By: Kemo Kanyi
Former information minister Demba Ali Jawo has stated that the government of The Gambia lacked the political will to extend voting right to diaspora Gambians.
D.A, as he is widely referred to, contended that it was hard to fathom why after more than eight years in office, the Barrow administration has yet to make the necessary constitutional amendments to allow Gambians in the diaspora to vote, despite all the noise that the government had been making about the issue.
“This unpopular decision is yet another apparent indication of the regime’s lack of political will to extend the vote to that important segment of the Gambian population, especially considering the fact that they annually contribute more than US$700 million to the economy,” he said in a post Monday.
D.A pointed out that while he can agree with attorney general Dawda Jallow that there is a need to make some amendments to the electoral law in order to cater for diaspora voting, he [Justice minister] did not give any justifiable reason as to why it had taken them all this time to bring the issue before the National Assembly.
“However, contrary to his position on the matter, there is absolutely no need to wait until separate constituencies are created in order for the diaspora to vote in the presidential elections or referenda because in those elections, the whole country is treated as one constituency. All that they could have done was to make a simple amendment to the law in order to cater for them. This is because everyone in the diaspora hails from a constituency in this country. Therefore, it is quite a lame excuse to insist that new constituencies should be created before they could be registered to vote,” argued Jawo.
He maintained that the move by the NPP and its allies to vote against the proposal appears to be a deliberate attempt by the government to continue to deny the diaspora the right to vote in Gambia’s elections “apparently because they are convinced that a majority of them would not vote for President Adama Barrow and his government”.
