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| toubab1020 |
Posted - 13 Dec 2022 : 13:33:34
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https://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/headlines/barrow-to-appoint-governors-for-km-and-banjul
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#Headlines
Barrow to appoint governors for KM & Banjul
Dec 13, 2022, 10:03 AM | Article By: Adama Jallow
His Excellency President Adama Barrow has announced that he would appoint administrative governors for both the Kanifing Municipality and Banjul City in January 2023.
The new Kanifing Municipal Governor will directly represent the president as well as be the head of all government institutions within the municipality.
The Administrative Governor for the Banjul City Council would also be the head of all government institutions within the City Council in accordance with government directives and principles.
Mr. Barrow says his government wants to directly work with the people for a progressive Gambia.
He said the budgets for the two administrative governors have already been created waiting for approval, noting that after the appointment of the administrative governors, all developmental funds would pass through the administrative for further implementation.
President Barrow was speaking Sunday night at Talinding Buffer Zone in the Kanifing Municipality as the 2022 Meet the People’s Tour under the theme: ‘Together we can accelerate socio-economic growth and maintain peace and stability’ reached the KMC.
The 2022 tour was to dialogue with the people across the nation thus giving an opportunity to the government to have first-hand information regarding some of the challenges encountered by the communities for a possible intervention.
President Barrow expressed his disappointment at the poor turnout to the meeting, adding that the National Assembly Members of KMC should have been there to represent their people at the meeting to effectively highlight concerns and challenges their electorates face for possible government intervention.
He further advised the KMC to collectively work with the government for the interest of the nation, irrespective of political affiliation.
As part of President Barrow’s project development plans, he promised to begin the construction of the bridge at London Corner, connecting the Abuko stream in January 2023.
He noted that the government is currently negotiating with the affected compound owners for possible compensation and relocation.
He further stated that there are other roads to be constructed within the KMC under the OIC project, adding that he had engaged the contractor that upon completion of the Banjul road project, the KMC roads would be the next to be constructed.
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| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| toubab1020 |
Posted - 11 Jan 2023 : 11:03:51
By Omar Bah on January 10, 2023
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https://standard.gm/barrow-urged-to-drop-plans-to-appoint-governors-in-banjul-km/
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Lamin Keita, a Gambian PhD Fellow at the Northwestern University in the US, has advised President Adama Barrow to withdraw his plans to appoint governors in Banjul and Kanifing.
In one of his engagements in Kanifing during the meet-the-people Tour, President Barrow announced he will appoint governors for Kanifing Municipality and Banjul to put a halt to what he described as “efforts undermining his government’s programs”. The president said the leadership of the two councils has been hampering his government’s efforts to implement its programs.
However, respected prominent Lawyer Lamin J Darbo, has since said the president does not have any constitutional powers to appoint governors for Banjul and Kanifing Municipality.
But reacting to the announcement in a Standard exclusive, Mr Keita said: “The president’s announcement should be seen as a clear manifestation of self-perpetuation with varying agendas. What is going on in regard to the political process should concern every Gambian because we are sliding back to dictatorship in a modest form.
“The role of our political leaders today gave way to pessimism about our new found democracy’s prospect. We can all attest to the preposition that the promotion of rapid democratic process in the Gambia with emphasis on competitive multiparty and free and fair governing capacity of the state is misguided at best, a fundamental mistake at worst. As a result, whether Barrow appoints the governors or not, the fact is the power of the people is more than his personal political ambition,” he said.
He argued that executive power, if unchecked, derails genuine democratic process and good leaders should oppose that trajectories.
For his part, Jeggan Grey Johnson, activist and social commentator, said: “Unless, President Barrow tells us that he wants to overthrow the 1997 constitution and bypass section 193 on the system of local governments – as this is criteria set in stone.”
He said local government authorities and administration shall be based on a system of democratically elected councils with a high degree of local autonomy.
“His utterances are ill-informed, irresponsible and smacks of conduct unbecoming of a leader in a country that is struggling to still solidify the aspirations of sound democratic practice after decades of rapaciousness, arbitrariness and rampant corruption and tyranny. If the president wants to take us back to those dark days, he must be informed that such utterances will not be tolerated under any circumstances,” he said.
Also, commenting on the matter, a prominent Gambian Human Rights and pro-democracy activist, Pa Samba Jow said the president’s pronouncement is made “out of emotion and not sound policy”.
