By Landing Colley
One among the nominated National Assembly Members has called for impeachment of President Adama Barrow over his Tuesday’s declaration of State of Public Emergency without approval of the lawmakers.
Honorable Kumba Jaiteh, Thursday told fellow lawmakers that should in case the president cannot defend his position over the issue, “this will call for an impeachment and I will put a notice in this parliament to start the impeachment procedure if the president cannot defend the appropriation of the constitution.”
She noted that it is not necessary for vice president to come “because power was given directly to the president, so the president himself should come and discus this because the matter is national interest.”
She said President Barrow has recently declared series of State of Public Emergency without coming to the National Assembly to seek the approval of the lawmakers.
She added that “It cannot be the intention of the drafter under Section 34 (6) to give the president an infinite power to put this country in to a State of Emergency forever. If the president wants to relied on this Section that will be undemocratic.”
“Subsection 2 indicates that “A declaration made under this Section shall lapse at the expiration of a period of seven days, or if the National Assembly is not then in session twenty- one days, beginning on the day on which the Proclamation is published in the Gazette unless, before the expiration of that period, it has been approved by a resolution of the National Assembly supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all the members thereof,” she said.
However, Section 177 sub section 3 states that the vice president shall answer in the National Assembly for matters affecting the president.