By Mama A. Touray
During a dialogue at the National Assembly on Monday, Concerned Citizens urged the National Assembly to engage with the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to withdraw the Judicial Officers’ Remuneration and Other Entitlements Bill, as well as the National Assembly Members’ Salaries and Pensions Bill.
One of the executive members of the Green, Lamin Manneh, told the media shortly after their dialogue: “Our position is for them to have a discussion with the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, as they did with us today. He is a citizen and fully aware of the current situation in the country, including the protest against the bills. We want to inform him of our position, which is to request the withdrawal of the Judicial Officers Remuneration and Other Entitlement Bill.”
He added, “We also told them that they should withdraw the National Assembly members’ salaries and pension bill. We thought that if we came here, they would give us their position, but it seems they still want us to understand or justify the bill, which we believe is not our motive at this time.”
Lamin said parliamentarians presented their stance to support the bill, while others defended their position to reject it.
“What they said is that those bills are not placed in the National Assembly as of now, most especially the Judicial Officer’s Remuneration and Other Entitlement Bill and that the said bill is not placed by them but comes from the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and that it cannot be withdrawn by them,” he said.
Manneh stressed that parliamentarians must remember they represent the people, and if the people express opposition to certain bills, they must heed their voices.
“In our position paper that we have shared, it was clearly stipulated that if they do not adhere to our demands, we shall continue to protest. If we are denied a permit, we will continue to use the media to protest against them because these are individuals who come from various constituency.
“We shall tell the members of their constituents that they are not fit for purpose because there is a bill that has segregated our population, and they believe that segregation shall continue which we think should not.”
