Demba Ali Jawo, Former Minister of Information
By D. A. Jawo
The hottest topic in town these past few days had been the release of the new draft constitution, leading to a lot of reactions from various sectors of society. While some of the reactions had been quite negative, with some people accusing the government of insincerity in trying to push on to Gambians a self-serving constitution to perpetuate itself in power, others however feel that it is not a bad document for a compromise.
Of course, the very fact that more than seven years after the change of regime, we have still not had a new constitution to usher in the Third Republic, is seen by some people as part of an elaborate plan by the government of President Adama Barrow to perpetuate itself in power. While many people were of the view that the 2020 Draft Constitution presented by the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) was one of the best such drafts that would ever be presented, but it was not quite a surprise to some people that the regime had to recruit a few willing members of the National Assembly to block its passage simply to play some delaying tactics and achieve his objective of serving more than two terms in office.
We can recall that some of the clauses in the original draft not only curtailed the powers of the president but also compelled him to serve not more than two terms in office. Obviously, both President Barrow and some of those who depended on his regime for their very survival had to do everything possible to ensure that the draft did not pass. Despite the millions of Dalasis spent on it, they succeeded in using all possible means to demonize it and make it look like something not fit for purpose.
Here we are today, more than seven years later, they are presenting almost the same document, of course with some adjustments to fit in their self-perpetuation plan. We have seen that in their attempt to doctor it to suit the plan, they even had to expunge the whole of Chapter V of the original draft, which talks about Leadership and Integrity. It is quite hard to understand why they should completely delete such an important chapter from the draft as if they are not concerned about their own integrity.
Therefore, bringing in the new draft at this material time seems to be in accordance with the plan to ensure that nothing is placed in President Barrow’s path to remain in office up to 20 years, if he wants to, assuming that he can win elections. The very fact that they had to do the doctoring of the original draft and present it to the public without calling on the stakeholders to validate it, reveals a lot about their intentions of self-perpetuation.
Now that President Barrow is about to conclude his second term, and no doubt with intentions to remain in power much longer, he is now quite comfortable in getting a new constitution with a term limit, knowing fully well that the new constitution would not deny him the opportunity of going for another two terms, if he so desires.
However, this new draft leaves Gambians with a Hobson’s Choice; allow it to pass as it is and get a term limit and a curtail of some of the president’s powers, or reject it and give him the opportunity to carry on with the Yahya Jammeh constitution, which gives him unlimited powers to govern as he wishes. The choice is now on our National Assembly members and eventually the Gambian public in the ensuing referendum.