By: Kemo Kanyi
The National Assembly Member for Baddibou Central, Hon Sulayman Saho, said the constitutional building process for the drafting of the 2024 draft constitution did not take due cause, stating that it was wholly done by the executive without stakeholders been consulted for any inputs.
The draft was schedule for a second reading in the parliament on the 27th March, 2025. This was postponed by the government, citing a need for political leadership consultation to achieve consensus agreement over it. The second reading is expected to take place in June this year.
In a recent appearance on Kerr Fatou TV, NAM Saho stated that constitutional development process can either be done by the Act of Parliament or the Executive and the public expectation is that there must be consultation during its processes.
“By law the 2020 draft constitution does not exist because it was voted out by the Parliament. The government did not set up any Commission that Gambians can use as evidence of the 2024 draft process. We are not aware and I don’t think the media is also aware of it. If the executive decides to come up with a new draft, it should be consultative—the political parties, Civil Society Organizations, the media and other stakeholders must be involved,” he stated.
He maintained that if proper consultations were made, reasonable considerations could be taken into account because everyone in the country will see himself as a party to the process even whereas disagreement surfaces in some alterations made by the executive arm of the government, emphasizing that this was never done by the executive.
Hon Sulayman Saho added that clauses of accountability for the executive must be captured by any constitution that will replace the 1997 constitution given the fact that the former president Jammeh was accused of financial misappropriation and the replica of such can only be addressed by a good constitution.
“The process is flawed—Gambians have witnessed a distortion of the constitution by the executive, which altered key and vital sections in the 2020 draft. The clauses related to accountability should never have been omitted, especially in an era when the country is facing numerous allegations of corruption by government officials. Any constitution that succeeds the 1997 constitution must include provisions for accountability to combat corruption. Those holding public office should be held accountable even after leaving office,” he asserted.
