Absolute mornachy Vs Constitutional monarchy : Hon. Abdoulie Saine's dilemma

Hon. Abdoulie Saine

When the National Assembly Member (NAM) for Banjul Central took to the floor of the National Assembly to convince his colleagues that it was in their "...best interest as Gambians to introduce a mornachy and crown President Jammeh as King...", the reaction was fast and furious from the opposition parties which led the parliamentarian to spuriously claim that he was being misquoted.

In his disclaimer, he unintentionally dug a deeper hole for himself by repeating the exact words he was quoted as saying by the opposition.  The only difference is the claimed that the crowning of Jammeh should be done "in our own way"; what that means is beyond our comprehension.   May be he should explain to Gambians what he means because as it stands the 1997 Constitution doesn't provide the flexibility without amending it and forcing a national referendum for an new provision.  In short, there's no provision for doing things "in our own way."    

When the idea was first mooted, we didn't take it seriously, so we spoofed it in a blog here :http://sidisanneh.blogspot.com/2014/05/let-us-crown-him-king-junkung-first.html.

We are commenting on the idea once more because this time around we believe Jammeh is behind it.  A parliamentarian will not make such a proposal on the floor of the National Assembly by inviting the opposition to join in a partisan proposal of this nature by suggesting that the opposition also stands to benefit with the possibility of occupying the prime ministership if they should lend their support.

The parliamentarian's claim that he's been misquoted suggests that Jammeh was displeased at both the opposition's reaction as well as the inarticulate manner the proposal was handled by Abdoulie Saine on the floor of the parliament.

A parliamentary mornachy is commonly defined as a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written, unwritten or blended constitution.  It differs from absolute monarch which serves as the sole source of political power and is not legally bound by any constitution.

Norway, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and morocco are all constitutional monarchies. Absolute monarchies are countries like Saudi, Brunei, Swaziland, Qatar and Oman.

Mr. Saine is suggesting to adopt the Morocco model but he will still have to explain which form of parliamentary mornachy he is advocating i.e one that has a written, unwritten or blended constitution.

In fact, there is a fourth option open to him; returning to our pre-Republican status where we have The Queen of England  be our head of state to be represented by Governor General Yaya Jamus Junkung Jammeh with Ousainou Darboe the Prime Minister.  Therefore simply suggesting that we adopt the Morocco model will not suffice.  Further elaboration by Honorable Abdoulie Saine is required before the national debate he is advocating commences.