By Yusupha Jobe
The Public Relation Director of Gambia Action Party (GAP) has described the newly drafted constitution of The Gambia as ‘a borrowed one.’ As he said 50 per cent of the clauses do not represent the true value of the citizens.
Alagie Bayo, said in an interview with The Voice that it is very unnecessary to sanction a Constitutional Review Commission mandated to draw a new constitution of the country to be in consultation with the citizens.
Argued that because some improper clauses in the 1997 Constitution can simply be amended and save the funds that were used to hire a consultant from Kenya who knows nothing about our cultural values as Gambians.
“The consultant who was hired by government for the new Constitution of the country was in fact from Kenya. How can a Kenyan consultant work on a Gambian supreme document as a constitution?
“We do not have the same values and cultures despite being the same people as Africans we still have different cultural beliefs and practices. So to simply put it one can say the newly drafted constitution was a borrowed one from other African nation and does not depict the true value of a Gambian culture,” he stated.
He went on that there are some certain clauses in the drafted Constitution such as a non-citizenship for newly born child whose parent were not born in The Gambia should have not even been captioned in the drafted constitution saying “the issue of statelessness must not be promoted in the country, still this has to be approved by citizens during the referendum,” he said.
He lamented on the delaying of passing the draft Constitution to the National Assembly for a future referendum, thereby he urged the government not to use Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to further delay it.
‘’There is no way that the executive can delay or take advantage of the coronavirus. The draft Constitution must be taken to National assembly as soon as possibly can without any delay for a referendum.
I can assure you that the Gambia Action Party will make sure the public is well sensitize on the newly drafted Constitution so we can have proper say in the referendum when it is time,’’ he added.