By Omar Bah
The opposition Gambia Democratic Congress GDC has refuted Justice Minister Dawda Jallow’s claims over the rejected 2020 draft constitution talks in Abuja.
In a statement shared with The Standard, the party said: “Sequel to a recent government press conference, in which the Minister of Justice Dawda Jallow falsely claim that there was a consultation carried out on the recently gazetted draft constitution, the GDC feels compelled to let the people of The Gambia know that there is no iota of truth in that statement.”
The party said Minister Jallow’s claim that most of the changes “unilaterally” made to the original draft constitution by the cabinet were part of areas that had been allegedly agreed upon in Abuja, Nigeria by political party leaders, is “misleading”.
“No discussions took place in Abuja on the unilateral changes to the draft constitution as gazetted by the government. The main focus of the Abuja discussions was to find a way of tackling the thorny issue of the retroactive application of the term limitation clause which the UDP and NPP delegates could not agree upon,” the party said.
The Executive led by President Barrow, the GDC added, unilaterally made changes in their own this time around.
“No stakeholders were consulted on these changes; the GDC certainly was not part of or party to any proceedings that produced these changes in the revised draft constitution. It is clear to all what has transpired up-to-date is that the Barrow government is lacking the political will to honour President’s Barrow’s own pledge in 2016 to give Gambians a new constitution for the Third Republic. “The changes that have now been unilaterally made to the original draft that was produced by the CRC are part of a deliberate but dishonorable ploy to force all patriotic citizens to reject the document that has been changed for presentation to the National Assembly and then blame the people who were never carried along in the first place for its failure. GDC sees this as a cynical game by the Barrow government to play with the destiny of our country.
“We call on all Gambians to unite and demand a change that will address the needs and aspirations of the people. This game staged by the Executive is a monumental act of betrayal which will not be forgiven by history. We wish to remind the government and its agents that the Constitution is a national document, that regulates almost everything in the country. It is not a private instrument to be weaponised to serve personal and parochial interests, and it cannot be confiscated and monopolised at the executive level. History will not be kind to the Barrow administration if it does not retract its steps and do the right thing for the people of The Gambia regardless of party, class, region, religion, or ethnicity.”
