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Gambia : NADD to Contest NA Elections

The National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD), has resolved to contest in the upcoming National Assembly elections with full force in spite of losing in all the 48 constituencies in the just ended presidential elections.

In an interview with this reporter, Hon. Halifa Sallah, the flag bearer of NADD, said his Alliance would fully contest the forthcoming National Assembly elections to make sure of the presence of what he called a vibrant opposition in parliament. This, he added, augurs well for true democracy.

According to Hon. Sallah, NADD have seen the need to help the people of the country to understand the purpose of a National Assembly. He advanced that the role of a president is to manage the tax money of the people and public resources in general, in order to be able to promote general prosperity of the people as well as to direct the institutions which enforce the law to ensure that everybody’s rights are protected. “We as NADD see the need to have a National Assembly with the presence of a large number of people who are critical-minded; who will be able to scrutinise the functions, roles and actions of the Executive in a proper manner; criticise where they go wrong; restrain them where they want to go above the board and ensure that they do the right thing,” he asserted. He added that NADD would do everything possible to identify in each constituency a competent person who would be able to contest and get the support of the people as well as sit in the National Assembly and scrutinise what the Executive is doing.

Commenting on the importance of the National Assembly in the democratisation process of a country, the NADD flag bearer noted that a National Assembly is established to serve as a watchdog, which checks how policy makers implement policies and how they implement budgets, so as to ensure that what has been agreed is actually what is being provided for in practice. Hon. Sallah further indicated that the role of a National Assembly should be to look at what should be done by the Executive and ensure that it is done and also look at what it is not doing and to promote and make sure that those things are known by the Executive.

“As a National Assembly Member, one should make sure that bills that are brought to the National Assembly are properly scrutinised and those that will lead to the formulation of laws that are detrimental to the liberty of the people be objected to and those bills that will enhance the liberty of the people be supported and passed,” he concluded.