By Kemo Kanyi
Momodou Sabally, special adviser to President Adama Barrow, has called on the opposition parties in The Gambia to change their stance on the 2024 draft constitution, stating that “there is no perfect constitution anywhere.”
The 2024 draft constitution will be tabled before the National Assembly of the Gambia soon.
The United Democratic Party has earlier stated that if there are any changes made to the 2020 draft constitution, the party parliamentarians will vote against it.
Mr. Sabally went further to say, “I beg the opposition parties to reverse their position of not accepting the 2024 draft constitution if anything is changed from the earlier draft. That is not a good position, and it’s not beneficial to the nation. Democracy is conscientious, compromise and it is give and take,” he told the SUNU REEW show on EyeAfrica TV on Thursday.
Further adding that though law is not his field of expertise, what he knows is that every country is governed by a constitution, and it’s never easy to get everyone in a country to come to terms on things of national interest because they hailed from different backgrounds.
“This is why democracy includes the concept of compromise. You may disagree on issues but can always let it go for national interest,” he proclaimed.
He also added that America is one of the makers of democracy but has spent months before they can establish a constitution and keeps on amending it because there can never be perfection as far as human beings are concerned.
“Therefore, there can never be a perfect constitution. Bring the 2020 draft constitution. Let’s see who can stand and say that the draft is a perfect one. Even those who are in favour of its reintroduction can never say the 2024 draft constitution is perfect. Some accused the CRC of plagiarism draft constitution. They bring such a constitution and think that it should be like the Holy Quran no one should change anything from that. Where did they base their reason?” The Special Presidential Advisor questioned.
He further argued that if anyone thinks like that, then such a person is not a democrat and does not believe in democracy. “Perhaps you are not interested in the progress of this country.”
He further stated that the country is not personally owned by any individual. Instead, there are other political players and genuine stakeholders.
“If you are interested in a new constitution and you have people who brought a draft, but you are now saying if anything is changed in that draft you are not going to accept it, then what you want can’t happen, because you don’t personally own the country. There are political parties, interest groups, religious groups, and other stakeholders who all have a say in this,” Sabally further adduced.
He said the importance here is that the citizens of the country allow the draft to go to the National Assembly so that parliamentarians can discuss and give their opinions on it.
“The President and the Attorney General did not say this 2024 draft is a Holy Quran. You must accept as it is brought to you. I agree with them 100%. All the clauses they have deleted should all be deleted,” he said.
He expressed that the draft constitution will not surely reflect the needs of the President 100%, the Gambia Democratic Congress, the United Democratic Party, and other political parties. “But this is the beauty of democracy.”
Regarding the consultation of political parties and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Momodou Sabally said the consultation done by the Constitutional Review Commission was enough, stating that this reflects the concerns of all Gambians.
He thanked the President for fulfilling his promise to Gambians during the State of the Nation Address (SONA).