to endorse what had been announced.
This is the dilemma of the National Assembly of The Gambia. It has been systematically accused of being under the grip of the Executive. Will it succeed in redeeming its image? The future will tell. Notwithstanding this what it should be is clearly stipulated in the Constitution. The preamble of the Constitution of the Republic states that “The functions of the arms of the government have been clearly defined, their independence amply secured with adequate checks and balances to ensure that they work harmoniously together toward our common good.”
The Executive, the National Assembly and the Judiciary are expected to function as separate branches of the state. They should be independent of each other.
The Gambia has a constituency system instead of a system based on proportional representation. Since all members are representing constituencies the constitution created the possibility of nominating people to parliament so that a Speaker and Deputy Speaker could be elected form the ranks of the nominated members. The issue of nominating members to the National Assembly should infact be a matter of National debate. It is a colonial legacy which was retained in the First Republic and is still retained in the Second Republic. While, it appears reasonable to have a Speaker and Deputy Speaker who are not representing constituencies, how nominated members are to be selected to prevent them from being partisan is of fundamental importance. In short, no executive should have the power to control 5 members of parliament which is equivalent to the representation of the whole of the Kanifing Administrative Area.
Those who have retained this system of nominating members to parliament utilize it to involve federation of trade unions, federation of youth organisations, federation of women organisations, federation of employers organisations and other heads of professional associations.
As we focus on the beginning of a new term for the National Assembly, the Executive should realise that the National Assembly is the oversight institution that should exercise scrutiny on how the Nation is managed. A state without a legislature that is empowered to criticize, scrutinize and restrain the executive to bar violation of the Constitution, misappropriation of public funds and general misconduct is a failed state.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 016/2007, 9-11 February, 2007
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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