By Buba Gagigo
Ahmed Gitteh, aspiring NPP candidate for Brikama Area Council (BAC) chairperson, has urged his supporters to keep calm as he has already looked into the dual citizenship question and found out that it doesn’t prevent him or any other dual citizen from contesting for the upcoming Brikama Area Council Chairmanship.
“I have received messages of concern regarding dual citizenship when it comes to qualifications for running for the office of Chairman of the Brikama Area Council. I just want to make one thing very clear. I’ve started this back in April, May 2022. And as a young educated person with sense of reasoning, I have first and foremost done my ground works. I’ve looked at the legalities, I have read the act that is available, Local Government Act 2000.
“Section 13 of the Act stipulated very clearly who should and who should not. And also section 192 of the Constitution of the Gambia spoke very clearly regarding the local government issues, and I just want to assure you all that there isn’t a single letter, not a word, that talks about dual citizenship. As a matter of fact, there is nothing about dual citizenship when it comes to chairmanship or mayors,” Gitteh tells his supporters in a WhatsApp audio message.
The NPP aspirant said he was able to find out that even If a particular person have one hundred citizenships, the constitution allows the person to contest as a chairman or a mayor;
“The Constitution allows you and to also help those who are ignorant or perhaps do not understand our laws. Dual citizenship applies to presidency, vice presidency, cabinet and National Assembly. These are the four categories. Nothing more. So I just want to make that clear. To all of you. There is no section in the Constitution. There is no section in our acts of 2002 that talks about nationality of the individual contesting for the position of chairman,” Gitteh said.
Ahmed Gitteh is a strong supporter of the National People’s Party (NPP) and has applied to be his party candidate for the upcoming Brikama Area Council Chairperson. However, eight other people have also applied to be considered as NPP candidate for the same position, which includes the incumbent Sheriffo Sonko.
The National People’s Party (NPP) says they will select their candidate for Brikama Area Council (BAC) on the 19th February 2023.