PDOIS SAYS GAMBIA MISSED GOLDEN CHANCE FOR A THIRD REPUBLIC

The secretary general of the opposition People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism PDOIS, Halifa Sallah, yesterday described the recent rejection by the National Assembly of the new draft constitution as a missed opportunity for the country to  move to a third republic.
The draft could not proceed after it fell short of the threshold to allow it to pass.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, Sallah said the National Assembly could have allowed the bill to pass to the second stage to enable members make any necessary changes to make the document fit for purpose.
“From the second reading it would go to the committee stage and that is where scrutiny would have started. The whole Gambian nation would have been invited to send their opinions and then the lawmakers would have prepared a report on the opinions of the public and then go to the consideration stage where they could scrutinise and vote clause by clause up to the end, and if three- quarter majority accepts it, the IEC will take it to a referendum,” Sallah said.
Himself a former National Assembly Member, Sallah added that as Gambians, “we should have been able to build consensus if each of us is interested in having a constitution that is fit for purpose.
According to the veteran politician, constitution making is a process of nation building since it concerns building the mindset of people on how they are supposed to be governed.
“Nothing is more important to a nation than the constitution making process. All of us should have spoken with one voice to allow each to scrutinise it and come up with bold suggestions so that we all agree that our future is secured under that fundamental law of the land,” he added.
Asked about the concern of opposition lawmakers who feared that members of the NPP majority would block any changes that does not favour the incumbent at the consideration stage, Sallah replied that even after the consideration stage, there would be a third reading where a three quarter majority is still required.
“We need to understand that there was no way the NPP or the executive could impose its will on those who threw away the bill during the second reading.   If they had allowed the process up to the end and see that those areas they wanted changed were not changed, they could reject it at the third reading and then give an explanation as to why they are rejecting it”, Sallah said.
He said with this latest rejection, it now means that the country has now missed out its golden opportunity to usher in a third republic with an instrument that is fit for purpose as it was the case in 2020.
Asked who is to blame for the failure of the constitiuion, Sallah said: “We staked our lives to bring change in 2016 not to share a cake, but to build a better country and a better country is inconceivable without a better constitution.
“The government failed in 2016 up to the end of term, and it is still failing. But when something fails and you have an opportunity to remedy it and but refused, then you too are part of that collective failure,” Sallah said.

The way forward
According to Sallah the way forward is for the National Assembly to move a motion under its standing orders to rescind their decision before the end of the current legislative session.
He said if that fails, then the executive should engage in consultations to look into the 1997 Constitution and make a bold move to amend certain provisions in it. “In this process issues like term limit, diaspora voting, absolute-majority, women representation and civil servants involvement in politics should all be reflected in the proposed changes,” the PDOIS leader said.
Another PDOIS veteran Sidia Jatta criticised the recent decision by the Assembly to increase election nomination fees. Jatta said the move violates the right of citizens to vote and be voted for in an election. “The Constitution says you have the right to vote and be voted for but you are now making a law to say you can’t enjoy that right unless you pay D1 million or D150,000. So what happens if you don’t have that money? They are denying you that right,” Jatta said.

Source: The Standard