FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)
11 July 2009
Foroyaa has indicated in edition No. 75/2009 that Bills that had been passed by the National Assembly were not assented to on time.
Section 100 of the constitution explains how a statute is enacted. A bill must first of all be passed by the national assembly. It is then presented to the president for his /her (approval) within 30 days. After the president has assented to the Bill it shall become law and shall be called an Act of the National Assembly.
However, since ignorance of the law is not an excuse, the president shall cause an Act of the National Assembly to be published in the gazette within 30 days of assent. In fact no Act of National Assembly shall come into operation until it has been published in the Gazette.
It is clear from the above that a Bill should be assented to within 30 days and published within following 30 days. In short, if the president is to comply by the requirements of the Constitution it should not take more than 60 days for an Act to be published in the Gazette after it has been passed as a Bill in the National Assembly.
It is common practice for Acts of the National Assembly to be published more than 60 days after it has been passed as a Bill. The date of publication indicated in the Act is quite often at variance with the actual date of publication. For example, the date of publication indicated in the Constitution of the Republic of the Gambia, 1997 (Amendment) Act 2009 is 29 May 2009, when in actual fact it was published on 24 June 2009.
This was passed as a bill on 6 April 2009. The same goes for the Information and Communications Act, 2009.
Publishing an Act and back dating it has its consequences. The Information and Communications Act has legal provisions that have serious consequences on a host of commercial agreements and transactions and disputes arising there from can have very serious effects. It is therefore extremely important that the time frame set by the Constitution be adhered to and the actual date of publication be indicated.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 FOROYAA Newspaper. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
