This question was posed to Halifa Sallah.
He emphasised that this is a case that should never have happened in the first place if the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) was properly guided on function and purpose. A public utility regulatory authority is established to make essential public utilities available, accessible, affordable and sustainable in delivery in an effective and efficient manner. It is not the responsibility of the public utility regulatory authority to deal with issues that should be the responsibility of the Gambia Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (GCCPC).
When businesses are engaged in unfair competition or trade war with the objective of bringing each other down it is the duty of the GCCPC to receive complaints either from the businesses themselves or the public to conduct investigation and identify the wrong doers or the wrong doing to provide redress. The underlying motive must always be to serve the public interest.
Courts, law enforcement agencies and public officers are conditioned by law to promote public safety, public health, public morality; in other words the public interest at large. Peace in a democratic society is protected when conscience and values to protect the public interest are embedded in the hearts and minds of law enforcement officers, administrators of the law and every public servant.
The country is at a crossroads. Citizens are learning how to exercise and protect their rights through trial and error and those who govern the state are trying to learn how to manage the affairs of a sovereign people through trial and error. This is where the danger lies. If either side goes to the extreme, rights are imperiled, and public order is derailed. The end result is public distrust and the negation of social cohesion and national unity.
PURA is wrong to meddle in a competition that brings down the cost of telecommunication services in the interest of the public and every member of society is right to raise their voice against their action.
How to protest should be guided and guarded by the guards and senses of the law. Should people utilise methods that they deem wise and proper, it is the duty of the law enforcement officers and courts to act with magnanimity in the exercise of due process so that people will know what to do. This is why the law gives magistrates and judges the power to caution and discharge, the attorney general the power to file nolle prosequi and so on. The law stands for justice. That is why criminal cases are meant to prove the wrongdoing of criminals. They are not meant to punish those who are protesting to protect the public interest in peace. Now that conflicts are emerging in the exercise of rights, human rights defenders and the counsels and the law enforcement officers should begin to review the source of conflict to map out the legal way to explain what is against the public interest without fouling the law. This is urgent if social cohesion and national unity are to be retained. The Attorney General should look into the PURA case and find a solution to the challenges surrounding the case. This is how matters stand from my perspective.
