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Majority Leader Admonish Gambians

Feb 19, 2009, 4:38 AM | Article By: Alieu Jabang

Hon Fabakary Tombong Jatta, Majority leader and National Assembly Member for Serrekunda East Constituency, has said that he still wonders why some people in the country are so critical of the government.

He opined that from his own point of view, all necessary institutions were put in place immediately after the APRC regime came to power to ensure good governance and democracy.

"I sometimes wonder why some people are so critical of the government. From my own point of view, all the necessary institutions were put in place after the APRC came to power in 1994 to ensure good governance and democracy.

"During the former regime, elections were conducted through the local government ministry with the permanent secretary serving as the returning officer. But now in The Gambia, we have an Independent Electoral Commission with perfect guidelines for elections," Hon. Jatta said in an interview with our reporter.

According to the Majority leader, there is a clear separation of powers in the way government functions in present-day Gambia unlike in the previous regime.

"We have separation of powers in today's Gambia whereby National Assembly Members cannot be Secretaries of State, but only to check on the executive.