Imam
Sheikh Ousman Jah, a member of the Supreme Islamic Council (SIC) has unequivocally
made it clear that the council will resist the new constitution if the
Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) includes the much talked about
secularism in the country’s new constitution.
“The
SIC has made its stance clear even before the CRC releases it first draft.
Again, we are today making our position clear in the letter that we will be
read regarding our position on the much talked about secularism in the
constitution,” he said, while responding to questions from journalists during a
press conference on Tuesday.
Quizzed
whether the council would boycott the referendum on the constitution, Imam Jah
refused to comment, saying “let’s wait for that time.” He added: “If the CRC unfortunately include
the word secularism in the constitution of the Republic of The Gambia, the SIC
will continue to resist the constitution until the word secular is removed from
the constitution,” he concluded.
Reading
the message on behalf of the council, Sheik Hama Jaiteh, a member of the
council states: “The SIC will not be silent on the issues. We will continue our
efforts on a peaceful means and resist it and make sure that secularism is
removed from the constitution.”
“When
we submitted our rejection of secularism in 2018, we stated clearly that the
status quo should remain (non-secular state).”
Sheik
Jaiteh said: “We have good intention of protecting norms and values of all
religions in the Gambia. The draft law provides sufficient provisions that
protect all faiths. Section 8 caters for the enforcement of the constitution
and section 33 provides for the enforcement of Fundamental Human Rights and
Freedoms.”
“We
believe that section 47 which talks about freedom of conscience, section 67
which talks about protection from discrimination and section 151(2) which precludes
the National Assembly from declaring any religion as the state religion in
addition to the earlier mentioned sections are enough safeguards catering for
all possible concerns,” he noted.
Jaiteh
added that secularising the country is a high threat to our religious freedom
and practices as we have seen in France and some parts of the world.
According
to him, the GSIC believes that the inclusion of the word secular is a serious
threat to the religious harmony and respect that the country has been known
for. “It is ironic that some section of the society is trying vehemently to
borrow beautiful garments to dress secularism elegantly in the eyes of the
Gambian people. Our people deserve to be told the truth,” he emphasised
“We
have enough examples to show dangers and threats of secularism to religious
freedom. France, which is the father of modern secularism and the main
proponent of the doctrine in modern times, banned the wearing of religious
symbols in certain public places in 2003 in the name of protecting secular
values. France was truly reflecting secular norms and values in passing that
law.”
Jaiteh
further stated that section 52 of the Draft Law states (1) that men and women
of full age and capacity have the right to marry and found a family and section
(2) Marriage shall be based on the free and full consent of the intended
parties.
“Our
observation and concern is that this section is very vague and broad to the
extent that it could be interpreted to include homosexuality. So, we recommend
that the CRC add the following to section 52 “subjected to Personal Laws of
marriage whether it is Religious or Customary Law.”
