Lawyer
Ida Drammeh, a senior legal practitioner, has argued that what The Gambia needs
is a new constitution not just amendment to the existing one.
She
said in this new dispensation, drafting a new constitution would be more ideal
because reforming the existing 1997 Constitution would include too many
amendments and “may not address all issues”.
Lawyer
Drammeh made this remark recently in a panel discussion at the just concluded
national stakeholders conference while outlining the challenges of the 1997
Constitution, which was brought in the government of former President Yahya
Jammeh after suspending the 1970 constitution of the country.
The
senior lawyer affirmed that some provisions of the constitution are rhetorical
for they do not confer legal rights.
“Other
provisions confer too much power on the president while yet other provisions
lack clarity or create uncertainty,” she said.
“Other provisions create a conflict of interest and other provisions
grant unwarrantedly broad immunity on the president.”
The
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Aboubacarr Tambadou, has earlier on
said that the government would start a constitutional review process with a
view to ensuring that the constitution is relevant and serves the purpose for
which Gambians adopted it.
Meanwhile,
at the stakeholders forum, lawyer Hawa Sisay Sabally, a senior private legal
practitioner and one time Minister of Justice in the Jammeh government, spoke
on the opportunities in the 1997 constitution.
She
argued that some parts of the constitution contain provisions that allow anyone
to protect the constitution and such provisions should be maintained in any
subsequent reforms.
She
advocated for the abolition of death penalty and reducing the transfer of
presidential power following an election to 48 hours and holding National
Assembly elections simultaneously alongside the presidential election.
Mrs
Sabally called for presidential candidates to have running mates for vice
president or a time-scale provision be provided for the appointment of a
vice-president in order to avoid possible constitutional crisis.
Hon.
Halifa Sallah, National Assembly member for Serekunda, talked about the
proposed Human Rights Commission and its role in preventing re-occurrence of
human rights violation.
He
stated that when rights are not protected by courts and oversight institutions,
they become vulnerable to violation and abrogation.
