Mr President, we would like to wish you, your family, the government and the people of The Gambia Merry Christmas in advance.
We hope and pray that we all spend the festivities joyously with our family members and friends as we are all kith and kin in this beloved country of ours. Nevertheless we should keep on our guard, as during festivities of Christmas and New Year, criminals among us may try to up their game using various sorts of vice to deceive and exploit genuine and peace-loving people. Thus there should be proper security in place to ensure safety, peace and tranquility as usual during this festive season in order to prevent criminals from taking advantage of the Yuletide.
Mr President, talking about security brings to mind the status of security in the sub-region of West Africa. There is no gainsaying that the region is volatile with the jihadists gaining strength in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. Thoughtfully, it is good ECOWAS extend ECOMIG mandate in The Gambia for another year, as peace is a precious resource which we cannot afford to lose.
Mr President, another matter of national interest is getting a new constitution.
The issue of a new constitution for The Gambia has become the talk of the town again, since it has been pronounced that a referendum on it will be done in December next year.
The referendum will give opportunity to Gambians to decide whether or not they want to be governed with the new constitution.
The draft constitution, which cost government 116 million Dalasis, was rejected on 23 September 2020 with 31 MPs voted for and 23 MPs rejected it.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
This time we hope such kind of resources would not be wasted again to get a new constitution. It is therefore good that a final decision is being sought to let the constitution come to effect or be dropped totally.
Gotten right and adopted, the new constitution should be seen to correct the bad laws in the country's 1997 constitution, which underwent numerous amendments under the Jammeh regime.
The new constitution should be geared towards earnestly promoting democracy, rule of law, human rights, freedom of expression and good governance. It should also capture the two-term limit of presidency and be adhered to. Indeed that has been the call by ECOWAS since 2015 at the sub-regional meeting in Ghana by all member countries to adopt the two term-limit except Gambia and Togo that rejected the proposal.
Presidential term limit is good and essential for Africa in order to avoid instability, military coups, overstay in office, and increasing frustration by the masses of people in a nation that may want a change.
Mr President, in the event the voting system is changed or amended from token to ballot, proper sensitization campaign should be undertaken to educate the public.
Another issue of concern is the 72-hour detention, which should be firmly adhered to by either charging and prosecuting or releasing detainees.
It would be recalled that the 1997 constitution has a lot of laws that are considered by Gambians as inappropriate, which should be amended appropriately in the interest of the citizenry.
Good day!
