Gambia: The President Still Committed to a Referendum On a New Constitution in 2024

Draft of the Constitution of The Gambia.

The ears of the nation were ready to hear what the President of the Republic would say on the constitutional building process for the third Republic. Coalition 2016 which brought him to office in 2017 as the president of the Republic aimed to craft a new constitution for a third Republic. Almost eight years have elapsed since the coalition made a promise in the manifesto of the president that the 1997 Constitution would be reviewed to put an end to the second republic by building a Constitution for the Third Republic.

The president began a new term ushered in 2022 after winning an election under NPP ticket in 2021. The agenda of building a constitution for the Third Republic remains a priority. The new government invited International IDEA to promote dialogue on the content of the Draft Constitution of the CRC.

This paper produced two supplements on that subject matter, detailing that there was no need for further consultation since the Draft Constitution of the CRC was thrown out by the National Assembly. It was therefore pronounced dead by the author of the two articles on the constitutional building process. The author makes it explicitly clear that it was the duty of the executive to rely on the text produced by the CRC and publish a new bill in the Gazette twice for a minimum period of three months and ten days before laying the Bill before the National Assembly for the normal law making process.

We are now entering the month of July and if a referendum is to be held by December the executive should hasten the process that should lead to the publication of the bill in the Gazette. We therefore hope that this commitment made before the whole nation will be fulfilled without delay.

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