In touting his party as a bona fide political party in The Gambia, Mr. Mai Fatty of the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) said in an interview with Freedom Radio that he was the running mate of Mr. Ousainou Darboe of the United Democratic Party in the 2011 Presidential elections. He said the UDP/PPP/GMC alliance contested that election with “Ousainou Darboe as the Presidential Candidate and me as his running mate—the Vice Presidential Candidate.” Unfortunately, neither Mr. Pa Nderry M’bai nor Ms. Fatou Camara challenged Mr. Fatty to provide evidence that he was indeed Mr. Darboe’s running mate in that year’s election. This challenge was necessary because Mr. Fatty and his sidekicks insisted to both interviewers to produce evidence to substantiate the litany of allegations on his character. They should have challenged Mr. Fatty, as he had required of them, to provide evidence that he was Mr. Darboe’s running mate in 2011. The country was never informed of any such arrangement at the time, and since until the interview on Freedom Radio, to exercise the due diligence of public scrutiny on its merits and motivations as should be the case in a credible or aspiring democracy.
It’s true that our Constitution did not explicitly state that presidential candidates must choose their running mates to be placed on the ballots alongside them. However, it requires that Presidents appoint Vice Presidents who should take a prescribed Oath of Office. Mr. Fatty said that Mr. Darboe had picked him for Vice President in the event that their coalition won the election. I find it hard to believe that Darboe, a prominent lawyer in his own right, would be a party to such an arrangement that would have been illegal under the residency requirements for Vice President and President as stipulated in the Constitution.
Section 70 (2) of the Constitution states that:
A person shall be qualified to be appointed as Vice-President if he or she has the qualifications required for the election of the President under section 62.
As this provision shows, anyone not qualified to run for President, is unqualified to be appointed Vice President. Mai Fatty was not qualified to have been appointed Vice President in 2011 nor will he be in 2016. Why? The following section disqualifies him then and now:
Section 62
(1) A person shall be qualified for election as president if-
(c) he or she has been ordinarily resident in The Gambia for the five years immediately preceding the election;
It’s no secret that Mai Fatty lived in exile well over a year prior to that election. On the mere fact of this information, it wouldn’t take a constitutional lawyer to conclude that Mr. Fatty did not meet the residency qualification to be appointed Vice President. In addition, Mr. Fatty’s prolonged absence from the country might have disqualified him to be a registered voter to choose representatives let alone to represent anyone. Mr. Fatty knew about Sections 62 and 70 of the Constitution when he lectured on the Constitutional role of the Attorney General during the interview. He was right to have said that the only cabinet positions mentioned in the Constitution are: the President, Vice President and the Attorney General. How would he have been appointed to the Vice Presidency had Darboe won that election when he was not qualified under the Constitution as indicated above? Would both of them have disregarded the Supreme Law of the land in spite of spending all these many years accusing Jammeh of breaching and breaking the letter and spirit of the Constitution? Did Mr. Darboe give Mr. Fatty an empty promise he had no intention of honoring? Was this sort of back-room deals the reason the opposition parties could not agree on a clear and concrete plan to unseat Jammeh? Above all, was this agreement between Darboe and Fatty even true? If yes, why was it not declared to the nation? Both Lawyer Darboe and Lawyer Fatty should answer these questions as they are cardinal for 2016. The Gambian people, particularly those opposing Jammeh, deserve explanations. It’s both an issue of character and judgment especially for Mr. Darboe.
Mr. Fatty claimed to form the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) to inject morality into the Gambian political milieu. He said when Gambians hear about politicians, they too often think about lairs, corrupt and unreliable people. That observation is only true because Mai Fatty is one of those politicians we continue hearing from on Gambian affairs. The morality he teaches to Gambians, he should have taught first to himself. Mr. Mai Fatty more than anyone else is deficient in the values he professes as his strengths.