By: Binta Jaiteh
A prominent politician, Hajie Suwaneh has hinted that the 2024 draft constitution is worse than the 1997 constitution.
He expressed disappointment over the 2024 draft constitution in an interview with The Voice.
According to him, this draft constitution is not about politics but the welfare of Gambians especially “our future leaders,” adding that the constitution people requested was rejected due to retroactive cause.
“The 2020 draft constitution limits the President to contest for more than two terms”, he reaffirmed.
Mr. Suwaneh continued that Gambians still expect a new constitution while “President Barrow and his cabinet went ahead to tamper with the 2020 draft constitution by removing the crucial clauses, what essence does it have to the citizens”, he asked rhetorically.
He frowned saying this talk about the new draft constitution broke his heart because it failed to address the plight of Gambians.
He noted that President Barrow’s lack of political will to bring Gambian a new Democratic constitution has also been exposed, again. He wants the government to respect the plight of the people by bringing back the 2020 draft constitution without editing.
He stressed that in this new constitution, President Barrow will not be liable for any crime, both, civil and criminal acts adding that he will be untouchable, and no political party will have a say.
He emphasized and explained that President Barrow’s Draft Constitution also disregarded the affairs of women and reduced it from 14 to 7 seats. The 2020 Draft Constitution provided a quarter system by allocating 14 National Assembly seats to women. The government also deleted the section that catered to the plight of teachers.
He said for the Gambia to prosper “we must have a just system to uphold good Governance and Rule of law. We must establish strong institutions that are independent with no political influence.”
However, he suggested everyone especially the lawmakers reject this constitution outright because the majority doubts it even though it is not presented yet. This Constitution, he claimed, is very controversial and it should be thrown in the dust without hesitation.
