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‘Parliament can bring draft constitution to itself if executive refuses’
Nominated National Assembly member, Ya Kumba Jaiteh has said if the executive do not want to bring the Draft Constitution to parliament, a lawmaker or a committee can bring the draft to the parliament instead
Speaking as a panelist on the Paradise TV national briefing on the final draft constitution Saturday, Ms Jaiteh disclosed it might have been a miscalculation by the parliament not to give a time-curb on to when the executive should take the draft to the House, but said there is still other ways if the executive drags its feet.
“It is true that there is no time-limit for the president to bring the draft to parliament but who would have thought, given those circumstances why they wouldn’t want to bring the draft to parliament. I think for me it’s impossible; they have to bring it to parliament,” she said.
“Another thing that people always lose sight of is parliament can bring this draft to itself. It doesn’t necessarily have to come from…the executive” Speaking on the actual process to this alternative draft tabling, Ms Jaiteh added:
“There is a process of how this bill will come to life and that is in the 1997 Constitution. The constitution has made provisions on how you can repeal it or amend it or how you can amend certain provisions or entrenched provisions. And there is nothing in it that says it cannot be brought by a member of the National Assembly. It is the responsibility of the Legislature to make laws; we should never lose sight of that.”
She said parliament too can put forward laws just like the executive, and in this instance, it can always introduce the draft if it is very needed.
“Laws can be proposed by the executive but they can also be proposed by the National Assembly. So if in any case the executive says they are not bringing this to parliament, well the parliament can bring it to itself. That is very simple and straightforward. So if they decide not to bring it, one of us or a committee can bring the bill to itself,” she told Harona Drammeh, the host.
Source__Standard Newspaper
Gambia: Raneru Inhabitants Oath to boycott upcoming elections if gov’t fails….
The inhabitants of Raneru village in Sami District of the Central River Region (CRR) have taken oath to boycott all national elections if government fails to bring sustainable development to their doorsteps.
“If we do not have our needs before the next elections we will not cast our votes,” Sheriff Sallah, chairman of Raneru Village Youth Development (RVYD) told The Point.
“From 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon the people would be fetching water for drinking and other domestic uses. And from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. the cattle farmers would also start fetching water for their cattle,” he disclosed.
Sallah asserted that the livestock borehole is about 200 meters away from the community but in spite of that distance, the inhabitants have to carry gallons of water on heads as well on donkey carts to their various homes.
Alh. Adama Talla, chairman for the Village Development Committee (VDC) said: “We do not have water at all because we now depend on the cattle’s borehole to get water. It has no taps. It only has a pine that goes to reservoir.”
Therefore, he said the villagers have to get water from that pine for drinking and other domestic uses.
“We also have opened well in the village but that water is not good. The women have to sieves it severally before putting into the jars for drinking,” he said.
He said they believe casting votes for politicians is not of any significance for them because they always put people in office who end up doing nothing to solve their problems.
“We will boycott election because we are just voting for people in vain; therefore, abstaining ourselves from voting is better for us,” he expressed.
Sainabou Camara, resident of Raneru: “The lack of sufficient water supply in the village has affected us so severely because we do not have adequate water in our homes.” she said.
They are calling on both government and nongovernmental organisations to come to their aid.
Source___The Point
Health Minister enunciates disappointm over the country’s bad system
The Minister of Health on Saturday make known to the national Assembly members that the Gambia has a very bad system which requires some significant changes.
Dr. Ahmed Lamin Samateh was speaking before lawmakers on Saturday afternoon on the condition of COVID-19 in the country and why the payment of allowances to the salient workers was not made on time.
He said rather than dealing with the overcoming of COVID-19, putting in place what needs to be done, developing the strategies, people were thinking on how to amass money through the guarantee allowances.
He said there were people who were known for bungling the fund meant to fight COVID-10 as they did with the Ebola fund
“I think we inherited a bad system. That is the bottom line. The same old people are there. They got used to the same bad system. We talk about Ebola, unfortunately, Ebola funds were wasted in this country and that is what they want to do with this and we say no.”
