By Binta Jaiteh
The lawmaker for Wuli East Constituency Suwaibou Touray, has blamed President Adama Barrow for failing to follow due diligence in exercising the prerogative of mercy to free prisoners.
Touray came up with the blame during an interview with this newspaper following the recent pardoning of prisoners which caused a lot of debate in the country even though the constitution empowers the president but he failed to follow due process.
“The president should take due diligence when it comes to giving prerogative of mercy to prisoners as it has a lot of ramifications,” the MP stated.
NAM Touray quoting, Section 82 subsection 2 of the 1997 Constitution which states: “There shall be a Committee on the exercise of the prerogative of mercy consisting of the Attorney General and three other persons appointed by the president subject to confirmation by the National Assembly.”
He asserts that as far as he knows, the National Assembly has not confirmed the appointment of any person to any committee established by the President on the exercise of the prerogative of mercy from 2016 to date.
According to the constitution, the Attorney General has a permanent position in the committee but the other three people should be appointed subject to approval by the National Assembly.
He stresses that the general public should also know who the three other persons appointed by the president are because they should be people of high integrity and morals.
Furthermore, NAM Touray says the lack of approval by the National Assembly makes the whole process not only questionable but erroneous too. ‘’We are told by the prison guards during the tour of the National Assembly Human Rights Committee that oftentimes pardoned prisoners do comeback to prison shortly after beingpardoned,’’ he disclosed.
“I am part of the appointment committee and I can confirm that no one is aware of the appointments that took place and the assembly didn’t approve it.’’
‘’There should be proper consultation during this process so that only deserving prisoners are given prerogative of mercy,’’ Touray added.