A new Gambia would have to emerge with a new juridical instrument that would guarantee the supremacy of the people over their public trustees. That juridical instrument would have to be prepared, debated and voted for in a referendum to become the Constitution of the Third Republic.

The book "The Juridical Foundation of the Third Republic" which is to be launched on 24th April will initiate the debate in 2010 so that no body will be left behind in this grand debate to build the instrument that is fit to guide the building of a Republic that we would all be proud to call our own. It is not out of place to raise some of the issues that could be a subject of debate and clarification.

Currently, it is stated in the 1997 Constitution that the Gambia is a Sovereign Secular Republic. It is necessary for people to understand why this is so stated. Jurisprudence teaches us that there are currently three types of Republics in the world which rely on some forms of elections to determine representation, that is, The Secular, The Atheist and The Theist Republics. A secular Republic considers the freedom to hold a philosophical opinion or practice a religion or belief as a fundamental right which should be respected and protected. No one is discriminated on the basis of belief or opinion. In an Atheist Republic a religious person stands a slim, if any, chance of being a representative of the people. In a Theist Republic, those who do not profess the state Religion stand a slim, if any, chance of being a representative of the people. What type of state do we want? It is obvious to many that the type of state which could defend the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of all is the secular state. However, to establish a constitution on this principle most sovereign Gambians would have to be convinced so that the concept becomes their own.

Allow me to briefly look at the powers of the executive under the 1997 Constitution. There is currently no term limit for the Presidency. The President is the executive who appoints and removes Ministers as he wishes. At one point, the President held 5 portfolios at the same time.

In many Republican constitutions there has been decentralisation of the powers of the executive. Some have created the post of Prime Minister who appoints a cabinet and carry on the day to day supervision of the Ministries while the President handles international relations. Should we establish two term limits of four years tenure as it is in Nigeria or two term limit of five years tenure as in other places? Should we introduce the office of Prime Minister to decentralise power? These are issues waiting for our collective intelligence to deliberate on and resolve.

Let us peep into the world of the National Assembly or parliament. Its Primary role is to serve as an overseer of the performance of the Executive. This is why a person cannot be a member of parliament and the Executive at the same time. This is based on the principle of the separation of powers. While in the past Ministers were members of Parliament and had to attend every meeting, now that there is separation of powers Parliamentarians have been complaining of the absence of Ministers during their debates. These provisions need to be reviewed and mandatory provisions injected to ensure that those who exercise direction and control over Ministries would be accountable to the National Assembly at all times and would be present to give explanations whenever anything pertaining to their Ministries is being discussed. Let me mention few points to argue for a nationwide debate on the need for a Constitution for a Third Republic.

In the past as well as the present Constitutional provisions have been made for some members of the National Assembly to be nominated instead of being elected. The Executive has always been given the monarchical mandate to make such appointments. Under the present Constitution 5 nominated members are appointed by the President. Some constituencies have over 30,000 Voters and they elect only one Member of Parliament while the President, one sovereign Gambian, could elect 5 members. The original rationale was that nominated members would serve as independent and impartial Speakers and Deputy Speakers or may represent organised labour, the Chamber of Commerce or employers, women, youth and those living with disability or other groups. However, the performance of many appointed or nominated members confirms that it is a partisan affair. Hence there is need for a National debate on the merit of introducing proportional representation to fill seats at the national assembly, especially the seats of the five nominated members. If quotas are established for the list of each party many women and other disadvantaged groups would have their voices heard in Parliament. Thirdly, there is a provision in the Constitution for the recall of National Assembly members by their voters. However no procedure is laid down on how to do so. At the moment a provision which was designed to prevent a person from winning an election under the ticket of one party and then cross over to another party is being abused. In short, an elected member who wishes to cross over to another party must resign his or her post. Now, party leaders simply drive elected members from the party and make them lose their National Assembly seats like Duta Kamaso. Despite this development some women still argue that they have been liberated by the APRC. There is therefore the need to eliminate the possibility of crossing over to another party after being elected under another's ticket without creating any possibility of removing a National Assembly member from office other than through a judicial process for misconduct or infirmity.

Suffice it to say that decentralisation and devolution of power to the local governments are seen as a means of redressing the uneven development between rural and urban areas.

There is need to redefine the relation between Central and local government to move away from the monarchical system of administration to a Republican system of administration. This calls for Village, District and Regional councils to collect revenue and provide services at each level with the central government coming in to supplement local initiatives. The Central Government administration in the regions would be best handled by regional Permanent Secretaries who would have the role to exercise direction and control over Central Government institutions in the region and cooperate with local administration to formulate, implement and monitor joint central and local Government programmes.

