DARBOE PROMISES NEW CONSTITUTION IF ELECTED PRESIDENT

UDP presidential candidate Ousainu Darboe has promised to deliver a new constitution if elected as president of the Gambia next year.

“Take me to State House 2026. If I get there, by 2029 we will prepare a new constitution, present it to the National Assembly for approval and a referendum will take place,” Darboe tells supporters at an event in Spain Saturday night.

That constitution, he added, will bring high impact democratic and governance reforms, empower Gambians in the diaspora by guaranteeing their voting rights, representation in the National Assembly and appointment into ministerial positions if they have dual citizenship.

Mr Darboe argued that there is a wealth of highly qualified and knowledgeable Gambians in the diaspora who contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of The Gambia but are excluded due to bad laws and other bureaucracies which he alleged the current government is not interested to address.

The UDP leader stressed that the 2026 presidential election is not about Ousainu Darboe but The Gambia, adding: “It is to salvage The Gambia, establish the truth, end the rampant corruption, wastage of public funds, and restore the dignity and rights of Gambians in the diaspora.” 

He went on: “The world is moving but The Gambia is crawling. This is unfortunate. We need to have progressive laws that respect the rights of every Gambian. The right to proper representation is a human rights issue and we will not neglect it. But this is just the governance side. Talking about the economy, our resources are being mismanaged. Ministers are given two vehicles. One for their official use and the other for driving their children and wives to schools to social events and beaches. All that comes at the expense of the state. Yes, ministers should have privileges but it should not lead to a waste of public funds because they end up spending more money on those utility vehicles than official vehicles. That money could have been invested into our hospitals. It could have been invested in Farafenni, Bansang, or Basse hospitals and other facilities to enable Gambians access to good health care.

“Before they hire expensive flights to attend the UN General Assembly in America, the AU conference in Addis Ababa, Ecowas meeting in Abuja, why can’t they invest that money into agriculture? A president of a poor country should not feel ashamed to board a commercial flight. As the English say, cut your clothes according to your size. Former president Jawara boarded commercial flights. It did nothing to his presidency except to save millions from being wasted from public coffers. We cannot address these problems if we do not have a responsive and responsible government.”

Source: The Point