As the 2026 presidential election looms large upon us, discussions have again focus on the issue of a new constitution and some of the provisions it is expected to carry. One of those provisions, perhaps the most important, is the issue of term limits for the presidency.
It could be recalled that when the Coalition government came into power in 2017, one of the key areas they worked on was the setting up of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC). That Commission did its work by consulting all sections of Gambian society, expending millions of dalasis in the process.
The draft produced after that consultation included a term limit and some other very progressive clauses. However, the term limit in that draft had a retroactive nature and therefore was frowned upon by the ruling party as many saw it as being discriminatory to the sitting president.
Political expediency took over and as such, the draft was defeated in the National Assembly thus halting that march towards a Third Republic. Perhaps due to the importance of ushering in a new constitution and the fact that the 1997 Constitution has been butchered so much that it is no longer fit for purpose, the 2020 draft was not abandoned entirely.
Discussions continued between and among political actors in order to find common ground as to how to reintroduce it in the National Assembly. There have been series of meetings on it and amendments made so as to iron out a compromise. This produced the 2024 draft which was dubbed by many as the ‘Dawda Jallow draft’. In short, many people did not appreciate the changes that had been made in it.
Now, as 2026 edges closer, the National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) has issued a recommendation to the National Assembly to provide clarity on term limits and other key areas in the draft. One wonders what could be done at this eleventh hour given that the election is just a few months away.
This reiterates the importance of working hard within a given time span when dealing with urgent and important national issues like the Constitution. The public is waiting to see what the National Assembly and the Government do regarding the constitution.