The role of the Village and District heads, namely, the Alkalolu and the Sefolu will be objectively defined. They could play the role of being chairpersons of village and District councils in which case their positions would become elective. They could also play administrative role in facilitating collection of tax, maintenance of the registers of births, deaths, marriages, divorce, etc. In that case they should be appointed by a Special Service Commission and should serve up to a pensionable age and be paid for their services. They could also serve a judicial function by handling tribunals dealing with marriage, divorce and inheritance based on just laws. In that case they should serve up to pensionable age once appointed.

It goes without saying that the Independence of the Judiciary is imperiled as long as the executive could appoint and remove Judges without the delivery of any verdict, by a tribunal on any allegation of misconduct or infirmity. There is need to give full powers to the Judicial Service Commission to appoint magistrates and Judges on the basis of merit just as the public service Commission appoints other public servants. Magistrates and Judges should only be removed from office for infirmity or Misconduct after due impeachment hearings by a competent tribunal set up by the legislators.

One issue that is also hotly debated is the composition of the Independent electoral Commission and their security of tenure. It has been common for the hands of the commission to be tied by amendments to the Elections Decree so that they do not ask more questions to ascertain the eligibility of claimants to be registered as voters. The Commission has even been financed by the executive in the personal capacity of the head of state. Its members have been vulnerable to dismissal without the intervention of any tribunal to determine infirmity or misconduct. The debate could entail consideration of proposal to have Special service Commission to appoint members of such Commissions which serve as referees, on the basis of merit alone and their appointments could be made subject to National Assembly approval to ensure accountability and transparency. Such appointments should only be terminated after a hearing before a tribunal for allegations of infirmity or misconduct. Measures could also be taken to establish an Independent Electoral Commission which could appear partisan in approach. For example, the ruling party could be asked to select four persons and the opposition three persons whose names would be submitted to a Special Service Commission from appointment on the basis of merit. Two could come from the list of the opposition and three from the list of the ruling party to Constitute five members of the Commission who shall elect their own Chairperson. The appointees could be further subjected to National Assembly approval after an appearance to defend their record. These are means to ensure accountability and credibility.

Compatriots no one could doubt the need to engage in a nationwide debate to shape a new constitution and new institutions that would enable us to become sovereign citizens of a nation that has attained the right to self determination and Independence.

History teaches that for 45 years governments in the Gambia are formulating and implementing externally directed, motivated determined policies which have not led to the eradication of poverty and the enhancement of the general welfare of the people in the civil, political, economic, social and cultural dimensions. The leaders criticise their colonial past in words but do not extricate the country from the realities of the past in deed.

Self determination and Independence for the Gambia call for a holistic development model which links the development of the productive base with infrastructural development and the expansion of social service to ensure general welfare. This calls for a balanced and proportionate development of Production, consumption accumulation and investment to expand the productive base.

We must put an end to the transit and lottery economy which allows the Minister of finance to tell us that 1.3 Billion dollars to 1.6 Billion dollars is being exchanged in the currency market; that the travel trade including tourism has yielded 1.8 Billion dalasis in 2006; that Remittances amounts to 1.7 Billion in 2006, without seeing the impact on the productive base of the economy. It is not sufficient to stand and tell the people that a project will be initiated every 6 months without telling the Gambian people how much is being generated from tax every 6 months, how much is generated by public corporations every six months, how much is being received as loans and grants every six months; how much is being generated from royalties from mines, etc every six months. Something must go into the public purse before it could be invested to finance projects.

If we are to make a break from the past the public sector cannot simply rely on taxation. It must be productive. It must also be linked to providing employment and consumption. It must accumulate and it must make strategic investments. Let me buttress my point. In a properly administered and managed public sector the annual turn over and profit of each public enterprise must be noted at the end of each year. The dividend it pays into the public purse must also be noted. This could then be added together to know the gross turn over of the public enterprises, their gross profit and their gross contribution to government coffers.

For example, in 1998 the gross turnover of the Public enterprises was 804.3 Million dalasis which was considered to be 18 percent of GDP. In 1999 the gross turn over was projected at 940 Million dalasis or 20 percent of GDP. This was almost equal to the total government revenue of 979 Million dalasis.

It was indicated that the public enterprises were able to contribute 10 percent of Government revenue in 1998 amounting to 68 Million dalasis. In 1999 their contribution rose to 82 million dalasis or 20 percent of Government revenue. Now one cannot trace how much public enterprises are contributing to Government Revenue. In terms of dividend one expects only a Million dalasis from GPA in the 2010 budget. This is not the way to run a productive public sector.

The change we need will bring about a proper tracking of the gross turn over of all public enterprises, their annual profits and contributions to Government revenue. In order to move towards Independence and self determination the development budget, over 80 percdent of which is financed from loans and grants would be linked to the contributions of public enterprises. Once such contributions increase to be able to finance more than 50 percent of the development budget then we could say that we are on the road to self determined development and Independence. However as long more than 80 percent of our development budget continues to come from loans and grants while the contribution of public enterprises remain invisible or negligible, mere assurance of projects appearing every six months is not a credible indicator to show progress in promoting self determined and sustainable development.

To be continued