By Sulayman Waan
Hon. Fabakary Tombong Jatta, leader and Secretary General of the opposition, Alliance Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction (APRC) has sulkily criticized the 2020 Draft Constitution that was rejected by lawmakers after over two years drafting process.
Speaking in an organised presser held at the APRC Bureau in Manjai, Wednesday, he said: “If this Draft Constitution was passed it could cause constitutional crisis in the country. I challenge any person on this.”
It could be recalled that 23 National Assembly members (NAMs) including the APRC NAMs voted against the Draft Constitution saying the 1997 Constitution is best for the country.
However, Hon. Jatta squabble that the coalition leaders have been baffling Gambians about the 2020 Draft Constitution because they were only telling people that the document is good but never highlight its goodness.
“They were just playing with Gambians mind so that people will belief the Draft Constitution is good,” he argued while defending the 1997.
However, he said section 226 of the 1997 Constitution states that the fundamentals can be in the constitution while lawmakers only amend sections that they want to remove from the document.
He therefore queried the decision of former Justice to bring a new Constitution; hence he could have maintain it (1997 Constitution) and amend what Gambians belief should be removed.
He went on that if the argument of legal connoisseurs for the lack of appeal provision in the 1997 Constitution is correct; therefore, tabling the 2020 Draft Constitution Bill before lawmakers is treasonable, describing it as overthrowing the 1997 Constitutional order.
Moving forward, he said the leaders of UDP and GMC just refused the 1997 Constitution because they believed it is a Yahya Jammeh’s constitution. “Yes it could be called that, 1997 Constitution is legacy of Yahya AJJ Jammeh but it is a national document.”
The former lawmakers challenged section 115 of the Draft Constitution that states that the president shall nominate and appoint short number of Ministers not exceeding twenty (20) to assist in running the affairs of the state.
He argued that such a figure cannot be established in a Constitution justifying that the country could like to introduce additional Ministry to increase the number of Minister to 21.
“You don’t put 20 in a document like this (Constitution) for cabinet portfolios. We can just pass this today and tomorrow there may be a need for an additional ministers to make it 21. So you would like to go and amend the Constitution. This cannot happen.
“What you do is, you have to put the framework in the Constitution and a parliament Bill will state the number of Ministers. And then if you want to amend, you just go back to the parliament for amendment. So anytime Gambians agree that there is a need for another Minister. We cannot do that until we go back to the Constitution for amendment,” he said.
Speaking further, he said section 97 of 2020 Draft Constitution that talked about the procedure of electing a president also could have cause difficult constitution standoff in country. Saying electoral procedures were not clearly stated in the draft Constitution.
“Many clauses were unnecessarily entrenched in the Draft Constitution which requires referendum for amendment,” he added.