The Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has now been given new and entrenched powers to run and supervise Area Councils and Municipalities in the country. The country's rubber stamp Parliament yesterday unanimously approved a bill making President Jammeh the Chief Executive with absolute powers to single handedly run the affairs of the institutions of Area Councils and Municipalities across the country.

This is how the government owned newspaper, the Daily Observer puts it:

 
It has finally been considered and approved for the President of the Republic of The Gambia to take over the affairs of all Area Councils and Municipalities, with effect from November 1, 2007.

This was considered and approved by NAMs yesterday, at an Extra-ordinary session of the National Assembly in the 2007 Legislative Year.

Presenting the motion for approval, Ismaila Sambou, Secretary of State for Local Government, Lands and Religious Affairs, said Section 152 of the Local Government Act 2002, provides that the President may with the approval of a simple majority of the votes of all members of the National Assembly, assume the executive powers of any Local Government Area, in circumstance where the Council so request and it is in the public interest to do so and where it has become extremely difficult or impossible for a Council to function.

According to SoS Sambou, there has been constant power conflict between the Office of the Regional Governors and the office of the Chairman of Area Councils, the latter claiming being elected by universal adult suffrage of all eligible voters in the Local Government Area, thus creating functional difficulties.

“This power struggle in many instances do not yield positive impact. As a result, this constitutional provision has recently been amended to pave the way for the amendment of Section 13(1) of the Local Government Act 2002, among other things. For a good transition and to achieve the desired results, therefore, it will be desirable for the President to take over the administration of Local Government Councils for them to be well-prepared for the forthcoming Council Elections,” he said.

He added that there has been a series of complaints from the general public and other stakeholders in Local Government Administration about the poor performance of the Local Area Councils, which in some cases led to public outcry and great confusion. It is for such reasons, according to him, that, the Department of State for  Local Government and Lands had to come up with a press release in 2006 to reduce rates across the country. “Also, because of the unsatisfactory method of car park fees collection by Councils, the Department of State in collaboration with the Department of State for Finance and Economic Affairs and the Interior had to shift the collection of car park fees from Councils to The Gambia Police Force,” he noted.

SoS Sambou then noted that, these and many other cases are result of both financial and administrative malfunctions, leading to unsatisfactory performances by all Councils. He added that to arrest this undesirable situation and considering that Local Government Elections are scheduled for January 2008, the need to better prepare new Councils to take up their financial and administrative responsibilities as expected by the citizens they are supposed to serve, cannot be over-emphasised.

He then observed that in the light of the above and under the present circumstances, it is only proper for the President to invoke Section 152(1)(b) of the Local Government Act 2002 to remedy the current situation and prepare good grounds for a more vibrant and result-oriented Local Government Councils in The Gambia to achieve the aspirations of the MDGs and our Decentralisation and Good Governance Strategies.

Supporting the motion, Hon.Netty Baldeh, NAM for Tumana, said the motion is timely for the fact that the Local Government elections are just in the pipeline. He said this will help to create a level playing ground field for all participants and also indicates government’s commitment to ensure a fair play in the election process.

He urged the NAMs to ratify the motion so that the President of the Republic of The Gambia can take actions to remedy the current poor situations of Councils and Municipalities.

Hon. Sellu Bah, NAM for Basse, also supported the motion for the President to take over the affairs of the Councils and Municipalities. He urged for the proper scrutiny of the administrative actions of the Councils and Municipalities.

Hon. Sedia Jatta, NAM for Wuli West urged the authorities to create an interim management structures to run Councils until the election are over. 

 Senegambia News reported on June 20, that Gambian parliament was considering dissolving Area Councils in the country under the pretext of massive corruption scandals.