Lawmaker Accuses Barrow Government of Undermining Laws and Post-2016 Reforms

By Fatou Sillah

During the adjournment debate of the first ordinary session, Kiang West National Assembly Member Lamin Ceesay accused the government of failing to uphold the country’s laws and key reform initiatives introduced since 2016.

“Honorable speaker, this government has not only failed in respecting the laws of this country but in all the reforms from 2016 to date,” Mr. Ceesay said.

He emphasized the responsibility of elected officials to represent citizens’ interests and warned against any attempts to silence lawmakers.

“Honorable members, it is worthy to put it on record that there is a purpose of representation, and that purpose is to serve the citizens with diligence, with honesty, and with a high sense of integrity. Nobody on the face of the Earth shall suppress me in my line of duty on issues affecting the country. I will never do that,” he said.

Ceesay also criticized the government’s approach to governance and institutional independence, highlighting that fundamental democratic principles are not being upheld.

“The chief custodians of the law in this country are the executive, honorable speaker. We have separations of power several times; independent institutions in this country are not respected by the executive,” he said.

He further pointed to the lack of deference toward independent bodies, including the legislature and judiciary, noting that their decisions and recommendations are frequently ignored.

“Independent institutions in this country are not respected by the executive, no respect to the legislature in terms of the implementation of the recommendation, no respect to the audit reports, no respect to the judiciary,” he said.

On the issue of reforms, he criticized the handling of the constitutional review process, arguing that significant national resources were wasted.

“The Constitutional Review Commission—he sanctioned it; he committed national resources to reach 100-plus million. It was the same president who engineered the failure of the passage of that constitution and wasted the resources of this country,” he said.