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Momodou
Denmark
11831 Posts |
 Posted - 12 Sep 2007 : 22:48:24
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Foroyaa Editorial
Two Systems, One Country
Amendment of the Constitution
The APRC members of the National Assembly have passed a Bill to amend section 194 paragraph (c), which states that an Act of the National Assembly by or under which a local government authority is established shall include a provision for “The direct election of mayor or chairman of the authority.”
It was the intention of the constitution to have autonomous councils. This is why section 193 subsection (1) states that “Local Government administration in The Gambia shall be based on a system of democratically elected councils with a high degree of local autonomy.
Subsection (4) buttresses the issue of autonomy by asserting that “It shall be an objective of the local government system that as far as possible, issues of local policy and administration shall be decided at the local level and that local government authorities shall coordinate with the central Government in adopting a policy of decentralisation. Decentralisation goes with the devolution of power to the councils comprising elected representatives.
The APRC government, however, has shown without any pretension that it is not interested in autonomous councils or the devolution of power to local authorities.
This is confirmed by the amendment of the Constitution and the Local Government Act.
When the Local Government Act was initially enacted, section 15 gave the chairperson of a council the following powers:
“(1) A Chairperson shall be the political head of the Local Government Area and shall –
(a) preside at Council meetings;
(b) supervise the general administration of the Area; and
(c) perform such other functions as may be imposed on the Chairperson by this or any other enactment that may be necessary for the efficient conduct of the business of a Council.
(2) The Chairperson shall be answerable to the Council in the performance of his or her functions and shall uphold the Constitution, the council’s By-laws and the laws of The Gambia.
(3) The Chairperson shall submit to the Council an annual report on the state of affairs of his or her Local Government Area.”
The amendment in 2004 removed the role of the chairperson being the political head of the local government area. The amendments in 2006 removed the power of the council and made the chairpersons answerable to the governors in the following words:
“The Chairperson shall be answerable to the governor in the performance of his or her functions.” Under the Local Government Act a chairperson could be removed for abuse of office, corruption, misconduct and physical or mental incapacity which renders a person incapable of discharging the duties associated with office.
However, it was to be subjected to review by a tribunal set up by the Chief Justice. Now it is the Secretary of State who receives notice indicating that irregularity has been done by the chairperson. The Secretary of State can suspend the Chairperson and investigate allegations and report findings to the president.
Under section 51, “the Secretary of State empowered to make recommendations to the council for the removal of any member of the council including the chairperson, if the irregularity concerns any action or omission of the members.”
The Secretary of State can “give such other directions as the Secretary of State may deem appropriate to deal with the situation and the council shall comply accordingly.”
What then is left of the autonomy of councils? Absolutely nothing!!!
The Gambian people should now reflect on how the colonialist intended to rule The Gambia and determine for themselves whether there had been any change in rural administration since the colonial period. Now the commissioners are called governors. Chiefs are supposed to have paramount chiefs. They can all be removed by the executive without resorting to any judicial inquiry.
When the Constitution Review Commission was established it was mandated to review the 1970 Constitution and determine its adequacy or otherwise for the good governance of the country.
The 1970 Constitution did not have a provision dealing with Local Government.
The Commission took note of this and recommended for the eradication of the system of dividing the country into provinces and a city with two different sets of administration.
Foroyaa would want people to recall what it said that the democratic provisions could only be kept alive electing democratically minded leaders otherwise amendments will take us back to square one. This is precisely what is happening today.
The lesson should, therefore, be clear that it is the government of the day in collaboration with the National Assembly of the day who pass and assent to laws, respectively.
Constitutions and laws do not make themselves, they are made by people. Hence if we want laws which would empower the people we should elect representatives interested in empowering the people.
The type of representatives we have will determine the type of laws we will have. The laws of the country are creation of the people we elect. Every law we disapprove should lead us to rethink who we are to elect to be lawmakers.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issues
Issue No.107/2007, 12-13 September, 2007
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