Court freezes Banta Keita’s accounts as search intensifies
Feb 3, 2021, 12:18 PM
Justice S. Wadda Cisse, a High Court judge in Banjul on Tuesday ordered for the accounts of Banta Keita to be frozen as the search for the suspect.
According to Ebrima Sorrie Bah, the secretary general of the organisation, it is alleged that the mayoress of Banjul Rohey Malick Lowe “went outside her jurisdiction to offer attestation to non-Banjulians with the view to giving more power to the United Democratic Party’s support base in her capacity as a UDP elected mayoress.”
“IEC is 100% complicit to all the irregularities happening in the country as far as voter registration is concerned because as the custodian of voters registration, they should have made sure voter registration is highly transparent and corresponds to the dictates of the constitution,” he said.
“We are seriously surprised to see the Independent Electoral Commission of The Gambia allow such unconstitutionality happen in this country by allowing a mayoress voted by a particular political party issuing voter attestation,” he noted.
The secretary general pointed out that The Gambia For 5 Years is hereby condemning both the IEC and the Mayoress of Banjul to cease from the act while the already issued attestations to be notified/ nullified and also that the IEC should avoid anything that could spark controversy in this country.
He added that the IEC should resort to traditional and consensus means by consulting both the Muslim and Christian religious leaders in Banjul as every district in Banjul has elders who could safeguard any form of disfranchisement and the voter registration irregularities happening right now.
“We are also concerned over the ill equipped and limited IEC staffs on the ground who may not be able to reach the projected voter registration which as a result, the IEC should redouble their efforts to make sure they increase the number of staff on the ground” he said.
“It is disheartening to understand that only one polling team from the IEC is handling voter registration in a town like Brufut as well as a center like Basse.”
Justice S. Wadda Cisse, a High Court judge in Banjul on Tuesday ordered for the accounts of Banta Keita to be frozen as the search for the suspect.
Amson Sibanda, Chief, National Strategies and Capacity Building Branch, Division for Sustainable Development Goals (UNDESA) has said that investing in MSMEs would not only contribute to the eradication of poverty and create employment opportunities, but also generate positive spillover effect that extend social benefits to the lives of African people, especially the poor and people in vulnerable situations.
A daylong forum on the 2021 National Budget was at the weekend held at the Regional Education Office Hall in Basse, Upper River Region.
President Adama Barrow has announced that his government will construct 18 health posts and six health centres across the country, saying the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of two health centres has already be done in the Upper River Region and that work will commence soon.