Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – The National Assembly was thrown into procedural turmoil on Tuesday when lawmakers clashed sharply over whether the Deputy Speaker should continue presiding over proceedings linked to a petition reportedly filed against him, forcing a 30-minute suspension of the sitting.
The disagreement erupted when members attempted to move a motion relating to the petition. A group of lawmakers contended that the principle of natural justice and basic fairness demanded that the Deputy Speaker temporarily vacate the Chair and allow another member to preside over any discussion connected to the matter.
Their argument was straightforward: it would be fundamentally inappropriate, they said, for someone who is the subject of a petition to oversee proceedings arising from that very petition.
The Deputy Speaker, however, firmly rejected the calls for his recusal. He maintained that the petition had not been formally placed before the Assembly and had not been referred to any committee for consideration and therefore could not be treated as a matter requiring any special procedural accommodation.
“The matter is not before Parliament,” he declared, insisting that members must adhere to the established parliamentary procedures before any substantive discussion could take place.
His position drew support from several members, who urged colleagues not to pre-empt decisions on whether the petition would be admitted or what process might follow. They called on the Assembly to proceed with the day’s scheduled business rather than get drawn into what they described as a premature debate.
Their calls, however, did not quell the dissent. A number of members pressed on, insisting that the matter warranted immediate attention. Their interventions triggered a wave of points of order and sharp exchanges across the chamber, transforming what was meant to be a routine sitting into a tense procedural standoff.
As the back-and-forth continued and time wore on, some lawmakers expressed frustration at the prolonged procedural wrangling and called for consultations among parliamentary leaders to find a way through the impasse.
The plea for consultation eventually gained traction. A motion was moved to suspend proceedings, which the Deputy Speaker subsequently announced, granting a 30-minute recess to allow members and Assembly leaders to hold discussions behind the scenes.
The sitting was expected to resume after those consultations, with the key question of how the Assembly will handle the petition, and who presides over any related proceedings, still unresolved.
The episode has raised broader questions about parliamentary procedure and the conventions governing conflicts of interest at the highest levels of the National Assembly.
Leave a Reply