The Minister for Defense, Serign Modou Njie,was unable to clarify the criteria for promotion in the Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) due to angry exchanges among lawmakers during a question and answer session at the National Assembly on Wednesday.
The NAM for Foni Kansala, Almamy Gibba,who informed the Parliament that there have been numerous reports of senior officers,deserting the army, cited a lack of transparency in the promotion process. He contended thatsome officers and soldiers have been stuck at a particular rank for eight to 10 years.
“It is also alleged that officers with higher qualifications are being overlooked in favor of lower-ranking personnel. What measures are being implemented to ensure that the promotion process is fair, transparent, and merit-based,”Gibba queried.
However, the NAM for Nianija, AmadouCamara, at this juncture, raised a point of order under 38 (1) surplus (a) and (b), which states that every question shall not include names of persons or statements that necessarily render the question unintelligible and which the member cannot authenticate as well as a question thatcontains any statements, which the member,who asked the question, is not prepared to substantiate. He wondered which report Gibbawas talking about.
The deputy speaker Seedy Njie said the lawmaker for Nianija was in order.
“When you read the two clauses, they raised the issue of substantiation as well as ambiguity or unnecessary statements that might not conform to our procedures,” he stated.
The deputy speaker contended that there are processes that the speaker has to look at toadmit a question.
“Admissibility of the questions and you also have a responsibility as a speaker during proceedings to rule on point of order based on procedures and processes. It is not easy to adjudicate,” he noted.
Member for Lower Saloum, Sainey Jawara, told the deputy speaker that Almamy Gibba wrote a parliamentary question, which was vetted for editing.
“The question was sent to the Office of theClerk for vetting and the Speaker approved it. After this process, the Assembly’s Business Committee will sit for the approval of the agenda and later circulate it to the members,” said Jawara.
“We all know that what the member said is now left to the minister of defense to clear the doubts over the allegations made,” Jawara stressed.
The Kiang West NAM Lamin Ceesay said when members send questions to various ministries,the responses are not relevant to their ministries but instead to other institutions.
“We lost those questions and also bear the responsibility of misdirecting. When a question escapes the Speaker’s office, it is in favor of the members and you should allow ministers to respond to our questions because we never complain if institutions fail to answer the questions due to misdirecting the questions,” Ceesay argued.
Seedy Njie in response pointed out that ministers, in accordance with the Standing Orders, also decide on which questions to answer whether it is within their remit.
Tallinding Kunjang lawmaker Musa Badjiereminded the deputy speaker that the background to the question should be understood, stating that in the recent past certain senior officers in the army made damningremarks about promotions in the force.
“The Minister of Defense has the opportunity to publicly respond and clarify to the whole Gambia, regarding this issue. These are policy and administration issues, regarding the army. I think this question is befitting,” he stressed.
Member for Serekunda West Madi Ceesay appealed that this question should be admittedbecause It’s a technical problem. He said this should be a wake-up call to the Office of the Speaker to make sure that they pay attention to questions by looking at the Standing Orders before admitting them.
Despite the position of the opposition NAMs, the deputy speaker ruled:“I ruled in favor of the member for Nianija that the question is out of order in accordance with the provision.”