“His whole argument sounds more vindictive than in the interest of the people. The last thing Gambians need during these very difficult economic times is another unnecessary office created for political reasons. I seriously believe that Barrow is using the KMC office opening snub as an excuse to justify appointments of governors in KMC and Banjul. Just like the opening of three new embassies, these governorships are meant to create positions for his political allies, even if it means further plunging our country into more debt and economic hardship.
“As for his complaints about the absence of National Assembly members at his rallies, I say kudos to the NAMs for not attending what has turned out to be nothing but an NPP political tour in direct contravention of the Constitution,” he added. |
| Momodou |
Posted - 21 Dec 2022 : 20:48:37
Barrow has no power to appoint governors for Banjul, KM – Lawyer
The Standard: December 21, 2022
By Tabora Bojang
https://standard.gm/barrow-has-no-power-to-appoint-governors-for-banjul-km-lawyer/
Lawyer Lamin J Darbo has said President Adama Barrow does not have any constitutional powers to appoint governors for Banjul and Kanifing Municipality.
The president stirs nerves after announcing last week that he is going to appoint governors for Kanifing Municipality and Banjul which are all manned by opposition mayors to put a halt to what he described as “efforts undermining his government’s programs.”
Speaking to Kerr Fatou yesterday, Darbo, a prominent lawyer, argued that governors cannot control democratically elected councils.
“The Constitution has provided a high degree of autonomy for the local councils. The president or whoever is administering that scheme should ensure that the conduct of government complies significantly with that constitutional language. So if they say a high degree of autonomy, you cannot come from the State House and say I want to administer your councils for you or I want to administer your councils for you through the Ministry of Local Government as we are seeing now.”
He said the 1997 Constitution has vested powers in itself as the supreme law of The Gambia and any law that is found to be in conflict with it is void.
“It does not matter what the president wants. The law is clear. If you go on a journey of your own because you believe you are an all-powerful president, you can probably pass legislation especially if you control the National Assembly and that is not a problem. But that legislation will conflict with the constitution and you cannot implement that legislation, because if you do and you are challenged at the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court may declare it null and void. The Constitution has stated how the local government should be set up with a high degree of autonomy in a democratic climate. So we are talking about decentralisation of power; not all the powers belong to the president. The president has powers to appoint commissioners or now governors and those ones are actually outside the local government set up as far as democratic universal suffrage is concerned. Nobody votes for a commissioner or a governor, so a governor cannot control a democratic elected council,” Darbo further argued.
“The issue of the appointment of CEOs in councils is very troubling and it should not be there [in our laws]. It is troubling because now we have seen how it is being used. A CEO from nowhere will be used to serve as the boss of the mayor, the head of the council and be in all the subcommittees of the councils and nobody voted for him or her.”
Asked if the president would have powers to amend the 1997 Constitution to allow him a legal base to appoint governors for the metropolitan councils of KM and Banjul, he said going by the recent Supreme Court ruling the president cannot do such.
“The Supreme Court specifically said you cannot curtail the term of councils by 3 months. Why do you pick up a fight with the Supreme Court and amend the Constitution? That would be irresponsible. Don’t amend the Constitution to suit you because nobody is a country. The country is there. You will leave the country there and if you destroy it, you destroy it along with your legacy but you will not live forever. So even if he [president] has the numbers [in the National Assembly] I don’t think he would amend the Constitution on such trivial grounds. This is not an important issue. People voted for members of councils, for their chair persons under a universal adult suffrage. Why do you want to change that?” |
| Momodou |
Posted - 14 Dec 2022 : 19:43:59
Barrow’s Take-Over Bid for BCC, KMC
By D. A. Jawo
President Adama Barrow seems to have devised a clever plan to take over the opposition-controlled municipalities of Banjul and Serekunda by announcing his intentions to impose on them an administrator, no doubt to curb the powers and influence of the mayors in those two municipalities.
Speaking on Sunday at the Buffer Zone during his first meeting in the Kanifing Municipality as part of his Meet the People’s Tour, he gave an example of how the governors up country are the lords of the area councils. Therefore he said the administrators that he intends to appoint in Banjul and KM “will be heads of all government institutions within KM and Banjul and will represent the government as well.”
That would indeed be an interesting scenario because it would mean effecting some major changes to the Local Government Act, which presently gives such administrative powers to the mayors of KM and Banjul.
