By Arret Jatta
Ever since the 2024 draft constitution has been re-gazetted by the government, lots of people have raised eyebrows at the new changes made in the draft constitution.
Speaking to National Assembly member for Kiang West Hon. Lamin Ceesay, he expressed dissatisfaction with the new draft constitution saying they are just trying to eliminate transparency and accountability in their system.
“They are just trying to eliminate transparency and accountability, that is what they are eliminating in our system. They are eliminating the system of separation of power, they are eliminating the system of checks and balances, there won’t be any more checks on the executive by the National Assembly, and for transparency and accountability, they won’t be held to account for their actions, that’s what they are trying to demonstrate and manifest,” he expressed.
Unlike the 2020 draft constitution, he said the 2024 re-gazetted draft constitution removed the National Assembly from participating in the appointment of Chief Justice, the appointment of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the appointment of members of the Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission (IBEC).
Hon. Ceesay added that people were not properly consulted before drafting this new 2024 draft constitution.
“What we know as consultation as far as the constitution is concerned, has been done in 2020. After parliament came up with the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) and allocated a budget for them to go around the country and also consulted Gambians in and out of the country wherever they might be so that the constitution can be citizen-centered constitution, that will be participatory that people can say how they want to be governed. This is not being done in this case so I think people were not consulted about it,” he lamented.