By Ramatoulie Jawo
Sulayman Saho, the National Assembly member for Central Badibou Constituency, has sharply criticized former minority leader Samba Jallow for saying he will vote against the draft constitution again if it is brought back to parliament in its current form.
Samba Jallow, the former minority leader and National Assembly member for Niamina Dankunku Constituency, has said that he will again reject the draft constitution if it is brought back to the National Assembly in its current form.
Jallow made this announcement during an interview on Kerr Fatou’s weekly show, The Grand Bantaba.
“Samba Jallow should apologize to the Gambian people for conspiring against his own conscience to vote against the draft at the second reading. Hon. Samba’s debate was centered on the retroactive clause of President Barrow’s term. With all his life in parliament, he failed to understand the stages or issues that surround parliamentary procedures.
“Hon Samba Jallow cannot come out and utter such unprofessional statements, instead he should call for all party caucus so that we can be prepared before the committee stage where NAMs can amend or add. I want to remind honourable Samba Jallow that being in his third term in parliament he should guide the young ones not to instill a scheme that will promote dictatorship and futile venture,” he said.
Hon Saho called on Hon Samba Jallow to lead by example and not betray the trust of his constituents or the country. He vividly recalled engaging Hon Jallow and his colleagues about passing the draft to the committee stage, but they refused to accept his idea.
“But i could understand they had a package and had an engagement with some failed politicians and unscrupulous lawyers who misguided Barrow’s surrogate MPs.
Honorable Samba needs to be vigilant and remember that his colleagues who lose the election due to some of these reasons,” he added.
Hon. Saho urged National Assembly Members to be mindful of the impact of their words and to use their platform to promote good governance and social cohesion.
“Hon Samba being an ECOWAS MP must be sincere to Gambian. Making such statements can make people lose confidence in him to represent them in a sub-regional parliament.
Hon Samba, am appealing to you to withdraw your words as a former minority leader and a right honourable” he said.