Africa-Press – Gambia. The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations yesterday held a press conference at the National Youth Parliament demanding the president immediately reinstate Auditor General Modou Ceesay.
Organisations making the demand are: Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ); Centre for Budget and Macroeconomic Transparency (CBMTGambia); National Youth Parliament, Activista The Gambia; Team Gom Sa Bopa; Solo Sandeng Foundation; Women’s Association for Women & Victims’ Empowerment [WAVE-Gambia]; Beakanyang, Fantanka; Movement for Social Justice (MSJ-4); Think Young Women, Music For Change; and Charter Seventy (C70).
“Our commitment to defend democracy will not relent. We will not allow the sacrifices of April 10/11 students, Deyda Hydara, Solo Sandeng, and countless other fallen heroes and heroines, to be in vain. We will not surrender our hard-won freedoms to creeping autocracy. We will resist – using every lawful and peaceful means – until the auditor general is reinstated, due process is respected, and the laws of The Gambia prevail over the whims of individuals,”
Lamin Dibba, executive director of CBMTGambia, said in a joint statement.
He said for the protection of democracy and the rule of law, the president must ensure lawful process is followed if at any time he should seek the removal of the auditor general.
“It must be done strictly according to the constitution and NAO Act, by convening a medical board or tribunal as required by law. But none of these legal conditions have been met. Instead, the president has chosen to act outside the law, as though The Gambia were his private estate. This is nothing short of a constitutional coup, where the executive hijacks independent institutions and subverts democratic checks and balances,” Dibba said.
The coalition also called on the Gambia Police Force to cease all unlawful actions against the auditor general and any other citizen exercising his or her constitutional right.
“Their duty is to protect the republic, not serve as enforcers of illegal executive orders. Democracy is not a gift from leaders to the people but the birthright of the people. If this unlawful action is allowed to stand, no institution or official will be safe. Today, it is the auditor general. Tomorrow, it could be the ombudsman, the Independent Electoral Commission, the chief justice, the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission or even the speaker of the National Assembly. When independent oversight bodies are undermined, corruption flourishes, human rights protections erode, and the nation slides back into autocracy,” he lamented.
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