Coalition urged to respect constitution

A legal practitioner, Lamin J Darboe ,has called on the coalition to adhere to the letter and spirit of the constitution in appointments to cabinet positions despite its repugnance to principles of natural justice.The appointment of Fatoumatta Tambajang as Vice President has sparked frenzied debate about violation of the constitution.

Mr Darboe postulated:"To be eligible for appointment as Vice President, all of the conditions delineated under section 62 must be met. In express terms, the Constitution states that “a person shall be qualified to be appointed as Vice-President if he or she has the qualifications required for the election of the President under section 62 (see section 70(2)). Without prevarication, the legal position is unequivocal. No one above 65 years can contest the presidency, and no one above 65 years can be appointed to the vice-presidency. Age is by no means the only restricting provision on appointment to the vice-presidency. In the due diligence requisite for the Coalition government’s lawful appointing process, 62(1)(c) is crucial, and 62(2) is central. Both are non-negotiable. In my view, these provisions are repugnant to democratic principle but there is no escaping that as matters stand, the Constitution remains the fundamental law of the land".
Despite the unjust provisions of the constitution with the consequence of proscribed ambitions, Darboe insisted:

"In a nutshell, the legal position is that a vice-president above 65 years, and, or, a dual national,or a Minister, with dual nationality, cannot be appointed to the Coalition government, i.e., to the Cabinet of President Adama Barrow.I accept there is a political and philosophical angle to this debate. That Babili Mansa continues to affect Gambia’s processes from his political grave is a matter of great consternation. After nearly a quarter century of fighting for change, is it prudent for the Coalition government to sacrifice process for the temporary fix of convenience? Regarding the questions currently on the table, it must be recognised that our difficulties lie not in the domain of interpretation but on express constitutional commands.
In other words, our new dispensation must adhere to the principle of legality, but it must be emphasised that this means the “existence of legal authority” but not necessarily “the quality of that authority”. As earlier stated, the prohibiting constitutional provisions herein discussed are repugnant but unless they can be lawfully tackled, they remain the law and not even the courts can “impeded or restrict the working” of the Constitution.To reiterate, the legal position is that a vice-president above 65 years, and, or, a dual national, or a Minister, with dual nationality, are prohibited from serving in the Coalition government, i.e., as members of the Executive in the Cabinet of President Adama Barrow.Legality requires that we protect our polity by removing “certain basic and fundamental values out of the reach of transient political majorities”.It requires lawful amendment of repugnant provisions to clear the way for utilising the talents of all of our citizens.I hope we are not about to compete Babili Mansa in his speciality of lawlessness".