By Saloum Sheriff Janko

The court case of the 31 National Assembly Members was on Wednesday heard before the Supreme Court of The Gambia.

A civil lawsuit which was before the court is seeking for the reinforcement of President Adama Barrow’s revocation of the nomination of lawmaker, Ya Kumba Jaiteh.

The case was brought to court by lawyers Lamin L.K. Mboge and Ebrima Jallow against Ya Kumba Jaiteh and thirty one members of the National Assembly.

It seeks for the court to uphold the revocation of her nomination as a parliamentarian and nullify the purported resolution passed by some National Assembly Members against the revocation.

Aziz Bensouda, the lawyer representing Ya Kumba Jaiteh asked the five-member Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice Hassan Jallow, to dismiss civil lawsuit, arguing that it lacks moral grounds.

Lawyer Bensouda told the court that “no civil or criminal charges can be brought against any serving National Assembly Member”, and argued that dragging substantial number of National Assembly members to court will have an adverse effect on the proceedings of the assembly.

He cited section 3 of the National Assembly Powers and Privileges Act which provides for immunity from legal proceedings.

Nineteen of the 31 National members mentioned in the lawsuit were present at court during the hearing.

 “The matter before this court today is an ex parte application, a request made to a court where only the party making the request is represented and the other side is not given any notice,” Lawyer Lamin LK Mboge said in his submissions on behalf of the plaintiffs.

He also said the National Assembly Members were not served to appear before the court.

“We are seeking for the enforcement of the decision of the president to rescind the appointment of Ya Kumba Jaiteh. The Executive Powers of the President is enshrined in Section 6 of the Constitution and thus the president has the powers to appoint and rescind any appointment.”  

The case was adjourned to March 14