By contemplating such a decision, President Barrow seems to have been resigned to the fact that his National People’s Party (NPP) is unlikely to ever win those two important municipalities and as such, he is trying to devise ways to curb the powers of the mayors and take control of the councils through the back door. We seem to have been given a taste of the type of scenario that he intends to impose on Banjul and KM when he virtually stripped the Basse Area Council of such basic powers of even managing their own markets and instead handing over that responsibility to the governor.
At the Buffer Zone meeting, we heard President Barrow complain about the absence of the elected National Assembly Members of the municipality from the meeting, attributing that to their lack of interest in working with his administration.
While I agree with him that, as the Meet the People’s Tour is a state-sponsored event, all elected officials should have been involved in it, regardless of political affiliation. However, rather than blame the opposition members for not attending such events, he should have analyzed the situation in order to know what had been responsible for their persistent absence. He would have no doubt realized that the problem stemmed from the way and manner that the tour had been organized and executed. We have all seen how a big chunk of the entourage usually comprises of NPP militants and supporters who have absolutely no role in such a state-sponsored event. Also, rather than discussing the problems affecting the communities that they visit, as it was supposed to be, most of the speakers, who are carefully selected and screened in advance, re-iterate their unflinching support for President Barrow and the NPP, regardless of the fact that the tour had been sponsored by the tax payers. Most of them see and treat those meetings as purely NPP events, and as such, they expect only supporters of the party to attend. We can all recall how certain opposition members who attended such events in the past ended up being humiliated. A good example was the clear attempt to humiliate the former member for Niamina East Constituency, Omar Ceesay during the 2021 Meet the People’s Tour when he spoke at a meeting in Kudang. That is the sort of treatment that seems to await opposition members that attend such events and it is no doubt the reason why most of them shy away from attending such functions.
President Barrow has accused the two mayors of being engaged in “undermining” his government’s programs. There is however no reason for the mayors to undermine his government and they no doubt want to work with his administration, but instead there have been some clear attempts by his government to undermine their authority, apparently to weaken their control of the municipalities and eventually make them unpopular in anticipation of defeating them at the next mayoral elections. We have seen the Banjul roads and drainage project, for instance, being designed and executed without involving the mayor of Banjul. We have also witnessed the attempt by the former Minister of Regional Governments, Musa Drammeh to use his office to impose the former Chief Executive Officer of the KMC after she fell out with the mayor over allegations of mal-administration.
Therefore, it is clearly the negative attitude of the government towards the mayors and their municipalities that caused the rift between them and the Barrow administration.
As we approach the next local government elections, there is even a high possibility of the government using an existing provision of the Local Government Act which gives the minister the power to appoint an administrator of the municipality for at least three months before the elections to undermine even further the powers and authority of the mayors. “I would not be surprised to even see the disgraced former Chief Executive Officer Sainabou Martin Sonko being appointed to oversee the KMC, with the objective of humiliating and further undermining Mayor Talib Bensouda,” predicted an opposition commentator.
Certainly, appointing an administrator for KMC is not going to change the situation as long as President Barrow has allowed his party supporters to hijack the tour and transform it into an annual political jamboree. It is quite unfair to use tax payers money to promote partisan politics as it seems to be happening now. We have been told that D10 million Dalasis were budgeted for the tour, which amount of course is just a tip of the iceberg. We can imagine the other costs of the tour such as fuel and wear and tear of the large convoy of government vehicles used to transport such an unnecessarily large entourage, the loss of man-hours for all those officials that leave their offices during the duration of the tour, and other derivative costs. What we are witnessing is therefore quite at variant with the “Never Again” mantra that this government had made so much noise about, particularly after the startling revelations of financial mismanagement and mal-governance unearthed by the Janneh Commission and the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC). However, what we are presently witnessing with the Barrow administration is quite reminiscent of what had been happening under the Yahya Jammeh regime, which of course should not be a surprise to anyone, seeing how the Jammeh-enablers have made it back in government in a very big way. The trend seems to point to the Barrow administration gradually taking us back to those bad old days and becoming more dictatorial as he consolidates himself in power.
It is indeed quite sad that the Barrow administration does not seem to have learnt much from the numerous lessons of the Jammeh regime and it seems to be not only repeating those very same mistakes, but even committing bigger ones.
This is certainly not what Gambians had bargained for when they risked their lives and limb to get rid of the Jammeh dictatorship, hoping to usher in a brand new dispensation that would remove partisan politics from such state-sponsored functions like the Meet the People’s Tour. Unfortunately however, the situation seems to be gradually sliding backwards to what it was during those bad old days. |
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