The letter written by the Secretary General Ebrima O. Camara on behalf of the President Adama Barrow is a direct affront on the authority, dignity and legitimacy of the National Assembly hence a direct affront to the very sovereignty of the Gambian People.
In the first place the Secretary General is totally inconsequential to arrogate to himself the job of writing a dismissal letter to a National Assembly Member. This is an act of gross insubordination, misconduct and total irresponsibility. The Secretary General has overstepped his limits and he must be held to account, severely!
Secondly how can the Secretary General write a letter from the Presidency to a sitting National Assembly without putting it on the official letterhead of the Presidency with the national Coat of Arms? Why didn’t the SG use the official letterhead of the Presidency? It means both the SG and the President know that their action is unconstitutional and criminal hence decided to use a mere piece of paper to insult the very dignity and sovereignty of the Republic of the Gambia. That is an impeachable act! By this act alone the Secretary General has demonstrated his total lack of respect for his office and more seriously for a sitting National Assembly Member.
Thirdly Mr. Camara has grossly broken all protocols by directly writing to a sitting National Assembly Member on a matter like this without first writing officially to the Speaker of the National Assembly. By this letter the Secretary General has transformed himself into a tool of disrespect and shame while further disrespecting the National Assembly as an institution. I urge Hon. Ya Kumba Jaiteh to throw this piece of blank paper letter into the garbage bin where it rightful belongs!
Fourthly and most seriously, for the President to have taken this decision and to allow his Secretary General to write on a blank piece of paper demonstrates the President’s total disregard and violation of the Constitution and his utter contempt of the National Assembly which tantamount to impeachment. The President should have known that he has no right, authority or power in anyway imaginable to sack a sitting National Assembly Member.
The fact that the Constitution gives power to the President to nominate a National Assembly Member does not mean the Constitution guarantees him the power to control that National Assembly Member. The moment a nominated person takes an oath of office as a National Assembly Member he or she is no more under the control of any person or authority in the Gambia other than the National Assembly itself. The removal process of National Assembly Members is well spelt out in the Constitution which do not involve the President in anyway.
I urge National Assembly Members to therefore not only reject this disrespectful and empty piece of paper totally and completely but also to go further to seek the impeachment of the President for this blatant violation the Constitution. If National Assembly fails to impeach the President and punish the Secretary General for their gross misconduct, then the National Assembly would have been the greatest accomplice in the killing of democracy in the Gambia thus constituting the highest level of betrayal of the people of the Gambia.
The time has come for the National Assembly to stand their ground to defend the Constitution and the Republic as required by them by the Constitution. The instances of violations of the Constitution by Pres. Adama Barrow and his Government are too numerous to count and it is the National Assembly that must put a stop to this misconduct once and for all by impeaching this President.
Finally, members of the Cabinet must bear in mind that they bear equal responsibility for the decisions and actions of the President hence they must not stand aside to watch such blatant violation of the Constitution to take place. Ministers with conscience must either tell the President the truth to immediately withdraw this blank paper letter or they resign. Ministers must be seen to defend the Republic of the Gambia against the whims and caprices of one person regardless of his position. I would expect the Minster of Justice Abubacarr Tambadou to be the first to resign!
We must not allow one man to become a despot over our heads once again as we allowed and created Yaya Jammeh became a dictator!
For the Gambia Our Homeland
Madi, impeachment could be an outcome and I’m not disputing that possibility. However, there s the absolute need to define the impeachable act for the benefit of the Gambian people as The Gambia Bar Association did.
What I do believe is in order is to ask for the President’s senior advisor and Secretary General to tender his resignation forthwith.
The Secretary General together with anyone else that subscribed to this ill informed decision should be shown the door in a clear message that mediocrity and self serving tendencies will not be entertained in the New Gambia!
The legislature must also seek legal advice on launching an investigation into what informed this ill advised gambit.
That’ll set a very bright example for all Gambians and a clear signal to heads of public corporations that shoddy management will not be given a pass going forward.
Unfortunately, many people are affected by convoluted thinking. An elected NAM is not Nominated by a President. He or she is elected not nominated. Therefore, only a loss of position through an election, recall by Petition or removal from the National Assembly by the Proscribed National Assembly Procedures laid out in a given Constitution. No such thing applies to a nominated official. Nominated individuals or officials do not have immunity from being removed or fired by the person who nominated them. No attempt to apply a flawed and repugnant Constitution can change this fact. That is, Nominated officials serve at the discretion of the person who nominated them, in this case, Adama Barrow nominated aka employed the woman and can fire or remove her. She did not run for the position nor did she win the position by being elected by the Voters of a Constituency. This later circumstance and or situation is what immunizes the NAMS who are elected, Not nominated individuals such as the woman in question who was nominated aka employed by Adama Barrow. Gambia and Gambians have more serious issues to endeavor to resolve and this issue is not one of them. It may be an issue for UDP PARTY MEMBERS and those who support the woman but definitely not an issue for the rest of the Gambia and Gambians.
Clearly, there seems to be a lot of of gaps in the understanding of the Separation of Powers that American Democratic Dispensation built in. It is called Checks and Balances. Yes, American Federal judges are appointed by the President in power. That is, if, when and where a vacancy exists. However, and this is the significant difference between the American reality and our nightmare in Africa and Gambia as an example. American Nominated judges must be Confirmed by the relevant Committee (The Judiciary Committee) or entire Senate as in when a judge is Nominated to the Supreme Court. If a President’s Nominee is not Confirmed by the designated Committee or by the Senate, the judge is not Seated, his Nomination is rejected, it is null and void. The significance of the Confirmation Process is to allow the People’s Representatives not just the President’s Executive Power to be applied without the Checks and Balance Provision of the Separation of Powers activate and working in the interest of the People. Through the Confirmation Process, the American people, the Voters are through their Representatives, having their “Say” on the character, qualification, and in case of a judge, the temperament of the Jurist or judge being Nominated. Did such a Confirmation Process take place in the Nominated NAMS? No such thing took place in the Nomination of the individual. Instead of spending time and energy trying to justify an obvious Repugnant Act that the Ruling Parties use to inflate and or undemocratically create a false majority in Parliament or in Gambia’s case, the National Assembly, this act that Adama Barrow has the authority and potentially the power to exercise should be exponged, removed from the Gambian Constitution and all relevant Provisions. Unfortunately, until that is done, Presidents in Gambia and elsewhere where such Repugnant Provisions are embedded in their Constitution would be granted the power to Nominate without Legislative Oversight or Confirmation Process and thus, the open door for Presidents to fire or remove the individual they Nominated. Adama Barrow has not violated any existing Provision in the Gambian Constitution of 1997. Where there is no explicit Constitutional provision prohibiting the President from firing or removing an individual from a position he or she is Nominated to by the President, no reasonable and informed Court should allow itself to be dragged into a “Broad” and Unmitigated interpretation of the Gambian Constitution. Where there is no Provision as in the case at hand, the norm is a “Narrow” interpretation of the Constitution and leave it to the “Law Making Body” in Gambias case the National Assembly to come up with Legislation that would then be submitted to the Public for Ratification and Adoption into the Constitution. Let the NAMS perform their Due Diligence of Oversight and Law Making Responsibilities. However, the Gambian Citizens and Voters must demand that the Three Branches, the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislative Branches deliver their assigned, designated and proscribed duties and responsibilities the Voters, the Gambians and Gambia Deserve. Not a manufactured Party Politics and Ethnic group Politics such as the one at hand. Gambia is more than the Sum Total of One Tribe, One Region, or Party.