By Yankuba Jambang
The group calling themselves ‘Three Years Jotna’, must respect the Constitution and other laws of the land by calling off its planned protest against the government of President Adama Barrow. They have no legal grounds to support their demands that the President resign midway through his term of office.
The group must be reminded that six of the eight political parties that formed the 2016 Coalition, and an independent candidate, have agreed in September of last year to extend President Barrow’s term of office to 5 years as stipulated in the Constitution.
That agreement effectively amended the 3-year resignation clause in the 2016 document. So essentially, President Adama Barrow does not only have the Constitutional mandate of 5 years, he also has the approval of the majority of the Coalition leaders. What else does the 3 Years Jotna group want? Were they signatories to the Coalition agreement?
If the group or any other person feels the President has committed any offense that should warrant his resignation from office, they should go to the courts. That’s the most sensible thing to do.
UDP CONNECTION
3 Years Jotna, a group that has literally been taken over by the United Democratic Party supporters, must be reminded that it was Ousainou Darboe’s disparaging remarks about the coalition agreement that effectively dissolved the grand union of politicians ever seen anywhere in Africa.
5 years was what most UDP supporters defended until their leaders were sacked from Barrow’s cabinet. It’s therefore, no mere coincidence that UDP, after nearly two years in government, and with near two-third majority in the National Assembly, introduced no meaningful legislation that would strengthen democratic governance in the country. It’s also no mere coincidence that UDP backpedalled on 5 years. And I, possibly you, the readers, am under no illusion that UDP blessed the 3 Years Jotna as evidenced in the leadership structure of the group.
RIGHTS
The government has a duty to guarantee the rights of everyone in the country. One’s right to protest must not encroach on other people’s rights to do their business. The same laws that guarantee the rights to protest also give the police latitudes to permit or deny any requests to protest in the interest of the general public. After all, 3 Years Jotna was just accorded that right. Enough.
ARREST & PROSECUTE
Police must arrest and prosecute the entire leadership of the group if they continue to make threats of calling people onto streets in violation of a lawful order. No one has rights to change a democratically elected government through illegal means, no one.
Elections are in 2021, next year, for goodness sake! It defies common sense for anyone to attempt removing a government in a democracy through protests that may go violent and lead to loss of lives, when it could be peacefully done at the polls in a year’s time. It was common sense that peacefully ended the impasse with Yahya Jammeh, not idiocy. Yankuba Jambang
Editor & publisher, Senegambia News (defunct).Phone: +1-952-406-0867: The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Voice’s editorial stance.
