{"id":85148,"date":"2025-08-30T17:53:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T17:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act"},"modified":"2025-08-30T18:19:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T18:19:46","slug":"nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act","title":{"rendered":"Nams Vow to Bring Back Bill to Amend Notorious Public Order Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>If the National Assembly Member for Serekunda West, Madi Ceesay has his way, the notorious Public Order Act under which citizens are obliged to seek permit to hold peaceful protests, would be scrapped.<\/b><\/p>\n

Human rights and pro-democracy groups have maligned the Act as a bad law that allows governments to suppress citizens\u2019 right to freedom of assembly.<\/p>\n

During the dictatorship of former president Jammeh, prominent opposition figures were sent to jail under the law and as recent as last week, dozens of youths were incarcerated at Mile II prisons for holding a procession without permit from the police.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Standard in the wake of the recent mass arrests of youths for breaking the Public Order Act, Hon Madi Ceesay said he will bring back a bill initially introduced by his colleague to repeal or amend the Act.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Assembly rejected a proposed change to the Public Order Act, through a private members bill filed by Sulayman Saho, the NAM for Central Badibou.<\/p>\n

Saho\u2019s bill sought to eliminate the need for a permit for public gatherings in favour of a notification requirement. \u201cThe goal of this change was to speed up the process and make Section 5 of the Act conform to worldwide human rights standards, notably those outlined by the African Commission on Human and People\u2019s Rights,\u201d Hon Saho had argued at the time.<\/p>\n

But following the recent incidents, many voices have been raised about the need to amend the law which the government is reluctant to do.<\/p>\n

Hurdles<\/b><\/p>\n

However according to Hon. Ceesay, who is also the chairperson of the National Assembly Select Committee on Human Rights and Constitutional Matters, looking at the complexity of the current National Assembly, it can be hard to get the desired results.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you remember Hon Saho\u2019s private members bill was prematurely killed in the floor by the ruling National People\u2019s Party (NPP) NAMs. The opposition UDP NAMs are more than willing to amend the Act but we must get the support of other Members to make the number required to pass any such bill,\u201d Ceesay lamented.<\/p>\n

He said despite these foreseen challenges, he is committed to push for the reintroduction of Hon Saho\u2019s bill and hopefully they will receive the support needed to pass it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will contact Hon Saho and convince him to reintroduce the bill as soon as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the arrest and prosecution of the protesters, Ceesay said: \u201cWhat had happened to the young protesters is regrettable, and I think they are vindicated when the president himself set up a committee to look into Pura\u2019s actions. This is what the youths are asking for and they went on to crack on them. Now it is left to the Gambian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UDP NAM described the Public Order Act as \u201crepressive\u201d and \u201coutdated,\u201d emphasising that it contradicts both Gambian and international human rights standards.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hon Saho has welcomed the idea and said he would make further engagements especially with NAMs from other parties to gather support for the bill.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. If the National Assembly Member for Serekunda West, Madi Ceesay has his way, the notorious Public Order Act under which citizens are obliged to seek permit to hold peaceful protests, would be scrapped. Human rights and pro-democracy groups have maligned the Act as a bad law that allows governments to suppress citizens\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":85147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-85148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nNams Vow to Bring Back Bill to Amend Notorious Public Order Act - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If the National Assembly Member for Serekunda West, Madi Ceesay has his way, the notorious Public Order Act under whi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nams Vow to Bring Back Bill to Amend Notorious Public Order Act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If the National Assembly Member for Serekunda West, Madi Ceesay has his way, the notorious Public Order Act under whi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-30T17:53:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-30T18:19:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/sm_1756565314.544371.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Nams Vow to Bring Back Bill to Amend Notorious Public Order Act\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-30T17:53:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-30T18:19:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act\"},\"wordCount\":535,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/sm_1756565314.544371.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nams-vow-to-bring-back-bill-to-amend-notorious-public-order-act\",\"name\":\"Nams Vow to Bring Back Bill to Amend Notorious Public Order Act - 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