By Fatou Sillah
Hon. Halifa Sallah, the party leader and secretary general of The People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), has expressed strong views regarding the 2024 draft constitution. Speaking on the role of the National Assembly, he emphasized that if lawmakers are unwilling to fulfill their mandate to make laws, the legislature should be dissolved.
Sallah argued that National Assembly Members (NAMs) are not expected to vote on the content of the draft constitution during the second reading. However, he noted that this stage is crucial for debate and decision-making on whether the bill should advance further in the legislative process.
“Your National Assembly members will now have to engage in a debate and vote to determine whether the bill will pass the second reading or not. And we are posing very fundamental questions for each Gambian, and each of you must answer that question. We have elected lawmakers. The executive had done its volition and brought whatever constitutional draft as a bill to them as it wished. Should they query about that? That is the volition of the legislature,” Sallah stated.
The PDOIS leader underscored the danger of reducing lawmakers to passive participants, arguing that such an approach would leave the executive as the sole architect of the constitution.
“But they are not asked to vote on content in the second reading; then why is the bill there? Then it means that the executive is the builder of the constitution or the maker of the constitution because if they bring what they want, and then you just throw it out, then you are saying that they are the makers of the constitution. You are throwing out what they brought, but National Assembly members are not put there for that purpose; they are there to make the law; the executive is just proposing now. They (NAMs) are the ones who should make the law,” he said.
Sallah warned of the broader implications of lawmakers failing to perform their duties, stating that the governance structure itself could be undermined.
“If the maker of the law says that he cannot make the law, then Gambia is in trouble; if the lawmaker is not ready to make the law, then dissolve your legislature and know that it is not fit for purpose. The legislature has the power to allow the bill to pass the second reading and go to the committee stage. When it goes to the committee stage, their duty is to consult the Gambian people. They should have a public hearing in and outside the National Assembly from Kartong to Koina; to listen to what the people have to say about each of those provisions that the executive proposes. They have the might and authority to dismantle everything that the executive put in its proposal,” he said.
The PDOIS leader reiterated the significant role of NAMs in shaping legislation, urging them to act in the interest of the people.
“But now power belongs to the National Assembly members; they now have a big power to act. Whether what the executive brings and molds it into what they believe is the interest of the people. If they are really there for the people, It is now their duty to do that, but they cannot do that until the bill passes the second reading because the power they have is after the second reading. If it passes, they still have the power to throw it at the third reading if they so desire,” he said.