“That is why some of them are up and against. The Ebola funds were wasted here. What that would have done, today, our health system wouldn’t have been like this. There were equipment which were said to have been procured which never got to this country. Nobody sees them. Allowances were put together – then allowances were paid as impress and I was told they put it in bags and they went and paid selected people and the rest only God and they know where the rest went to. Some people were left as a response team for three months and they never get a dime paid to them. They are still here.”
He said the same people are still around and now that they don’t have the access, they are vandalizing the system.
“To them, things won’t work. To them, things will fail. This is the frustration I am facing as a health minister.”
He added: “Unfortunately, people started forgetting about COVID 19, all they talk about is money, money, money. That is why I said our work is very difficult.”
He said there is a great number of health workers who are on daily bases sacrificing their lives for the country, but there are one or two substandard elements too.
Source___Foroyaa
Nigeria Confirms 338 New COVID-19 Cases, Toll of Infections Near 6,000
Nigeria has confirmed 338 new cases of the novel coronavirus, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
In a tweet on its official handle late Sunday, the NCDC said Lagos had recorded 177 new cases, while Kano posted 64 cases.
Other regions with latest cases include the FCT with 21, Rivers with 16, Plateau with 14, Oyo 11, Katsina nine, Jigawa and Kaduna with four each, and three cases from the trio of Abia, Bauchi, and Borno.
Gombe, Akwa Ibom, and Delta states also confirmed two new cases each, while Kebbi and Sokoto shared two cases between them.
Meanwhile, earlier on Sunday, national coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu, said President Muhammadu Buhari is set to address Nigerians on Monday over the Corona Virus pandemic.
While some are anticipating for the President to further relax lockdown measures caused by the virus, COVID-19 cases have continued to increase across the country.
Source___Channels TV
20 villagers murdered in northeast DR Congo
An armed group has murdered no less than 20 civilians in a raid on a village in northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the latest occurrent in a sweep of ethnic violence that has forced 200,000 people from their homes in two months.
*Fighters from the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) militia, which is made up of fighters from the Lendu ethnic group, attacked Hema village in Ituri province at about 1am on Sunday, the army and local authorities said._
“They cut with the machetes several of my compatriots, 20 have already died and more than 14 [are] seriously injured,” said Solo Bukutupa, a local administrator. “It’s unacceptable to see people die like that.”
The murderers run off after United Nations peacekeepers came at the village and the militia later opened fire on a nearby UN base, a UN source said.
Women and children were among the ones killed. Another local official said 22 people were killed.
“The victims are of all ages, children, youths, women and old men, killed by machete, by knife or by firearm,” Pilo Mulindro, a tribal chief, told AFP news agency.
Confronting by a Marshall of armed groups in the region has entangled the DRC’s feedback to the coronavirus pandemic and an Ebola epidemic that has taking the lives of more than 2,200 people since 2018.
Source___Aljzeera
Iran media notify US averse to any move on fuel shipment to Venezuela
An Iranian news agency close to the elite Revolutionary Guard said on Saturday that there would be consequences if the United States acted “just like sea thiefs” against an Iranian fuel shipment to Venezuela.
*A senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration told Reuters News Agency last week the US was considering measures it could take in response to Iran’s shipment of fuel to crisis-stricken Venezuela.
The oil sectors of Iran and Venezuela, members of OPEC, are both under US sanctions. The Trump administration official declined to specify the measures being weighed, but said options would be presented to Trump.*
“If the United States, just like sea thiefs, intends to create insecurity on international waterways, it would be taking a dangerous risk, and that will certainly not go without repercussion,” Iran’s Nour news agency said.
Not Less than one tanker carrying fuel loaded at an Iranian port has set sail for Venezuela, as said by the vessel-tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon, which could help reduce an acute shortage of petrol in the South American country.
“Venezuela and Iran are both independent states that have had and will continue to have trade relations with each other,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei was quoted as saying by the YJC news website, linked to Iran’s state broadcaster.
“We sell goods and buy goods in return. This trade has nothing to do with anyone else. We have to sell our oil, and we have ways to do it,” Rabiei said, saying he had no information about the Venezuela-bound vessel.
