By Yankuba Jallow
Omar Ceesay the member for Niamina East has called for the replacement of the Speaker of the National Assembly in all National Assembly Select Committees she serves as chairperson.
“Some of the Committees that the Speaker is chairing have never met since their establishment. As important as they are, they haven’t been able to meet and not to talk about their oversight functions,” he said.
Ceesay said all the Committees Speaker Mariam Jack-Denton serves as chairperson are weak because they are not doing what is required of them.
“The Honourable Speaker should be replaced in order for us to perform our oversight functions effectively,” he said.
He said these committees should meet and change their chairpersons.
“Some of the members of these committees where the Speaker serves as their chairperson have confessed to me that they have never met,” he said.
Other deputies said they cannot do their oversight function effectively and efficiently as required by law.
Omar Ceesay said the National Assembly is faced with financial dependence on the Executive in order to carry out their activities.
“We are not financially independent. We have to delete any position of the Constitution (laws) which make us financially dependent on the Executive,” he said.
Sulayman Saho, the member for Central Badibou said the National Assembly is faced with financial challenges and this always hampers the performance of their oversight function.
“We went to Basse, but we couldn’t reach other areas to perform our oversight functions,” he said.
He said the Executive through the Ministry of Finance must ensure that they are provided with funding to execute their oversight functions as required by law.
