Dear Editor,
“Please tell Max Jarju that like many others, he is not quoting the full provisions of the 1997 constitution regarding qualifications to run for President.
What many like Max Jarju fail to quote either by ignorance or by deliberate act of misleading the Gambian people is where the constitution defines who is a public officer. Look at Chapter XI) Section 166 4(a))” , stated by unnamed author.
The above quotations are misrepresentation and misleading statements because I never misled Gambian people for the sake of political expediency. I quoted the same constitutional provision ( chapter XI section 166 4 (a)) to make a case about Honorable Lawyer Ousainu Darboe’s qualifications to contest December 4th presidential election . Here is an excerpt of my previous article on the same subject:
“Those who are using the termination of employment as the former Vice President Darboe as a pretext to prevent his nomination simply did not understand the constitution.
Based on this simple understanding, lets move on to what the 1997 constitution states about public service in Chapter XI. Section 166 of the constitution states:
(1) subject an Act of the National Assembly, the public service of The Gambia shall comprise the civil service as established immediately before this constitution comes into force and the offices declared elsewhere in this constitution to be offices in the public service.
(4) In this constitution, an office in the public service does not include:-
(a) the office of President, Vice President, Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Secretary of State or a member of the National Assembly.
From the above constitutional provision 4(a), It clearly shows that Vice President is not in public service which means our National Assembly members and Vice President are not civil servants The constitution proves who is a civil servant in this case”. Thus The former Vice President Ousainu Darbo is not a public officer and is qualified to contest as UDP presidential candidate as shown in the link below.
There is nothing here which mislead the Gambian people because the constitution is quoted appropriately and it’s interpretation is accurate. I do not need to quote the whole chapter to make a case about who is a public officer. I have surgically quoted section 4 (a) to define a public officer.
My objective to Mama Kandeh’s candidacy is about his education qualification which fail to meet the IEC election law requirement for candidate to graduate from high school.
Thank you
Maxs .