Madi has said that the coalition government implemented only three promises in their manifesto on Democracy and the Rule of Law, which includes reform plans. The three he named were: The removal of section 62 (1) (b) of the constitution, which puts a maximum age limit on the presidency; the amendment of section 91 (1) (a) of the constitution; and the adoption of the Access to Information Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On January 11, Madi wrote on his Facebook page:<\/a> \u201cAdama Barrow, Aji Yam Secka, Ousainou Darboe (in jail by then), Fatoumatta Tambajang, Halifa Sallah, Sidia Jatta, OJ Jallow, Isatou Touray, Hamat Bah, Mai Ahmad Fatty, Henry Gomez and Bolonding Sonko were the heads of political parties and formations that constituted the Grand Coalition in December 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Grand Coalition led by these parties and leaders had an MoU and a presidential election manifesto in which they stated in no uncertain terms their ardent desire to effect system change upon winning the elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInstead of these leaders embarking on the full and uninterrupted implementation of their own MoU and Manifesto and upholding the ideals for which Solo Sandeng was brutally murdered, these leaders rather decided, shamelessly, to cut out deals for themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFirst, they changed Section 62(1) (b) of the Constitution to remove the age limit for the president to enable Fatoumatta Tambajang to qualify to be appointed vice president in November 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTheir second selfish and disgraceful act was also to amend Section 91(1)(a) to protect their seats so that they can now cross carpet from one party to another as they like without having to lose their current seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince then, these Coalition leaders completely ignored any demand for system change as they failed to reform laws at the heart of human rights, democracy and good governance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Madi claimed that The Gambia coalition 2016 members only implemented reforms in Barrow\u2019s manifesto for their interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His comments about the Coalition members betraying Solo Sandeng did not go well with some of the members. One of them, Halifa Sallah, decided to debate Madi which was captured on Facebook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In defence of the Barrow administration, Halifah, among other things, argued that there were major constitutional bottlenecks which prevented the administration from implementing the reforms and promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey talk and talk, but they don\u2019t understand the constitution. They don\u2019t understand the laws,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He cited the challenges with the Elections Bill, which he suggested was thrown out by the Supreme Court. He would rather the government focus on constitutional reform rather than an attempt to fulfil these promises or reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Madi says the argument by Halifah was \u201can attempt to mislead.\u201d He argued Halifa could not use constitutional bottlenecks to cover up their failure to implement the reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said where it suits them; they have used a Private Members Bill to change aspects of the constitution, something they could have done to fulfil some of the promises they made before coming to power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said while corruption festers, the Assembly has failed to hold President Barrow accountable for several acts of illegality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given how controversial the subject is, DUBAWA decided to keep an eye on the issues raised and to find out if, indeed, only three of the promises have been fulfilled.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n To verify the claims made independently, it is essential to know exactly what the promises were before the coming into power of President Barrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the section on Democracy and the Rule of Law in the coalition\u2019s manifesto<\/a>, 22 promises were listed. Among the pledges stated include;<\/p>\n\n\n\n DUBAWA\u2019s checks indicate that out of the 22, three have been implemented since Barrow took over. Section 62(1) (b) was removed, and Section 91 (1) (a) was amended when the coalition members were still partners, whilst the adoption of the Access to Information Act was done in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2017, following President Barrow\u2019s nomination of Fatoumatta Jallow Tambajang as vice president, the section on the age limit for the presidency was removed from the constitution.<\/a> In October 2017, National Assembly Member, Samba Jallow, sponsored a private bill<\/a> seeking the amendment of section 91 (1) (a) of the constitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the said section: \u201cA member of the National Assembly shall vacate his or her seat in the National Assembly if he or she ceases to be a member of the political party of which he or she was a member at the time of his or her election.\u201d This provision in the constitution was amended.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, the chairperson of the Coalition 2016, Fatoumatta Jallow Tambajang, announced that the coalition partners agreed to extend President Barrow\u2019s term from three years to five years <\/a>on the basis that the reforms agenda had not been exhausted, noting that it was impossible to complete in three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/tDic6-3Z6KQu29KjyizGXeFpgBAoA2G4vgfnlUJRX2xlLXDv8B2qbLnTuntojQZ3NJL8N9oF1s0udTQoh7ZrjfgVXCuPSlO68aPrHInIilP6P8bSyG2TM0vXzgFk4ysJHdmUgyDdrK0BQv4p4GqWrkA\" "\\"\\"")
What were the promises made?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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