By Fatou Dahaba
Amidst the escalating discussions over the recently proposed draft constitution by the cabinet, Honourable Madi Ceesay, the opposition UDP National Assembly Member for Serrekunda West, voiced apprehensions about the far-reaching authority vested in the president within the 2024 draft constitution. He cautioned that such unchecked powers could lead to President Barrow assuming dictatorial control.
While expressing his disappointment to the cabinet on the changes made in the 2020 draft Constitution authored by the Constitutional Review Commission, he outlined some of the clauses that changed from progressive to retrogressive and some of the clauses on key appointments captured in the CRC draft.
“Unfortunately, key positions have all been changed and tampered with by Barrow and his cabinet. Amongst them is the appointment of ministers, chief justice, inspector general of police, and a few other appointed generals; the 1997 constitution gives powers to the president to appoint unilaterally and change them,’ the lawmaker told Alkamba Times.
He said the CRC draft constitution had 317 clauses, but due to serious tampering, it is now reduced to 297 clauses, noting that 20 clauses have been removed.
Barrow and his cabinet tampered with the draft constitution in a way that gave the president powers to recall nominated members. In the CRC draft, there’s nothing like the president nominating five national assembly members; it was taking off completely, and for good governance and practices the world over, you don’t see that kind of thing, he said.
He added, “The issue of diaspora election has also been taking off. Another issue is the succession of the president in case he dies or is mentally unstable while in office; the CRC draft says the vice president should take over for only 90 days, and an election should be conducted. Interestingly, in this butchered constitution, Barrow and his cabinet changed that the successor, either the vice president or speaker, should complete the president’s term.”
According to him, the Barrow government is unwilling and does not want this draft to pass. Otherwise, the strategies they took in 2020 to kill the draft are the same, just slightly different.
He said the constitution was killed at the cabinet level before it reached the national assembly. “This new one is almost dead at the cabinet level because they have seriously tampered with it and changed very silent clauses.”
“That’s why, in some quarters, they refer to it as Barrow’s paper, some as Dawda Jallow’s paper, others as NPP draft constitution. So, I won’t call it a new draft constitution but a trebly butchered 2020 draft constitution by Barrow and his cabinet. Therefore, I must register my disappointment at the level of intellectual dishonesty the cabinet displayed in drafting the 2020 draft constitution,” Ceesay said.
