By Tabora Bojang
The issue of ministers allegedly coming to the National Assembly without sufficient answers came to play yesterday.
At question time yesterday, several lawmakers including Minority Leader Alhagie S Darboe, Lamin Ceesay and Sainey Jawara took issues with Minister Hamat Bah of Local Government over his alleged failure to provide sufficient answers to questions put to him about allowances given to area councillors.
However, the juicy part of the drama over the matter was eventually played out between Deputy Speaker Seedy Njie and the minister.
Njie who was supervising in the absence of Speaker Jatta, argued that while ministers have an obligation to give responses to questions, he, as speaker does not have authority to compel them to answer the way lawmakers wanted.
However, when Upper Nuimi representative Omar Darboe asked when was the last time elected councillors’ allowances were reviewed and Minister Bah replied that he has “no answers” to that since he was not the minister at the time, Deputy Speaker Njie was not amused.
He told the minister that substantive holders of institutions under their watch are expected to be more responsive and own up to issues under them since government is a continuity.
“This is a government and once you take over, the files are there and when you dig into them or liaise with people who have institutional memory of those matters, it would be helpful to members of the Assembly. But saying you were not there is not appropriate,” Speaker Njie observed, while thanking the minister for coming and asking him to leave.
But Minister Bah charged that he cannot not leave without responding to the deputy speaker’s “allegations” against him.
“You are making allegations against me and I need to respond. I am aware of the government’s responsibility for continuity but I am trying to avoid misinforming the Assembly,” Minister Bah insisted.
But the speaker interjected and put off Minister Bah’s microphone, telling him to allow him make his point.
The Minister also fought back saying “but you are accusing me and I need to clarify.”
Njie did not listen and continued to add that he was not accusing the minister but only making a general statement to ensure cabinet ministers or the vice president avoid finding excuses like “I was not in office” when providing answers to lawmakers.
“At this point, I am not opening a debate on this matter. I was just making a point and I want the ministers and the vice president to take note of it. Thank you for coming Hon minister and you may go now,” Njie told the minister,
Minister Bah however insisted that he needed to clarify. “It is only fair that you allow me to respond to your comment Hon Speaker because this will be in records for the next hundred years. So, allow me to respond for the record,” Minister Bah pleaded with the deputy speaker. However, at this point, Member for Lower Saloum Sainey Jawara came to Deputy Speaker Njie’s aid saying he agrees with him that government is a continuation and all offices have folders where ministers can dig in to understand issues about their ministries.
Deputy Speaker Njie agreed with Jawara and asked Minister Bah to now make his points. Minister Bah reiterated that he was only avoiding misleading the Assembly by giving them figures that are not accurate. He said he does not have the figures on how much allowance councillors are paid and “cannot furnish this house with misinformation.”
He told the deputy speaker to ask NAMs to repeat their questions in order to validate his points against him but Njie said there was no need for repetition. “I want to thank you. And you may go please,” Njie stated.
A visibly unhappy Minister Bah immediately headed for the exit and for once, many NAMs from across the political divide praised the independent arbitration of Deputy Speaker Njie.
