By: Muhammed Lamin Drammeh
The Gambia’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dawda Jallow, has said the government is committed to reviving the rejected Draft Constitution following dialogue with political party leaders, assuring the National Assembly Members of bringing back the jettisoned constitution to Parliament, either with amendments by political party leaders or the original document for consideration.
The justice minister made these revelations while answering questions from National Assembly members at parliament earlier today, June 14.
He mentioned that his office will send the bill to the House before the end of the last quarter of the legislative year.
“We will bring the bill. Whether we will bring the updated one or the original one, we will bring the bill. The bill is on its way to the parliament,” he voiced.
The attorney general, however, outlined that his ministry is contemplating whether to take the updated version of the Draft Constitution following the political dialogue with most political party leaders or the original Draft Constitution documents, but the executive is ready to revive the Draft Constitution.
He told the National Assembly Members that the Justice Ministry is not developing or creating a new draft. He explained that they are only mediating over contentious issues raised by National Assembly Members in September 2020, which led to the rejection of the draft.
According to him, his ministry, backed by the cabinet, started working on a political dialogue after the collapse of the draft in parliament. A high-level meeting between most political party leaders and international organizations happened in Abuja, Nigeria to discuss contentious issues that politicians disagreed on in the draft.
“Immediately the (draft) Constitution elapsed in the house, we launched a political dialogue. In that dialogue, political party leaders were brought together to discuss the various issues that they disagreed on in the content of the document. And some amendments were done,” he said.
This political dialogue happened before the December 2021 presidential election.
The minister told the lawmakers that the process of reviving the Draft Constitution will begin in earnest before the end of the current legislative quarter.
“We are confident that the work of reviving the Draft Constitution begin in earnest by the end of this quarter,” announced.
The Draft Constitution was rejected by the fifth legislative assembly in 2020. The justice minister said the lack of political dialogue at the time probably played a role in the rejection of the draft.
The rejected Draft Constitution was described by many political commentators as a ‘progressive’ constitution.
