Magistrate Warns Objectors At Revising Court Must Rely On Evidence, Not ‘Mere Suspicions’

Principal Magistrate Isatou Sallah-M’bai of the Kanifing Magistrates Court has dismissed an objection filed by Binta Nyabally against the voters registration of Mariama Jallow on the grounds that she is not a citizen of The Gambia.

The magistrate stated that the court cannot expunge a person’s name from the voters’ register merely because persons within the community suspect that the person is a foreign national.

She said the objector (Binta Nyabally) asserts that the objectee [Mariama Jallow] is not a Gambian citizen but she has failed to prove that Mariama is not entitled to have her name retained on the register of voters. “There must be evidence upon which the court can properly conclude that the statutory qualification has not been satisfied,” Sallah-M’bai said.

She however pointed out that Nyabally was entitled to initiate the objection on the basis of a genuine concern or suspicion but “once the matter comes before the court for determination, suspicion must give way to evidence,” she added.

The objection was ruled out with the magistrate ordering that Mariama Jallow’s name be retained on the register of voters in the constituency she is registered in.