Africa is struggling to put an end to personality centred governments and build institution centred governments. A personality centred government leads to the centralisation of power in one hand thus consolidating a monarchical system of government. The rule of law becomes insignificant and the rule of might holds sway. The end result is that institutions become the casualty. Hence they are allowed to decay. The services they should render become unavailable.
On the other hand, where institutions are the basis of governments, their performance is constantly monitored and evaluated to determine efficiency and effectiveness. Such checks compel institutions to improve their performance. Thus services are rendered to the satisfaction of the beneficiaries.
There was a big debate as to whether or not the Supreme Court of the Gambia was properly constituted. Lawyers who needed the services of the court for the past year but could not get their cases heard told the general public that the court was not fully constituted. Now the debate is over. During the hearing of an election petition, it is now evident that the court is not properly constituted.
Justice is never complete until a person who is convicted is accorded the right to exhaust appeals. If that is not done then justice is derailed.
Gambians should now prepare themselves to build a republic with the proper checks and balances so that institutions will not be found wanting in rendering the services they are designed to provide.
