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Momodou
Denmark
11633 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Jan 2011 : 15:01:08
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Culled from KAY'S reVIEW:
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IN DEFENSE OF THE GAMBIA BAR ASSOCIATION:
By KAYJATTA
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Recently, there is so much attorney bashing and attacks on the Gambia Bar Association for its perceived past inaction in matters that were purely socio- political and therefore outside the mandate of the legal association.
I have a different take...
The Gambia Bar Association (GBA) is an association of lawyers and judges. It is a professional body largely tasked with safeguarding professional integrity and the interests of its members concerning the practice of law.
Therefore, the Gambia Bar association is not a political body for the simple reason that different members of the bar have different political views and perhaps loyalty to different political parties. While members of the bar are officers of the court, the Bar is not considered part of the government or the judiciary.
The Gambian Bar has every right and mandate to come to the defense of Attorney Moses Richards in the charges of defamation (of the President) pending against him. As a fee-paying member of the bar, that much is owed to him. However, the Bar does not owe the same or similar obligation to a purely general political interest such as opposition to a particular political regime or political practice. The mandate to change political order belong only to the Gambian people, not the Bar Association. Hence "power belong to the people". If the Gambian people wish to change their political and economic conditions, they will have to get up and do it themselves. The Gambian attorneys are doing a great job under very difficult conditions to defend accused persons against the state, and recently they have prevailed in some very importatnt cases.
The arrest and prosecution of Mr. Richards for making statements that are protected under the law in his circumstance and capacity is an appropriate occasion for the Bar to act, just like the 'attack' on the Parkistani judge spurred the intervention of that county's bar association (and or individual lawyers) leading to the ouster of President Gen. Musharaf.
The Gambian bar has led the way by writing a protest letter to the government followed by a strike. That alone is a brave move worthy of commendation.The civil society could "compliment their effort" {to use a Gambian cliche :)} and follow suit and help crack down on the APRC regime. Beside the Bar Association and the former Student Union, there is no single civil society group, not even the Gambia Press Union (GPU), who is so far the biggest victim of the government, that has ever confronted the military government this far.
This is a moment of encouragement, not condemnation...
Source: Kays Review
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Dalton1
3485 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 00:56:02
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Alj Momodou,
I congratulate Kay on his new outlet. I laughed at his comments, knowing that Kay won't stop his legal analysis. I read a little bit of his profile, and I now see why he always comments in a legal way....please find below a response I posted for him on his outlet this morning. Thanks for sharing, and I would have missed this post of his'. I still hold onto my point that the technicality shouldn't make us "selective" in our way of doing things.
Thanks,
Kay,
This is a great review, and you noted some things about the GBA that deserve acknowledgement. While I support the GBA in its effort to fight for Richards, I equally call on them to broaden the fight to others more deserving of such justice dispensation.
While truly agreeable that the GBA is not a political organ, it falls under the human rights watch dog. Notwithstanding, due to the dire urgency of Gambia’s situation, it will be futile to engage in the technicalities to limit the GBA to just fighting for its members. That would defeat the purpose of being uniformed in the GBA. An encouragement on their brave move should be commended, and I think they should be tasked for limitations in their activities. It leaves millions of the unprivileged at the mercy of total injustice, and most of their cases buried for eternity.
Kind Regards,
Yero. |
"There is no god but Allah (SWT); and Muhammad (SAW)is His last messenger." shahadah. Fear & Worship Allah (SWT) Alone! (:
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Momodou
Denmark
11633 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 11:06:27
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Dalton, I do like and learn a lot from Kay's analysis’s on legal issues even though he always writes a disclaimer that he is not an attorney. It’s good to see that he has a blog were we can read some of his thoughts.
It’s good to see that the Bar has also start to do their little part in the struggle to bring sanity to situation.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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somita
United Kingdom
163 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 11:29:22
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I beg to differ from KAYJATTA position, Martin Lurther Jr. once said and i quote, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice somewhere", members of the bar have been at the helm of the injustice, there is no such thing as innocient by-standers, or i was there but said nothing ... As a matter of fact I dont agree that the bar is being heroic in any shape or form, infact the true heroes are the people who pay for their services in Kangaroo courts.
Mahatma Gandhi said "In my humble opinion, non-co-operation with evil is as much a duty as is co-operation with good" unfortunately the GBA has fail this litmus test, in the past they have corporated with evil, they cannot suddenly be a force for good. They have given ligitimacy to an illigitmate process and system .... its brave for them to ask the public for support. |
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Dalton1
3485 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 19:26:45
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Welcome back my brother Adam. Good to know everything is okay with you. Are you back to the UK, or are you still in the Gambia?
On this topic, I hold the same view as you...find below.
http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10191
Yero. |
"There is no god but Allah (SWT); and Muhammad (SAW)is His last messenger." shahadah. Fear & Worship Allah (SWT) Alone! (:
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