Fabakary Tombong Jatta, who is the representative for Serekunda East, said: “The United Nations as a global entity of states needs structural reforms to meet the growing demand and needs of people. The UN was formed after the Second World War with the aim to prevent occurrence of another war and to promote global peace and security. Unfortunately, it has become a toothless bulldog that only barks but cannot bite.
“Democratically-elected leaders were pulled down by Western governments and their allies, who instead supported insurgents who have no backing from ordinary people. Issues like this will affect us as representatives of people. As people’s representatives, we should look at issues from different lenses. Wars are man-made. Lasting peace can only be attained through parliamentary democracy and we, as parliamentarians, should not be moved by geo-political interets. We have seen the so-called Arab Spring across the Middle East and its impact on the lives of ordinary citizens. We must be watchful and cherish the peace and stability that we Gambians are enjoying. We have made tremendous strides in development because we are peaceful and democratic.”
Mr Jatta was contributing to the debate at the assembly on the report tabled by Jarra East’s Bafaye Saidykhan, who led the National Assembly delegation to the 130th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and its 125th anniversary in Geneva, Switzerland.
The anniversary was held under the theme: ‘Renewing our Commitment to Peace and Democracy’. The theme of the celebration generated a heated debate on the house floor.
In tabling the report for adoption and consideration, Mr Saidykhan gave the overview of what transpired at Geneva meeting, stating that parliamentarians from 145 countries participated in the session.
“We discussed the role of parliaments and the IPU in fighting terrorism and achieving international peace and security through a peaceful political solution to the situation in Syria and respect for resolutions with international legitimacy and the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states proposed by Syrian Arab Republic, helping restore peace and security and consolidate democracy in Central African republic, as well as crises in Ukraine.”
By Sainey Marenah
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