LOCAL GOVT. ACT BATTLE CJ sets for ruling

Chief Justice Abdou Karim Savage, who is the presiding judge in the ongoing constitutional amendment case at the Supreme Court, has adjourned proceedings to Monday, January 14 for ruling.

This follows the submissions by Marie Saine-Firdaus, Attorney General and secretary of state for Justice, who is representing the state, Lawyer Amie Joof-Conteh for the IEC, and Ousainou AM Darboe, counsel for UDP, NRP, and the minority leader of the National Assembly, Hon Momodou Lamin Sanneh, who is also the NAM for Kiang West.

The legal battle over the constitutional amendment (Local Government Act and the 1997 Constitution) took centre-stage after the three plaintiffs filed a case, challenging the legality of the amendments. The three litigants have also been seeking the court’s injunction to prevent the IEC from holding the local government elections, pending the outcome of the case.

In her counter-submission yesterday, the Attorney General Saine-Firdaus urged the court to maintain previous submissions and diregard submissions by the counsel for the plaintiffs. She backed her submission with various sections, including Section 127(1) of the constitution. She also gave a number of legal authorities, including from Nigeria.

She told the court that UDP and NRP are still members of NADD, saying that both Darboe and Hamat Bah resigned from the alliance in their individual capacities as party leaders. She therefore argued that the duo have no legal ground to bring the suit before the court. She informed the court that the third plaintiff (Momodou Lamin Sanneh) cannot overrule the majority decision in the National Assembly, noting that he has no capacity to bring the suit before the court.

In her reply, Amie Joof-Conteh, counsel for the second defendant (IEC) also urged the court to maintain her submission, saying that the plaintiffs have no genuine cause of action against the second defendant.

Lawyer Joof-Conteh based her submission on various sections of the Electoral Decree 1996 and 1997 Constitution. According to her, IEC is an independent body and should not be mistaken as a public or private authority. She also relied on decided cases and legal authorities in both The Gambia and Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Lawyer Darboe raised several objections. He maintained that the plaintiffs have a legal capacity to bring the suit before the court, saying that the IEC would not have endorsed the nomination of UDP and NRP if they are not seperate entities from NADD. He said that it is a fact that UDP, NRP, and NADD all participated in the last presidential and National Assembly elections and he is the leader of UDP, while Hamat Bah leads NRP.