By Buba Gagigo
Former Independent Presidential Candidate and Head of Team Sobeya, Lawyer Essa Mbaye Faal, has accused President Barrow’s government of manipulating the draft constitution to extend Barrow’s rule for 20 years.
“It is a game that started a long time ago. When the CRC finished their work, they knew the constitution doesn’t favor them. One, the powers of the president were reduced in the Draft Constitution. There was also a term limit that started with the last term of the president. (From 2016 to 2021). These were the two reasons why they never wanted the Draft constitution. They played a political game to kill the draft constitution so that they can bring it at their favorite time. So that the constitution can give them the opportunity to stay in power for 20 years,” Essa Faal said.
Essa Faal claimed he saw this strategy early on, but people thought he was exaggerating:
“When I said it, people thought I was exaggerating the situation, but let me tell you one thing, if Adama Barrow has the fit to do this, it simply means he wants to stay in power for twenty years. Because before the 2026 election, he already served for ten years, so if we have a new constitution at that time with a term limit of two terms, When will that be? It will start in January 2027. Then he will have a term in January 2031 and another term to 2036. If he wins all that, how many years is that? That’s 20 years if he wins all those elections. That was the idea,” he said.
He added that Barrow knew if the draft had passed, his term would have started in 2021, and he would be nearing the end of his term by now.
“That was the reason they killed the Draft constitution at that time. It was a game played by the UDP, encouraging some of them to vote against it, and the entire NPP voted against the draft, and they killed the constitution. It was a game to fool people and make them believe that the constitution was bad,” Essa Faal said.
Essa Faal made these remarks during an interview with Gambia Talent Promotion.