Alhaji Mamadi Kurang, former Janneh Commission Secretary
By Fatou Sillah
Alhaji Mamadi Kurang, former Janneh Commission Secretary, and member of the PDOIS party, asserts that if Gambia fails to adopt a new constitution, the blame should fall on the UDP and NPP.
Kurang explained, “The lack of a constitution if it fails to pass, —whether it’s the 2020 or 2024 draft—the blame should lie with the NPP and UDP; — 6 and 9. Why did I say that? The reason is that I did not know what happened in Abuja behind the scene and none of the party leaders came out and said, which I think is very disingenuous. When they came back from there, they should have told us what happened behind the scenes.
“But I only heard it from the Communication Minister when he said that there was only one sticking point in the 2020 constitution which was between NPP and UDP and that sticking point was the retroactive clause. They all agree on ten years but the NPP said it should not be retroactive and the UDP says it should be retroactive, that was the only sticking point,” He said on the Brunch with Lamin Cham.
Kurang also highlighted that neither the UDP nor the NPP has refuted the claims made by Dr. Ceesay.
“Up to today, as I am talking to you, I have not seen anybody from the UDP or another party who dispute what the Doctor said. So, therefore, I assume that what he said is the truth. Now if what he said is the truth, and they don’t come out to deny it, then who should we blame? We should only blame the two parties that refuse to have an agreement on it. We can only blame the UPD and NPP for the non-passing of the 2020 draft constitution,”he said.
He added “The 2024 draft there are a lot of clauses maybe I agree on, there are some which I have my reservations with but like I said a lot of discussions about the draft will for-tile so long as that small one single sticking point that happened in the Abuja conference is not dissolved. Which is a political dispute, there may be so many discussions, technical analysis but is all up to zero so long as there is that sticking point. Because this is not a legal question, this is a political question,” he said.
Readers may remember that yesterday, the United Democratic Party issued a press statement outlining their perspective on the negotiations that occurred during the journey of the 2020 draft constitution in the National Assembly, as well as the meetings and discussions that followed its eventual failure there. The statement made it clear that the retroactive clause was not the only contentious issue, as Kurang had suggested on the Brunch with Lamin Cham.