Lawyer Lamin J Darboe has described the draft Constitution recently submitted to President Adama Barrow as ‘copy and paste,’ stressing that it doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of Gambians.
Darboe made this expression in a national discussion hosted by Harona Drammeh has he once more stuck to his view, on the Constitution drafted by eleven (11) commissioners chaired by Justice Cherno Sulayman Jallow, that the document was copied and pasted in ‘major ways.’
He said: “I don’t think this is a Constitution that should be supported. I don’t think it necessarily reflects the views of Gambians.
“You went to the country and then you gave us a Constitution that was copied and pasted in major ways from the 2010 Constitution of the Republic of Kenya. I think that should be a concern really for a sovereign Republic like The Gambia.”
He continued that “I don’t think the balance is right, I don’t think the demarcations are correct and so I will be opposing the constitution.”
The lawyer’s comments come as State House announced the document would be taken to the national assembly in August ahead of a planned referendum early next year.
As required by the Constitutional Review Commission Act 2018, President Adama Barrow having received the Draft Constitution on 30th March 2020, the Ministry of Justice will publish the national document in the Gazette before the end of May 2020, before it is subsequently presented to the National Assembly in August 2020.
It could be recalled that in June 2018, President Barrow inaugurated a Constitutional Review Commission to undertake a review of the 1997 Constitution and to come up with a proposed Draft that will be subjected to a referendum and usher in a Third Republic for The Gambia.
The Office of the President therefore assures the public that the due processes will be followed in strengthening our democracy.