By Bruce Asemota
The Supreme Court of The Gambia yesterday dismissed the suit filed by Ebrima Dibba and UDP against Dembo Bojang, Lamin Cham, Dodou Sanneh (alias Dou Sanno), Henry Gomez, Lamin K Saidy and Sulayman Camara as special advisers and deputy special advisers to President Adama Barrow.
Delivering judgment, Chief Justice Hassan Jallow stated that the court found that the appointments by the president pursuant to Section 80 of the Constitution of these appointees while they hold office in political parties do not contravene Section 170 of the Constitution.
The court declared that the restriction on holding of office in a political party imposed by Section 170(1) of the Constitution which is limited by the said section to public servants (civil servants and others so declared to be) pursuant to Section 166(1) of the Constitution does not apply to these appointees of the president pursuant to Section 80 of the Constitution.
The apex court also held that these appointees are public officers but not public servants, noting that the case against Sulayman Camara is even more questionable. The court stated that he was the only witness among the defendants who testified under oath that he was appointed by the president as a pro bono adviser to him on cyber security and that accordingly he never received any payment from the government for his services.
The court held that Sulayman Camara was an unpaid volunteer and pointed out that the appointments of Bojang, Cham, Dou Sanno, Gomez, Saidy and Camara as advisers are valid and intra vires.
The court accordingly dismissed the claims of Ebrima Dibba and the UDP in their entirety.
In a related matter, the court declared that the suit filed by Madi Ceesay and the UDP against diplomats Fatoumatta Jahumpa-Ceesay, Sheikh Tijan Hydara, Lamin Bojang and Ousman ‘Rambo’ Jatta did not make any case against them.
The Supreme Court declared that neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants are entitled to a judgment.
The court further declared that there were lapses on the part of plaintiffs to make available to the court some vital pieces of evidence for the court to make appropriate alternative orders in the interest of justice in the form of non-suits.
In a judgment read by Justice Omar Njie, the court disclosed that the suits were consolidated and ordered to be heard together, hence they touched on the same subject matter.
The plaintiffs wanted the appointments of these persons as diplomats by the president be declared null and void as they contravene Section 166 and 170 of the 1997 Constitution.
The Supreme Court declared that the plaintiffs did not establish their case against the defendants on the balance of probability to be entitled to the reliefs sought.
