The draft constitution failed because there was no consensus around it, the attorney general and minister of justice has said.
Dawda Jallow came under heavy bashing following the collapse of a bill that sought to send the draft constitution to a referendum.
Speaking for the first time on the issue on For The People By The People Show on Sunday, he said the draft constitution was a victim of lack of consensus.
“The document failed because there was no consensus around it,” the attorney general said.
The government is now planning to resurrect the document by appointing an independent body of stakeholders that would be tasked with the responsibility of ensuring there’s common ground.
The attorney general said: “We want the process to be led by people we can trust, not me. Our role here as a ministry is to facilitate, probably raised the necessary funding and logistics to support that process.
“This would be led by people that can be trusted and their objective is to get the necessary consensus around the document. The document failed because there was no consensus around it. If they can help us reach a consensus, it’s a political process, we cannot divorce politics from this. It is a political process. The parliament, a lot of politics goes in the parliament. So we need to get them on board. We need to find a way.”
With a little over a year to elections, the attorney general revealed it was still possible for the draft constitution to succeed ahead of next year’s presidential elections.
Mr Jallow said: “We’re pressed for time but it is possible. We’re working towards having this process completed if not before end of November but somewhere around that. So if we’re able to get everything done and we got a document that we can gazette, say end of November or December, we can meet the three months gazette period you are trying to refer to in the constitution which is a requirement.
“At least by March… And by March if we table it in the National Assembly by March, if we’re lucky it got passed, we can still have the referendum in time before the election. This is still possible. It’s tight but it is possible.”
