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A notice from the National Assembly has it that the Draft Constition will come up for debate in their next session which will be in March. This is a very highly anticipated move as many citizens are keen to see a new constitution in the country.
Considering the hurdles the first draft faced, there are fears that this time round also it will not go past the second reading where it needs the okay of at least forty-two members to pass. This is uphill task.
Before the 2016 presidential elections, there was a lot of talk on how the 1997 constitution had been bastardised to suit the will of then president Yahya Jammeh. Many observers were of the view that the constitution was no longer fit for purpose.
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It was therefore one of th talking points such that most of the politicians promised that if voted into office, they would immediately set up a body to build a new constitution. This was one of the reasons why many people went to the polls on that fateful day.
After the elections, which saw President Adama Barrow declared winner, hopes of a Third Republic grew higher everyday. A little while after taking the oath of office, he set up the Constitional Review Commission which began work after getting the nod from the National Assembly.
A wide and comprehensive consultation was embarked on by the CRC. They sought the opinions and ideas of civil society, political parties, religious bodies, traditional leaders and even the diaspora. Millions of dalasi were spent on it.
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When however it went to the National Assembly, disagreements on certain clauses prevented it from passing as many, supporters of the president, saw it as being biased towards him. The clause about the two terms hindered it’s progress.
Now the question is: will the current draft see the light of day? Will it be passed with amendments or rejected in its entirety? Time will tell.
