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Alhassan
Sweden
813 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Nov 2007 : 12:10:35
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Culled from The Point: http://www.thepoint.gm/headlines2444.htm
Amendment Puts Jammeh in-charge of Area Councils, Municipalities
By Baboucarr Senghore & Abba A.S. Gibba
The Local Government Act (Amendment ) Bill 2007 was passed yesterday by the National Assembly. The bill seeks to put President Jammeh, with effect from today, in charge of the affairs of all area councils and municipalities in the country, such that he could remove mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and other members of the local councils as he may see fit.
This state of affairs emanates from a parliamentary amendment of the bill entitled Local Government Amendment Bill 2007 by members of the National Assembly as part of their 2nd extraordinary meeting in the 2007 legislative year.
According to the Secretary of State for Local Government and Lands, the act is in line with the needs for faster decision-making in councils and for a more rapid and responsive implementation of the decentralization process.
Hon. Ismaila Sambou, who tabled the motion before deputies at the National Assembly yesterday, said it was in cognisance of the constraints that his department has been facing with regard to the exchange and management of information and decisions of the councils that it was considered necessary to introduce the concept of indirect executive chairpersons, excluding mayors and mayoresses, whereby the chairpersons of councils will be elected not by universal adult suffrage but by councilors. This, he said, could not however be done without the Constitution being amended. The Constitution, he went on, having been amended, prepared the ground for this bill to amend the relevant sections of the Local Government Act to give effect to the constitutional amendment.
Hon. Sambou pointed out that the amendment further seeks to provide for the dissolution of the 90 days requirement for councils before local government elections and the setting of an interim management team by the president to oversee the affairs of councils until scheduled elections.
It would be recalled that in 2006, the Local Government Act was amended to, among other things, change the title of commissioners to governors.
For more details on the debate that ensued immediately after the bill was moved, see our next issue.
This bill is realy showing how undemocratic things are going on. The Minister of Lands and Jammeh are related so how the hell could the MPs accept this.
In my opinion, the Mayors and other elected localgovernment officials are voted for by the publuic. This realy suprises me when Gambians do not protest when such undemocratic acts happen. This is realy out of Hand. Or does this bill have to do with the wide range of corruption going on withn the Area Councils?
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Alhassan
Sweden
813 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2007 : 12:18:14
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In my opinion, the as Mayors and other elected localgovernment officials are voted for by the publuic, it is only the voters who could vote out such elected persons or force them to resign, as it happens here in normal democracies.It should be the same in the Gambia if the democracy Gambian Government calls for is there. But it is yet to explain why, not only because of the reasons given by the minister. This realy suprises me when Gambians do not protest when such undemocratic acts happen.
Does this bill have to do with the wide range of corruption going on withn the Area Councils? |
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kayjatta
2978 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2007 : 12:40:27
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| You are right Alhassan! |
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mansasulu
997 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2007 : 15:38:03
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| They do not have to explain anything so long as they have the votes to pass anything they want. There is nothing undemocratic about what they are doing. Amending the constitution is not undemocratic...is it? My friends welcome to democracy. You ask for it, you get it. |
"...Verily, in the remembrance of Allâh do hearts find rest..." Sura Al-Rad (Chapter 13, Verse 28)
...Gambian by birth, Muslim by the grace of Allah... |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2007 : 18:47:02
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A greedy selfish destitute like Yahya Jammeh has the cruel ambition of placing his iron fist of command over everything and every sphere of life in little Gambia. The man is simply greedy and selfish. Gambians have to pay for all the damage before they come to the real sense that they are dealing with a demon. This man is capable of licking human skull for raw marrow and will call it cure for eunuchs. |
Karamba |
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MADIBA
United Kingdom
1275 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2007 : 19:04:29
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Pathetic. Where the masses are not fully aware of the power of their votes despotic rulers and their cronies will suck every drop of their blood. Jammeh and his cohorts are truly despotic. If the masses are not aware of their rights why take advantage of them?? Jammeh should have been the last person to condone this undemocratic practice. If the people can't say anything , wen their elected ones are kicked willy-nilly, then we are heading towards a full fledge dictatorship.
It is pity to see educated MPs endorse such stupidities. I find it hard to believe that educated Gambians can standby and watch and even take part in robbing the people that voted them to prominence and affluence. Shame on Jammeh, all those who could have said no and put their jobs on the line.
Totally disgusting |
madiss |
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mansasulu
997 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2007 : 20:46:54
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| The slope is getting more slippery indeed. Pretty soon they will pass laws that will give the authority to the despot to run the private affairs of families and homes as well. |
"...Verily, in the remembrance of Allâh do hearts find rest..." Sura Al-Rad (Chapter 13, Verse 28)
...Gambian by birth, Muslim by the grace of Allah... |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
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brikama
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2007 : 23:09:44
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More of such awaits if Gambians cannot put their acts together and rally behind the right leaders to free our country from this demon. This is crazy. Soon he will take over village-headships, compound-headships, and household-headships. This guy is not going to stop at anything until we demand him to stop. Ironically, the more we wait, the more he entrenches himself in power and the more he kills and feed us to his animals, which are far smarted than him.
Brikama |
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Karl
136 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2007 : 11:02:57
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The consequences of this amendment can only bring about serious decline in peoples power and strengthened the bull's case to takeover our sovereignity. I agreed with Karamba, Gambians are to be blamed for this. In my view, accepting this kind of polical hijack for any longer without collective popular objection and outright boycott to this regime will be the biggest single betrayal of our generation. There is need for swift and sweeping changes in out political stands from all sectors, the oppositions, civil service, media and legal associations and the entire citizenry in the diaspora to get out acts together inorder to avoid a catastrophic political turmoil that Jammeh is selfishly driving us through.
Keeping mute with this situation can only expose our Gambian weakness further and we have to only blame ourselves considering the current political and social conditions we're facing at home and abroad. The facts are there for us to make that self assessment and look into what we already knew about this man's self-centred political manipulation of our peoples rights. Lets come out of this self-denial and deception. Our collective action is becoming long over due and for that matter far below expectation and the only outcome will be collective doom for our generation and that is going to be a total downturn for even the next generations to follow us. They shall never forgive us. |
"People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster" J Baldwin |
Edited by - Karl on 03 Nov 2007 11:17:26 |
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Jack
Belgium
384 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2007 : 11:53:47
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The big boss dont waste any time : madness started : councils of BCC and KMC dissolved (see DO)
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patrick
Gambia
22 Posts |
Posted - 04 Nov 2007 : 06:18:04
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In my opinion, I think the opposition parties are to blame if they should sit by and see such undemocratic amendments take place in our constitution. I see no reason why any Gambian would ever cast their votes for such people, because they are the right people to organise their supporters and take to the streets regardless the price. True freedom comes with sacrifice.
It is high time the opposition parties start to take their rightful places in our society and stop the care-free attitude to happenings in our dear motherland.
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