Civil society organizations in The Gambia Thursday welcomed the government’s decision to gazette the draft constitution on or before 30 May before presenting it to the National Assembly as prescribed by the 1997 Constitution.
In a statement, Chairperson of The Gambia CSOs John Njie said this was timely and consistent with citizens’ expectations.
“We commend the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) for its effort to draft a new Constitution.
“The CRC’s consultations with citizens at home and in the Diaspora were broad-based, inclusive, transparent, and interactive.
“The CRC also consulted selected institutions such as the Cabinet, National Assembly, the political parties, religious bodies, and civil society for their opinions, which enabled the CRC to further improve the initial draft released in November 2019,” Njie said.
He said the final draft constitution, which was submitted to the president of the republic on March 30, 2020, and then released to the public the day after was indeed a fair reflection of the diverse opinions of the Gambian people.
“Whilst not all opinions expressed in the consultative process have been incorporated in the final draft, the civil society believes that the CRC has managed to produce a draft Constitution based on the views expressed by the majority of Gambians.
“The CRC also accommodated minority views in the interest of serving all citizens. The final draft Constitution has appropriately taken on board very progressive provisions from different African Constitutions and has now obtained both local and international acclaim,” Njie pointed out.
According to him, as the executive and legislative branches of government consider the draft constitution, civil society offers the following recommendations to ensure that the constitutional review process is successful and reflects the will of the people.
Njie stated that it was incumbent on the current government to take all urgent steps necessary to ensure that the draft constitution is submitted unaltered to the National Assembly to respect the aspirations of the people.
He stressed that short-term gains must not overshadow the importance of a constitution that served the interests of present and future generations.
He said civil society further urged the executive to sponsor the reform of the electoral laws once the new constitution was passed.