The
National Assembly aspirant for Banjul North, Modou Lamin Bah, who is contesting
under the United Democratic Party (UDP) ticket, has said one of his main
priorities is focusing on ‘Constitutional Reform’.
Bah
made this remark during an exclusive interview with The Point newspaper at the
UDP Bureau in Banjul.
If
elected, Bah went on, he would like to change a lot of things, but his main
focus will be based on the constitutional reform, which he could advocate for
when the people of Banjul North vote for him.
He
said he would work arduously with his fellow parliamentarians at the National
Assembly to ensure constitutional reform becomes a reality; to see that all the
bad laws passed during the former regime are amended.
“We
can see that there was limited democracy in the country and freedom of speech
was neglected as well,” he said, adding that whereas the laws were there to be
implemented, they were actually not enforced.
“And
this is one thing I and my colleagues will stand upon, to see that those laws
are put into effect,” he said.
The
Banjul North aspirant also said it is important to know the constitution,
because it serves as the ‘Bible and the Quran’ for any nation as laws help to
govern the people well as well as secure their rights, which is why they should
be treated with special care and be respected.
He
also said there are numerous challenges in governance as the country is still
recovering from the 22 years of dictatorship, and is yet to be back on its
feet.
Bah
added that the new “government is a premature” and he is also optimistic that
with the new government things would start changing from bad to good
governance.
“Furthermore,
the people will be free and be able to do their job without fear or favour,” he
said.
Mr
Bah said the role of the people in any society is fundamental and paramount,
because they are the ones who fought tooth and nail to see to it that
dictatorship was kicked out of the country for good, and it is also because the
young people were involved in educating the population about the importance of
voting, and to let them come out massively to vote and finally kick out
dictatorship from The Gambia.
“I
am, therefore, appealing to the people of Banjul North to massively vote for
me,” Mr Bah said.
