Gambian Christians Frown at Omission of ‘Secular’ in Draft Constitution

By: Musa S. Sheriff

The Gambia Christian Community has expressed concern over the omission of ‘Secular’ in the preamble of the draft Constitution of The Gambia currently under review.

Two Pastors and Gambia Christian Council (GCC)   raised concern over the omission of the word ‘secular’ in the Draft Constitution expressing fears that the new constitution may promote Islam over other religions in the country and might eventually lead to the creation of an Islamic State.

They demanded for the insertion of ‘Secular’ in the Draft Constitution if their fears are to be allaying, arguing that the mere guaranteeing of freedom to worship and association is not convincing to the Christian community.

“There is a hidden agenda of slowly Islamizing this nation, if all those clauses are there to protect different beliefs why are they (CRC) insisting to take out the word ‘Secular’ in the Draft Constitution. You see ‘Secular’ is the fence, if the word SECULAR is there the country cannot be an Islamic country and it cannot be a Judo-Christian country it stays neutral,” Pastor Moses Sonko expressed his fears on the omission of ‘Secular’ in the Draft Constitution.

He pointed out that the influence of Islam is gaining momentum in Gambian societies at the detriment of other religions. He stressed that Christian students at St. Therese and Nusrat Senior Secondary Schools are forced to put on veil against their will and wishes.

“If we are to face the facts and look at the realities and look at everything that is going on around in The Gambia, you can see that there is a very slow intentional infiltration of the Islamic influence in The Gambia. In Christian schools which already have their uniforms through the infusion of these Islamic influences, they are forced to change their uniforms upon request,” Pastor Moses Sonko adduced.

Pastor Seal S. Jammeh of Light and Salt Crystal Chapel travelled over 60 kilometres away from Banjul to catch-up with members of Constitutional Review Commission at Kerewan, North Bank Region of the country to express his opinion on this intriguing subject.

According to him, guaranteeing the freedom to associate and practice any religion alone in the Draft Constitution is not enough. He argued that what is more convincing to the Christian population is to insert the word SECULAR in the Draft Constitution.

The Pastor pointed out that the Draft Constitution proposes the funding of Madarasas and payment of salaries to Imams, while refusing to provide the same provision for Christian Bible Schools and Pastors and Bishops.

“What I and many other Christians want to see is for the Constitutional Review Commission to insert the word SECULAR in the Draft Constitution. It doesn’t matter how many sections that talks about religion freedom and all we want to see is SECULAR in our new constitution,” Pastor Seal S. Jammeh emphasised.

In December last year the Gambia Christian Council wrote to the Constitutional Review Commission to consider leaving some words in preamble of the 1997 constitution, arguing that this will create the level playing field that will allow all religious groups to practice their faith without any interfering.

The Council called on members of the Constitutional Review Commission to maintain the Preamble of the constitution. They observed that the Preamble should maintain, the “Secularity” of The Gambia and the right to freedom of religion and worship.

“Some of the wordings of the old Preamble need to be retained in the new constitution, The Gambia is a sovereign, secular Republic with diverse ethnic linguistic and religious freedom and social cohesion,” GCC member expressed.