Member for Banjul South
By Ramatoulie Jawo and Buba Gagigo
The Speaker of the National Assembly on Wednesday sent out of the Chambers, Fatoumatta Touma Njai, Member for Banjul South under Independent ticket, for making comments considered non-parliamentary that she refused to withdraw.
The development followed exchanges with Speaker Fabakary Jatta as the legislators were debating a motion tabled by the Minority Leader on the Acute Kidney Injury (AKI).
During his deliberation, the deputy speaker of the National Assembly Seedy Njie said the Majority leader was not presented with the motion to sign.
“I want to say that from the beginning, the majority leader and member for Kantora was never presented with this motion to sign, rather it was a paper for him to sign to call for this extraordinary session. And this very important Motion was finalized yesterday by the Office of the Speaker, the Office of the two leaders and the office Of the Clark. That needs to be and they work tirelessly to get us this factual and important document,” the deputy speaker said.
At this point, the National Assembly Member for Banjul South Touma Njie says section 18 of the standing orders says any member deviating from this standing order may be immediately called to order by the speaker or any other member.
“Section 18 of the standing orders says any member deviating from this standing order may be immediately called to order by the speaker or any other member. The Honorable member just stood up and told this assembly something that is not true. Honourable Member It is a lie that the deputy speaker said that the majority leader was not given a letter to sign,” Hon. Touma Njie said.
At this point, the Speaker of the house Hon. Fabakary Tombong Jatta asked Hon. Touma Njie to Apologize for her comments, or leave the chambers.
“Let us exercise decorum. We are Parliamentarians. Let us be polite,” said the speaker.
However, MP Njai told the Speaker that she was not going to withdraw her statement and that she would sit in the chambers alleging, “the Deputy Speaker was not telling the truth”.
The Speaker instantly gave her an ultimatum to withdraw her comment against the Deputy Speaker or leave the House. But Njai stood her ground and then the Speaker ordered her to leave.
While she was leaving, Njai was heard saying: “I will leave with my dignity, than sit in the chambers and lie to the public. I took an oath. So I will leave.”
Addressing lawmakers after Touma Njai left; the speaker said: “If we don’t respect the authority of parliament, who else will respect it?