By Mustapha Jarju
Almamy Fanding Taal, the spokesperson of the United Democratic Party (UDP) has encouraged the legislature (the National Assembly) to make amendments to the 1997 constitution.
In an interview with this medium, he said the 1997 constitution should be amended such that when the process of bringing a new constitution gets there again, it will not be stuck on the supermajority issue that defeated the first draft in 2020.
“What cannot be in doubt or what cannot be in question is that we have a very good first draft (constitution) so either the national assembly goes back to that draft or try to constitute a constituent assembly that will scrutinize this draft or the constituent assembly can be driven from all sectors of society,” he opined.
Mr. Taal added that the National Assembly should make the final analysis and take up the responsibility to bring a new constitution.
“In the process of remaking the Gambia`s Constitution or making any law, the national assembly should take a lead in that process, he added.
He said the national assembly can start the process of consultation to see either through legislative actions the process of bringing a new draft constitution can either be renewed or continued from where it was left off.
“To make laws in the Gambia is vested by in the constitution in the national assembly, if you look at section 100 of the 1997 constitution this is very clear there, of course, this power is to be exercised jointly with the president. But when there is a situation where the majority of the national assembly pass a bill the president can refer it back to them for further analysis and they can do that for a maximum of three times,” Taal stated.