Source___Aljazeera
One person died following Canadian Snowbirds aircraft bumps into home in British Columbia
No less than one person was killed and another severely injured on Sunday when a Canadian Forces Snowbirds aircraft crashed in Kamloops, British Columbia, as said by the Royal Canadian Air Force.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce that one member of the CF Snowbirds team has died and one has sustained serious injuries,” the RCAF said on Twitter, adding that more information would be available shortly.
Capt. Jennifer Casey in this picture was the one identified as the deceased victim. She was the team’s public affairs officer, according to a press release from the National Defence Canadian Armed Forces.
Casey was from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and become a member of the Canadian Armed Forces in August 2014 as a direct entry officer, according to her RCAF biography. Well before that, she had been a broadcast radio reporter, anchor and producer in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Belleville, Ontario, the biography said.
“To the family of Captain Jenn Casey we send our condolences, know that she was an inspiration to many and she will be missed,” said Gen. Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff for the Canadian Armed Forces.
Capt. Richard MacDougall, the pilot of the aircraft, was critically injured in the crash and is being taken cared of, the Canadian Armed Forces release said.
Source___CNN News
NBA legend’s trainers sell for a sum of $560,000
Basketball legend Michael Jordan’s sighned trainers from 1985 sold for a sum of $560,000 (£463,000) in an online fair.
The Nike Air Jordan 1s, put on by Jordan during his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls, were anticipated to earn between $100,00-$150,000 at Sotheby’s.
The preceding record was $437,500 for a pair of Nike’s 1972 Moon Shoes.
Jordan wore unsuited trainers, with the left a size 13 and the right a size 13.5.
The Air Jordan 1s were sold by Jordan Geller, who started up the trainer museum Shoezeum in Las Vegas.
The sale happen at the same time with a Netflix documentary – The Last Dance – with behind-the-scenes footage of the Bulls’ Chase for a sixth NBA title in the 1997-98 season.
Source___BBC News
Pakistan girls assassinated over phone video footage
Two teenage girls have been assassinated in a so-called “honour killing” in north-west Pakistan following a video going around on the internet.
They are said to have been shot to dead by their family members earlier this week in a village on the border of the North and South Waziristan tribal districts.
The killings came after a video was posted on social media showing the girls with a young man, police said.
Two men were reportedly taken into custody on Sunday in connection with the case.
The two men were the father of one of the dead persons and brother of the other victim, police officials told BBC Urdu.
The occurrence is said to have taken place on Thursday afternoon at Shaam Plain Garyom, a border village of North and South Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to police.
The reason behind the killings of the two girls, aged 16 and 18, is known to be a video, provided to the BBC, which shows a young man recording himself with three young girls in a sheltered area outdoors.
*It appeared the video was shot nearly a year ago and most probably went viral on social media a few weeks ago, a senior police official told Dawn newspaper.*
“At the moment, our topmost priority is to secure the life of the third girl and the man before taking any action,” the officer said.
Human Rights Watch says that violence against women and girls still a serious problem in Pakistan.
Activists believe about 1,000 such “honour killing” assassinations are carried out across the country every year.
Source___BBC News
Hospitals in Brazil’s city São Paulo is near collapsing
The mayor of Brazil’s biggest city, São Paulo, has said its health system could could fall in as demand grows for emergency beds to deal with coronavirus pandemic.
Bruno Covas said the city’s public hospitals has get as far as 90% and could run out of space in about two weeks.
São Paulo is one of the country’s worst-hit regions, with almost 3,000 deaths so far.
On Saturday, Brazil surpass Spain and Italy to become the nation with the fourth largest number of infections.
The health ministry confirmed 7,938 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the toll above 241,000. Only the US, Russia and the UK have higher numbers.
The number of death in the Latin American nation over 24 hours was 485, meaning that the toll of deaths is 16,118 – the world’s fifth-highest figure.
Health experts in Brazil have alerted that the real number of recorded infections in the country may be far higher than the official records, due to a lack of testing.
Mr Covas said he was now in calamity talks with the state governor over bringing forward a strict lockdown to try to slow the contagion before hospitals were overwhelmed.
The governor of São Paulo state controls the police, and his support will be of great importance if a lockdown is to be victorious.
São Paulo has the population of about 12 million, and official figures show that the majority of inhabitants have been going against social distancing rules.
Source___BBC News
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