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Momodou
Denmark
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 Posted - 20 Oct 2007 : 18:36:07
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FOCUS ON POLITICS
POST-1987 GENERAL ELECTIONS OPPOSITION PETITIONS STRUCK OUT
With Suwaibou Touray
We have been focusing on politics in this column. We will re-emphasize again that the reason why we are doing this is to help the people to have an insight into our political history and be able to gauge how far we are faring with our democratic system.
According to Barbara Goodwin, the democratic justification of political power is essentially legalistic, being based on the legal idea of a contract; that once the people have given their consent through the voting process, that obliges them to obey the chosen government, but it should be clear to that government that power and the right to exercise power belongs only to the people.
According to Goodwin, Hamilton however feared that after the people have given their verdict they might be faced with mob rule, a danger, which should not be acknowledged if the citizenry were active and intelligent.
Let us continue from where we stopped.
By May 13th, the election petitions filed by the NCP and the GPP were the subject of much controversy. The two parties filed petitions against some of the results of the March 11 1987 elections. One interesting thing about the whole thing was that whilst the two parties filed petitions against some parliamentary election results, they have not filed any objection against the presidential election results.
Lawyers Drammeh and Harding who stood for the PPP members in the Supreme Court opposed the motions put forward by Mr. Ousainou Darbo and Miss Ida Drammeh who represented the petitioners of the two opposition parties.
By May 21st 1987, the Chief Justice, E.O Ayoola gave a ruling and struck out 4 petitions on the basis that they were not signed by the petitioners. On top of that 16 other petitions were dismissed because according to the judge, they did not comply with the petition rules. This included the petitions filed by both Mr. Sheriff Mustapha Dibba, leader of the NCP and Mr. Assan Musa Camara, leader of the GPP.
To the surprise of the staunch supporters of the two parties, it was revealed in court that the two other cases left, sent notice of withdrawal, which were filed but adjourned to June 8th 1987. It was left with a petition filed against the Western Foni PPP candidate Mr. B.L.K. Sanyang that was not mentioned at the time.
How did the various forces see this decision? The ruling PPP in their book “THE STORY OF THE PPP, 1959-1989” opined that the two opposition parties had their petitions thrown out with costs because it was meant only to invent doubts, as a matter of expediency, on the conduct and fairness of the elections.
According to the book on the PPP, the leaders of the NCP and the GPP could not be restrained by either conscience or common sense; that they were aware that they owed an explanation to the country and the world and to that end, the accusation of rigged elections, albeit, a figment of their imagination. The PPP felt that the whole thing was based on what they called “concocted falsehood, “ etc. They wondered why at this late stage, the two parties had to sink their differences and closely collaborate in what they described as this masquerade of a campaign. They argued that the so-called cooperation not only came too late but also was doomed to fail because it lacked principle.
The Nation, however, observed the omission of the Sabach Sanjal NCP candidate, Modou Gaye, from the list of opposition petitioners. Here was a candidate who they said had a serious confrontation with the PPP militants to the extent of not only beating him and his pregnant wife but also setting fire near his compound during this very elections.
According to reports, this omission had aroused suspicions and raised the question as to whether there was a deal between the Sabach Sanjal NCP candidate and the PPP candidate, Mr. Saikou Sabally who was the then minister of Agriculture.
The Nation, which followed the petition cases very closely, reported that it was clear to all who had been watching the actions of the opposition parties; that the much publicized election petitions before the Supreme Court had quietly disappeared if not fooled away from the scene completely.
Some opposition members also expressed disquiet on the attitude of their leaders who, they say, were not taking the matter seriously. They said their leaders should have taken positive action accordingly if they did not want the chief justice to hear their cases but instead were just whispering. Critics within the opposition said that apart from the ample evidence of irregularities during the election campaigns there was a valid complaint against administrative error in the judicial department; that the necessary documents filed were not served by the appropriate government officer.
The Nation opined that if it was true that the officer in question was dismissed for not serving summons, then it could be an example of neglect of duty or an obstruction to the petitions. The oppositions’ much publicized actions in trying to annul the results eventually came to an end.
The Nation expressed hope that perhaps the pressure of the PDOIS may relieve the strain.
The PPP, however opined that the PDOIS had chosen to stand by its honour and accepted that the elections were free and the results fair. But the PDOIS swiftly came out to denounce the PPP statement, which they knew was loaded with sugar -coated bullets. The PDOIS maintained their position that the elections had a lot of anomalies. They mentioned the clash between Halifa Sallah and Jawara when the latter arrived at the Serrekunda Primary School Polling Station with a large entourage with sirens blaring just to create the atmosphere of fear and bravado, but as they said he was attacked by the former for not abiding by the rules and was unceremoniously rushed away quicker than he had arrived. The PDOIS maintained that they were going to spend the rest of the period 1987-1992 to study the electoral system and come out with a tangible well-researched
document that would not only show the anomalies but also suggest possible solutions to create a better electoral system for the country.
By about the 25 of July, wild unbelievable rumours spread like whirlwinds surprisingly believed by many that Sir Dawda intended to abdicate or relinquish power. The rumors did not stop there. The rumour mongers backed their statement by asserting that this was why the president had moved from State House to his own private residence on Atlantic road. Others in fact went on to even suggest names of those in the race for the “throne” as the Nation dubbed it, such as Messrs Omar Sey, M.B. Njie, the then speaker of parliament, and Sheriff M. Dibba, NCP leader.
Another wild rumour came up at about October 3rd 1987 that Kukoi Samba Sanyang was on his way to The Gambia. According to the Nation, this had alerted the police to move to search baggages in vehicles, at junctions and check points leading to Banjul from the Kombos.
The matter of Jawara abdicating his position came up again but this time it was said that the speaker of the House of Representatives appeared before the members of the cabinet and among the matters to be considered was the president’s intending resignation from the office of presidency. The rumour said the speaker was said to have informed the cabinet of this and proceeded to propose a name of the successor but the minister of works Alh. Momodou Cadi Cham was said to have interrupted to say such a procedure would be unconstitutional because the speaker was a stranger to the cabinet.
People believed these wild rumours at the time because of two things. First,. they were getting tired of the status quo.Secondly, the official news was no more credible because at that time, radio Gambia always engaged in announcing the so-called cross-carpeters from the opposition who according to the Nation may have been their own members just to create psychological confusion instead of informing the people about the true state of affairs of the country.
See next issue as we delve into the later 1987.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 118/2007, 8 – 9 October 2007
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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