The Supreme Court of The Gambia on Wednesday dismissed the suit filed by UDP, NRP and Momodou K. Sanneh as plaintiffs against the Attorney General (AG) and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The plaintiffs filed the suit at the Supreme Court contesting the recent Local Government Amendment Act 2007 which empowered the President to dissolve or remove elected councilors and also sanctioned the non election of area council chairmen through universal adult suffrage. The Amendment bill was passed by the National Assembly.

In delivering his ruling on the preliminary objection raised by the defendants, the Chief Justice (CJ), Abdou Kareem Savage, stated that on 17th December 2007, the plaintiffs instituted a suit before the Supreme Court on the Local Government Amendment Act 2007. He added that the plaintiffs on the same day filed a motion seeking an injunction of the IEC to prevent the electoral body from holding or conducting the Local Government Elections slated for January 24th 2008.

Chief Justice Savage further pointed out that the defendants filed a preliminary objection on the grounds that the suit was not properly constituted and was incompetent, adding that the defendant also contended that the suit was an abuse of the court process.

Reflecting on the defence’s argument, the Chief Justice said that the defendants in their preliminary objection argued that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter and that it had no original jurisdiction to delay the election.

He noted that the preliminary objection was raised to challenge the suit, countering that it could be raised at any stage of the proceedings. The CJ said that the plaintiff lacked the capacity to institute the suit by reason of the fact that they are members of NADD as stated by the defendants in their argument.

He added that the defendants had not produced any papers to convince the court that they are no longer members of NADD, inferring that the plaintiffs are non-existent and therefore could not institute a suit.

He said the 2005 Supreme Court decision that nobody could belong to two political parties is binding, explaining that the plaintiffs signed the papers as members of NADD. The Chief Justice finally dismissed the case on the supposed grounds that it was incompetent and not properly constituted. The Supreme Court also awarded costs of D20, 000 to the second defendant, IEC, payable to the body by the plaintiffs.