Gambia’s Supreme Court dismisses election result challenge

Gambia’s Supreme Court has dismissed a legal challenge to President Adama Barrow’s recent election victory, ruling that its proponents had not followed proper procedure in filing it, court documents showed on Tuesday.

Barrow won the Dec. 4 poll with 53% of the vote. Runner-up Ousainou Darboe, who got about 28%, and two other candidates refused to accept the results, citing alleged problems at polling stations without providing evidence.

L1N2SQ078Darboe’s United Democratic party (UDP) petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify the results the following week despite election observers having said the poll was conducted fairly.

The court dismissed the petition on Tuesday on the grounds that Darboe’s party had failed to serve Barrow within five days of filing it, which violated the Gambia’s fair trial procedures, judicial sources said.

Tanzania signs $1.9 bln railway contract with Turkish firm
anzania on Tuesday signed a contract with Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi to build a 368 km section of standard gauge railway that is expected to cost $1.9 billion and will be funded by loans.

It is part of a 1,219 km line which Tanzania is building to help boost trade with neighbouring countries and Yapi Merkezi is already building two other sections which are near completion.

The section announced on Tuesday will link Makutopora with Tabora, two towns in the country’s central region, Masanja Kadogosa, director general of Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC), said in a televised ceremony.

The full line will connect Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port and commercial capital of Dar es Salaam with Mwanza, a port city on the shores of Lake Victoria which straddles the borders of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan said at the ceremony that Tanzania would borrow to finance the project.