By Omar Bah
Former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, will return to the country next week to continue his mediation on the constitutional review process.
President Jonathan is expected to meet representatives of all the political parties from the 22nd to 25th February to forge a workable national consensus on the contentious retroactivity of the president’s first term.
In September, Gambian lawmakers rejected a draft constitution to replace the 1997 Constitution. About 31 National Assembly Members voted in favour of the bill to be passed while 23 rejected it.
The Barrow government then turned to mediation specialist and former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan to find consensus on the draft constitution ahead of its planned return to the National Assembly.
Presidential term limits, retirement benefits for judges, the low threshold for the impeachment of the president, confirmation of ministers before the National Assembly, citizenship and the justiciability of economic rights leading to floodgates in litigation, 50+1 electoral requirement, citizenship, size of the cabinet, status of the secretary general and the inspector general of police, age limitation for elected office, designation of seyfolu, appointment of the Speaker, recall clause, dealing with cross-carpeting and screening of ministerial nominees and presidency requirement for elected office were the issues the executive wanted to be amended in the constitution.
According to Solicitor General Hussein Thomasi, the political parties have reached consensus on all the issues except the retroactivity of the president’s term.
“There was complete agreement among all the parties on all the other issues. They even endorsed the outcomes that came from the discussions. The retroactivity of the president’s term remains the biggest challenge. There was no agreement. The arguments for and against were not necessarily legal but have political and moral undertone. In principle, all the political parties agreed on the two term limit for the presidency,” he told a stakeholders meeting yesterday.
He said the government has decided to give the mediation process “a third and final push”.
“The imminent person [Goodluck] has consulted with political parties and has decided to invite them for a meeting from the 22nd to 25th February. The venue will be communicated to them and the idea is to see how best we can make a final attempt to resolve the issue,” he added.
Solicitor Thomasi said the government is cognisant of the IEC plans to conduct a referendum in June and all efforts are underway to ensure “there is final conclusion by end of March on the mediation”.
Explaining why the government turned to President Jonathan for mediation, SG Thomasi, said the Minister of Justice was given the mandate by cabinet to initiate a political process to dialogue with all stakeholders to find consensus to the impasse.
“IDEA, given, its familiarity with the current situation in The Gambia and as well as its international mandate of assisting fragile democracies like ours, was consulted and agreed to serve as a vehicle to facilitate the process of mediation between all political parties,” he said.
Suggestions
Dr Ismael Ceesay of Citizens’ Alliance said: “The political parties should facilitate a meeting with President Barrow and demand that he tells them what he wants? I have never heard him say he doesn’t want his first term to count. So we need to hear from him first.”
