In a press release recently, the Government of The Gambia announced that it has re-gazetted the draft constitution in preparation to table a bill at the National Assembly to present the draft constitution again in order to set in the Third Republic.
It could be recalled that in the year 2020, the draft constitution which emanated from the work of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) was tabled at the National Assembly but it could not pass the second reading and was therefore defeated. The reason was that there were some clauses on which the different political parties could not agree.
Now with the newly rejuvenated draft constitution, opinions have again differed as many observers are complaining that there wasn’t enough consultation on the changes that were made. They contend that the new draft being re-gazetted by the Government is nothing like the 2020 draft.
In fact, the leader of the United Democratic Party has already threatened that if the draft goes to the House with changes, the party will vote against it which will mean that it may not reach the referendum stage. Civil Society Organisations have since begun scrutinizing the draft and comparing it with the 2020 draft.
As matters stand, it is unlikely that the draft constitution when it reaches the National Assembly will fare any better than the previous time it was sent there. That will be another huddle for ushering in the Third Republic.
Many analysts have called for serious consultations with political parties, civil society organisations, opinion leaders and others so as to come to a consensus to make it easier for the draft to pass all stages and reach the stage of a referendum so that the people of the country will have their say on the matter.
