By Bakary Touray Jr
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubacarr (Ba) Tambadou today tabled before the National Assembly, a Motion for the extension of the Public Emergency to three (3) months, effective 3rd April 2020.
The government’s chief legal advisor told the lawmakers that the ninety-day extension of the period of the State of Public Emergency, would allow the government to make proper planning and organization for the implementation of the immediate, medium and long-term preventive and precautionary measures.
The declaration was made by President Barrow on Friday 27th March 2020, pursuant to section 34(1) (a) of the 1997 constitution of The Gambia.
Justice Minister Tambadou said the declaration was made in response to the global threat of COVID-19, as declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as global pandemic and Gambia is vulnerable to the pandemic.
“The proclamation published in the Gazette that a situation exists in the Gambia which, if it is allowed to continue, may lead to a state of public emergency.
“At this point in time, only cases of infection of the virus was reported in the country and 141 other countries had reported varying degrees of infection,” he said.
He echoed: “We will therefore need the collaboration of every Gambian in this collective national effort. Every facet of Gambian life will be adversely affected, but so is every facet of life elsewhere around the world. This is now matter of survival first and not about individual preference.”
He said that following this proclamation, the situation dramatically changed in and outside of the county in the ensuing week with reports of three cases of infection and one death as a result of viral infection in the Gambia.
Tambadou added that WHO has reported that 171 countries have been affected with 20,834 within a week have been killed by the pandemic.
“In response to this increase threat of the virus to the country, His Excellency, the President on 26th March acting under section 34(1) (A) issued a second proclamation declaring that a state of public emergency exists in the whole of The Gambia,” he reminded the National Assembly Members (NAMs).
The proclamation, he went on, was duly communicated to the National Assembly to extend the President’s declaration of a state of public emergency, pursuant to section 34 of the constitution.
He lamented that: “These are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary measures. Coronavirus is menacing, dangerous and deadly and there is no cure. Not yet anyway. As a government, we are entrusted with the responsibility to our collective efforts to fight this pandemic in any way we can and with every tool at our disposal.”
He charged that for the government to provide effective leadership in this preventive national effort, it must be given a margin of appreciation in deciding the courses it wishes to embark upon, the duration and timing.
“These are key tools that should be put at the disposal, of the government, so that it can fully and effectively assume its leadership responsibilities to prevent a looming catastrophe in this period of global crisis,” argued the AG and Justice Minister.
He intimated that, this would help to save lives and balance the competing political, social and economic interests expected in such times of national and global crisis.
The National Assembly Member for Serekunda Central, Hon. Halifa Sallah, in his reaction to the Extension Motion, said that the National Assembly is an oversight institution, meant to control excesses of power, and he challenged lawmakers to not begin losing the control of oversight.
He told his colleagues that they’re being told that “we are sitting under a state of emergency” and were told by the Minister that the President made a declaration on the 18th March 2020, a proclamation of a State of Emergency.
“We are not questioning the competence of the Minister, but we must begin to be guided by the very instrument that legitimizes our presence here,” the outspoken lawmaker remarked.
He, therefore, moved the motion for the Assembly to adjourn the debate and refer the motion to the Select Committee on Human Rights and Constitutional Matters.
The reason for doing that, as he explained, is to see whether the law was complied with for the Presidential proclamation. Sallah said what is strange is that another state of emergency was declared by the President on 3rd April 2020, for the extension of the proclamation for 90 days.
Noting that he had seen two proclamations, Sallah wants the committee to look at the legality of the first proclamation, “because there must have been a period where we do not have a State of Emergency, when something was null and void but something was being implemented”.
That’s what they need to look into and if that has happened, then a recurrence must be prevented, the sessoned lawmaker advised. He added that it would have been important to consult the National Assembly not now, “but before the expiration of the seven days that was initially declared. That would have been more appropriate”.
“In doing so, emergency powers are based on Act and there is an emergency powers Act enacted since 1965, which provides for regulations or proclamations to be made in order to effect controls over our rights. Our rights have been controlled and those controls must be dictated by law,” Sallah submitted.
He stated that whatever regulations are published in the gazette must be reasonably justifiable in a democratic society. “That is what we need to gauge whether these regulations are reasonable and justifiable in a democracy”.
He told NAMs: “That is our duty and therefore to extend would require scrutiny, which is before us. So, that ultimately, we say yes, we are in this together, to fight COVID-19. But we are not in it together to restrict the rights of the people beyond what is reasonable and justifiable in a democratic society”.
In that respect, Hon. Sallah moved the motion to commit the extension motion to the Human Rights and Constitutional Matters Committee, for effective scrutiny and report back to the plenary, and ensure that regulations are published in the gazette. He pointed out that, a regulation that is not published in a Gazette is not law.
The counter motion by the PDOIS elected NAM for Serekunda Central was put to a vote and majority of the lawmakers voted for it, to adjourn the debate on the Extension Motion, as well as commit the motion (extension) to the select committee for thorough and effective scrutiny.
Debate on the Extension Motion continues on Friday, 4th April 2020 at the Legislative House in Banjul at 10:00 am.
