Within 24 hours of posting a press release dated Wednesday, 14 August 2024, the Ministry of Information, the debate has started on social media. And that is how it should be.
Issuing such a press statement to inform the public about the Gazetting of the NEW Draft is in order. That is what the law requires the authorities to do.
However, if the government were really sincere about properly informing the public, then it would be just right to issue an accompanying comprehensive News Release/Information Sheet/Explanation Note—call it what you will—on such an important and sensitive national matter and process.
This would be like what the CRC did when it produced and submitted the Draft Constitution 2020 to the President. It produced an accompanying “Report” explaining the whole exercise and the basis of its contents – helpful in telling the reader where the CRC was coming from – to facilitate comprehension of the contents of the “draft.”
And so, definitely, after this long break since the National Assembly rejected the original CRC draft, if the Gambia government were sincere about adequately informing the public, it should give us another White Paper on what is in its NEW Draft, why the changes or new content which is different from the original presented to it by the CRC, and so on.
That is if the government really wants to rekindle serious reflection on the contents of its NEW Draft to properly facilitate public comprehension of where the Barrow Administration is coming from now.
Consequently, it is appropriate for us to alert the public in doing our service to the Gambian nation and declare that we are not fools.
Please be aware that the government has made significant alterations to the “new draft constitution,” which has been gazetted and is about to be presented to the Parliament.
It is important to exercise caution and be aware of this reintroduced draft constitution.
There are many changes. The DC originally had 319 sections and 4 Schedules, but the published version now has 293 sections and 5 Schedules.
The state was supposed to prepare and publish areas of variation to inform the public better. Transparency requires this, but the government wants to keep the people from knowing.
Meanwhile, Chapter XI of the Draft Constitution is now Chapter X in the published version? And they are silent about their changes to the original Draft Constitution.
The government has taken only two heavily modified sections and dropped nine sections from the Draft Constitution. Chapter V on Leadership and Integrity has also been removed from the DC. This action reflects the government’s disregard for the values of good governance.
Also, section 192 was not included in the original CRC Draft constitution…This is not our Draft Constitution.
The law is clear: if a bill fails to pass, it can only be reintroduced after six months. In the case of DC, the government must also publish it for three months and ten days before reintroducing it.
The law also allows you to bring the Draft Constitution in its original form as long as it follows the required timeline for reintroduction.
