By Ramatoulie Jawo
The Minister of Defense, Serigne Modou Njie, appeared before the National Assembly to move a motion without notice on the withdrawal of the Arms Trade Treaty Agreement for its consideration and ratification.
The minister explained the changes in circumstances that had caused him to withdraw the motion.
“The reason for the withdrawal is to allow us to proceed with the signing of the treaty and then later on proceed with the ratification process of the ATT” he said.
The motion was seconded by the Honorable Member for Upper Niumi Constituency, Omar Darboe.
Hon. Lamin Ceesay, the NAM for Kiang West, emphasized that it took time for members of parliament to review the documents before the ministers withdrew their motions.
“If the withdrawal is because of another reason, one could understand, but just because the cabinet could not exhaust the process that has to be done before reaching the parliament that was supposed not to be done, the cabinet is supposed to do everything to ensure that what is supposed to be done at the level of the cabinet is done before requesting for ratification’
“But for that not to be done and bring the document to the parliament for ratification and on the same day two withdrawals because the cabinet failed to follow the due process is definitely unacceptable, and I think this Parliament should be respected for that,” he stressed.