‘President cannot pardon people with adverse finding by a commission of inquiry’

Following the announcement of pardon for five former officials of the Jammeh government, Lawyer Lamin J Darbo has argued that only Court of Appeal, and ultimately the Supreme Court, decides the issue of the validity of an adverse finding and it is a wholly judicial solution with no role whatsoever for the president.  Darbo further argued that the if it is intended to act as a pardon under the prerogative of mercy, that is not a tenable route as there must first be a criminal conviction before a pardon is legally triggered. “The Constitutional regime around an adverse finding never envisaged a presidential role akin to an amnesty as enumerated in these unlawful amendments. Rather than amend a moribund and largely inconsequential Act, the sections needing amendment are 200 through 206 of the Constitution, in particular section 204,” Darboe argued.