Ousainou Darboe said he is disappointed someone who wants to be country’s president will be as ignorant in the laws of the land.
Ousainou Darboe responded to the claims of the leader of the Gambia Democratic Congress that his appointment is unconstitutional saying it is a “disappointment” that someone who wants to be president is that ignorant of the constitution.
In his first media interview since becoming the vice president of The Gambia, the leader of the United Democratic Party has challenged his critics who say his appointment is “unconstitutional” to take their case to Supreme Court.
Below is the response to a question pose by Kerr Fatou:
“Those who think my appointment is unconstitutional, they have the Supreme Court to go to. When I believed that the Government has acted in a way that runs contrary to the constitution, I go to the court and challenge it. I have challenged the Jammeh administration here for what I thought was their violation of the constitution of The Gambia.
“But you know, the people who say so are just exposing their ignorance. And I am disappointed that people who think they want to be president in this country do not even know the constitution. It is a shame… I think they should acquaint themselves with the constitution before making such statements. It shows them as people who are not fit to rule this country because for you to be president of this country, you have to be familiar with the constitution.
“Section 62 of the constitution, sub-section 3 says a person while holding a public office. At the time of my conviction I was not an ordinary person struggling to fight against abuse of public office in The Gambia. It was what informed me and my party executives to go out on the street and I got arrested.
“In fact there is a provision under section 62 that says that for you to be qualified to contest for presidential elections, you must be qualified to contest elections as a member of the National Assembly. And you have section 90 of the constitution that says that a person who has been convicted of offence carrying life sentence or death or serve in prison for more than six months is not qualified to contest for National Assembly unless you have been granted a free pardon. I was granted a free pardon by the Government. It is because they do not know the constitution and they do not bother to know, that is why they go about exposing their ignorance.
“I will be at the Supreme Court waiting for them…
“It hurts me to talk about this conviction because each time I talk about this conviction, I see Solo Sandeng in my imagination, I see Lang Marong there, I see Solo Krumang. The last time I saw Krumang being taken to remand, he came to my cell and said “Darboe I am going, pray for me. We will all leave here in peace”. It is the thought of those that hurts me. This scenes are indelible in my memory.”
Watch the whole show on Thursday on GRTS.