By Nicholas Bass
The Supreme Court presided over by Chief Justice Hassan B. Jallow yesterday rejected the petition filed by UDP’s Musa Cham over the rejection of his candidacy in the last councillorship elections.
Cham aspired to contest the Chamen Ward councillorship election under a UDP ticket.
It could be recalled that lawyer Borry S. Touray, representing Musa Cham on 15 May 2023, filed a petition at the Supreme Court dated 12 May 2023, challenging, inter alia, the rejection of his client’s nomination.
Petitioner Cham also sought for the revocation of IEC’s decision in declaring Edrisa Ceesay as unopposed in the last April’s councillorship election for the Chamen Ward in the Nianija District in CRR.
However, Chief Justice H.B Jallow in his judgement on Tuesday said that at the closure of nominations on 27 March 2023, the Returning Officer for Chamen Ward was unable to publish the names of Musa Cham and his particulars as enshrined in Section 52 (a) of the Act, noting that Cham was not nominated.
The Chief Justice also said that Cham did not satisfy the requirement for his names to be published, stating that it could have been rectified if it was within seven days to the election butpointed out that it was left with four days to the LG Councilors Election.
The Chief Justice said Edrisa Ceesay was duly and validly returned as unopposed councilor of Chamen Ward in the past Local Government Election and therefore, rejected Cham’s petition.