By Tabora Bojang
The Minister Justice, Dawda Jallow, yesterday moved a motion in the National Assembly for the withdrawal of Vetting Bill 2023 which human rights activists warned would have “introduced and legalised political witch-hunting and victimisation” for political objectives.
The AG did not provide any reasons for the withdrawal. Member for Lower Saloum, Sainey Jawara, demanded explanation for the withdrawal but Deputy Speaker Seedy Njie who led the session declined his request for answers from the minister.
Njie said the bill was tabled by the government and it could withdraw it anytime it wished without necessarily providing justification to lawmakers.
It was subsequently withdrawn and no indication was given whether the Ministry of Justice would retable it.
When the bill was tabled in 2024, several lawmakers including Touma Njie of Banjul South and Alagie Darboe of Brikama North vehemently expressed their opposition to it.
Activists and civil society organisations including Tango also expressed dissatisfaction with the bill. They feared that it could lead to witch-hunting persons perceived to be sympathetic to the opposition in the security sector and other critical government positions by removing them without credible grounds. This is because the bill aims at establishing a National Vetting Agency that will be responsible for conducting security vetting on all post holders in the security sector and public institutions and issue security clearance to persons that are considered as “acceptable security risks”.
The bill further envisaged that “a person will be considered as an unacceptable security risk if he or she is not loyal to The Gambia and its constitution and values or has a preference or may be manipulated, induced or blackmailed to help a group, person, organisation or foreign government in a manner detrimental to the interest of The Gambia”.
Good news
Prominent human rights activist Madi Jobarteh yesterday told The Standard: “It is good news that the Vetting Bill 2024 has been withdrawn. The bill is a clear misrepresentation of the principles and objectives of vetting in the context of transitional justice. The bill is rather focused on state security and not human rights and justice for the purpose of preventing future abuses and ensuring good governance. It is not meant to cleanse security and public institutions off perpetrators and from the culture of abuse of human rights and corruption. Rather, this bill is focused on state security and intelligence which are grounds for weaponisation and politicisation of the vetting mechanism.”
He noted that if passed, the bill will entrench the culture of human rights abuses, corruption and abuse of power, provide cover-up for perpetrators and silence citizens and public officials from saying or doing anything that would make them being suspected of being security risks.
