By Lamin Njie
The chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission has said his commission has met and asked the Gambia Christian Council and the Supreme Islamic Council to resolve their differences through dialogue.
The CRC held a press conference on Monday to share with members of the general public its work in the past few weeks.
The news conference is coming amid tension between Muslims and Christians over the issue of whether or not The Gambia should be made a secular nation.
The CRC chairman in a statement said his commission has engaged the duo religious bodies of Supreme Islamic Council and Gambia Christian Council.
“The Commission also met with The Gambia Christian Council and the Supreme Islamic Council to discuss their submissions on the draft Constitution and to encourage dialogue between the leaders representing both communities in the wake of the intense debate on secularism,” Justice Sulayman Jallow said while outlining the activities the CRC had been engaged in.
On the issue of the second round of countrywide public consultation on the new draft constitution, Justice Jallow said: “The CRC embarked on a second round of countrywide public consultations from the 31st of November to the 16th of December 2019 to share and inform on the provisions in the draft Constitution, hear the citizens’ perceptions on the proposed provisions and recommendations proffered by citizens.
“The second round of public consultative meetings were held in 13 (thirteen) communities from the 7 (seven) Administrative Areas of The Gambia in the following venues: Banjul, Fass Njaga Choi, Kerewan, Kaur, Diabugu, Basse, Jangjanbureh, Jareng, Soma, Kwinella, Bwiam, Brikama and Kanifing Municipality (KMC).
“In all these communities, the CRC ensured that the Local Government Authorities, Seyfos, Alkalos, School Administrators and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) were availed with adequate advance copies of the Draft Constitution in order to facilitate public access and to allow Gambians to familiarise themselves with the proposed provisions and subsequently provide feedback to the Commission. By the end of the two week public consultation in the communities, the Commission had met 3,011 (three thousand and eleven) Gambians in the 13 (thirteen) communities visited.”
