By Sulayman Waan
Chief author of the national draft Constitution has dismissed plagiarism allegation and described the accusations as personal views of individuals.
Justice Cherno Sulayman Jallow’s reaction came as a result of Dr. Lamin J Darboe, Gambian lawyer accused the Commission of plagiarising the Kenyan constitution.
But speaking at an organised press conference after the rejection of the draft Constitution by Gambian lawmakers, Justice Cherno Sulayman Jallow, insisted that “The CRC has not blindly adapted constitutional provisions from elsewhere; it thoroughly reviewed and applied them in The Gambia’s own national circumstances, especially having regard to the opinions expressed by members of the public during the public consultations. It is from such sources that international best practices are gleaned.”
“CRC with its team of experienced draftspersons and international consultants’ drafters has not given any credence to such claims and essentially view the claims as merely stoking emotions to back up the critics’ rejection of the Draft Constitution,” he added.
He lashed out at critics saying “some people never said anything good of the CRC since inception while described the critics as personal.” He added that international experts on constitutional drafting have said adopting and adapting best constitutional provisions around the world is globally accepted but was quick to add that the CRC has not copy and paste from any foreign constitution as claim by some Gambians.
According to him, no Constitution in the world is copyrighted because every Constitution, including the USA that has been touted as a model by some critics, has drawn inspiration from some one or more constitutions or other written literatures.
“We see the best example of such encouragement in the Website called “Constitute.com” which collects and collates the constitutions of the world for purposes of serving as a reference to constitutional builders and researchers,” he said.
Reflecting on Gambia’s constitutional history, he said the 1970 Constitution drew a lot of inspiration from the Jamaican Constitution of 1962 which it adapted. According to him the 11 Chapters of the 1970 Constitution are essentially the same as those of the 10 Chapters of the Jamaican Constitution.
“Similarly, Chapter III of the 1970 Constitution was adapted from Chapter III of the Jamaican Constitution; the minor differences are in the areas of protection of persons detained during a period of public emergency, which the Jamaican Constitution did not have. Similarly, the Jamaican Constitution had no provision on prohibition of slavery and forced labour which the 1970 Constitution adapted from the European Convention on Human Rights,” he noted.
In the1997 Constitution, he said The Gambia drew enormous inspiration from the Constitution of Ghana, adding that is constitution-building! Trying to denigrate the toil and hard work of the CRC on this issue has been most unfortunate.
He said The Gambia shares the same Commonwealth tradition with Kenya and other Anglophone countries and added that The Gambia has more in common with the Commonwealth nations in term of Constitution than Senegal and other Francophone countries.
“The CRC has studied the Constitution of each and, where appropriate, has drawn inspiration from them as circumstances required having regard to The Gambia’s own special circumstances,” he said.
He further gave reference that “The Civil Marriage Ordinance, 1910 of Sierra Leone was adapted by The Gambia through the Civil Marriage Act, 1938 and by Kenya through its Marriage Act 1962 (revised in 2012). The majority of the provisions in these legislations are the same, with The Gambia adopting verbatim most of the provisions of the Civil Marriage Ordinance of Sierra Leone.”
He said many laws debated and enacted by the National Assembly invariably draw inspiration from the laws of other countries, regional and international instruments, and from other literature.
Jallow said two African experts on constitutional development have helped the CRC to draft the 2020 Draft Constitution citing Professor Dr. Albert K. Fiadjoe former Chairman of the last Ghana Constitutional Review Commission and Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, member of Kenya’s Constitutional Reform Commission.
He said both were regularly consulted as necessary and they advised the CRC to adopting and adapting, if necessary, best constitutional provisions around the world that had come to represent best international practice. He added that these experts’ practice that in their countries and no one accuse of them plagiarism.