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Posted - 24 Jan 2017 : 12:59:56
Building The New Gambia
By Madi Jobarteh
Let Us Defend the Constitution and Our Sovereignty
Since the appointment of Fatoumatta Tambajang as the Vice Chief Servant was announced yesterday January 23 some citizens including myself have raised the question about her age in terms of the qualification for that position. The onus lies with the Chief Servant Adama Barrow to issue a statement with a proof whether she is within the age bracket of 30 and 65 years. If yes, then she should continue with her appointment. If no, then Barrow should rescind her appointment or she voluntarily decline the appointment in defense of the constitution.
I am getting worried however to notice that there are some individuals who have started to condemn the constitution and calling for its rejection because they say it is a Yaya Jammeh constitution. I find this quite worrying especially coming from some of the individuals who were well known stalwarts in the fight against dictatorship in our country.
The issue we need to consider is that we have only one constitution in the Gambia and that is the 1997 Constitution. It is this constitution, which gave the authority to the IEC to conduct elections on December 1. It is based on that election we have now an elected Chief Servant Adama Barrow. It is that constitution which makes his swearing in legal and his presidency legitimate. If we now therefore reject that constitution, how can we then justify the election of Adama Barrow? It would mean that we should also reject his election and bring back Yaya Jammeh then. I would rather commit suicide than to be part of such an indescribable act of madness.
Let us remember that even before the election, we had to form a coalition because of the constitution, which has no second round of voting. When we did the election and Yaya Jammeh rejected the result, the Gambia Bar Association said his action tantamount to treason. They based their argument on this constitution. All Gambians and the international community condemned Yaya Jammeh on the basis of this constitution. When APRC petitioned the election, the Coalition said they have a right to petition based on this constitution. All throughout the transition period, the Coalition told Gambians to stay calm and wait for January 19 when we will inaugurate Adama Barrow. They based that argument on the constitution. A civil disobedience movement emerged called #GambiaHasDecided. It is based on this constitution.
Hence we cannot now install our Chief Servant and we start the process of rebuilding our country only for folks to tell us that we disregard the constitution because they cannot do certain actions. That is Yaya Jammeh attitude and this must frighten us to the core. We all know that the APRC has butchered this constitution in all ways imaginable just to disempower Gambians so that they can make Yaya Jammeh a defacto god over our people. But we cannot now throw away that constitution because of our whims and caprices. We have to use this constitution to amend it in order to usher in a truly democratic dispensation. Until we do that, this is the law that must prevail.
I would therefore advise Chief Servant Barrow to clarify by showing us the birth certificate of Fatoumatta Tambajang that indeed she qualifies. Otherwise let him apologize and rescind the appointment, or Tambajang rejects the appointment. Mistakes are part of human life. Leaders have made mistakes throughout history and great leaders like Mandela faced their nation to apologize. Thus I do not see any crisis.
We all appreciate Fatoumatta Tambajang as a dedicated and committed senior Gambian who has contributed immensely to the change we now have. But I think she has so many areas to continue to do her excellent work for the Gambia without the position of Vice Chief Servant. So let us not begin to be undemocratic over a matter that is of no consequence. We must make sure we do not perpetuate unconstitutionality in anyway. Let us stand together to defend the constitution and our sovereignty.
God Bless the Gambia.
Related Topic: http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15150 |
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