The
Gambia Christian Council (GCC) held a one-day workshop on Wednesday, 22nd
January 2020 titled “The Gambia We Want Dialogue”. During the workshop we
revisited the main concerns the Christian Community had with the draft
constitution which has been clearly articulated in the position paper submitted
to the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC). A review of the campaign
activities was carried out by the GCC Campaign Team and a reflection on the
impact to date. Some positive impact were noted including: greater unity among
the Christian community, greater understanding of the concerns of our Muslim
brothers and sisters and national consensus that the Gambia we have known and
want to continue is one where both Christians and Muslims continue to live in
peaceful coexistence and good neighborliness.
An
impact that was of concern to all was the growing religious divide and
polarization in the nation with negative communication coming from both sides
that is deemed offensive and confrontational. It is for this reason that the
Gambia Christian Council considered prudent to pave and pursue a different
direction of “Dialogue” aimed at rekindling and rebuilding the spirit of
national unity.
Honorable Halifa Sallah, who was invited as
the main guest speaker, made the following critical points: “ First, the draft
constitution process has moved away from the main issue which was to build a
better constitution. As such consideration should have been given to keeping
what was good in the 1997 constitution and then the debate should have focused
solely on the areas to be amended. Secondly, in a republic all citizens are
equal, and everyone has both individual rights and because they belong to
groups by virtue of their tribe, gender, religion or age they also have group
rights which they expect to be protected by the constitution. Thirdly, the
concept of “Secular” or “Non-Secular” Constitution is misunderstood by a large
number of the population and to eradicate the confrontations a clear definition
of what is meant by a secular state in law has to be given by CRC. He counseled
that the absence of a clear and agreed definition has not helped the
debate. Lastly, he advised that no group
should be so preoccupied with one or two provisions of a draft constitutions to
the point of being oblivious of the essence of the whole exercise of drafting a
constitution. If the draft constitution is rejected, the 1997 constitution
which was tampered with by the former President will continue to be in force as
a nation cannot be without a constitution. To avoid the failure of the
constitutional reform process therefore there is a need for two things: 1) Group rights in general and faith-based group
rights, in particular, must be clearly identified, openly respectfully debated
and reconciled in such a way as to avoid conflict. 2) All parties in the nation
should take a deep breath and change course to work together to unpack the
debate without deliberately misinforming the people or using offensive
language. HonorableSallah cautioned that “National confrontation would create
National chaos; and this is not the Agenda!”.
At
the workshop, we the Gambia Christian Council have agreed to take part in this
process to find a middle ground and pursue the path of nation building. As a
first step it was resolved that since all faiths have group rights all should
first and foremost define what they want and then negotiate what they could
agree in common without sacrificing the group right of the other.In that
respect, we have defined the following as “The Gambia We Want” as a Christian
community/group:
1. A Secular, Sovereign State, where all
citizens are treated fairly on the basis of equality, irrespective of religion,
tribe, cast or gender without any citizen or any of their groups being
classified as a minority.
2. A nation where all believers including
Christians are free to practice their religion and worship their God without
fear.
3. An inclusive nation where all citizens
including Christians are allowed to participate in politics, the economy and
governance
4. A nation, where the believers including
Christians are consulted in matters that concern them before any laws or
policies are made; one that provides
the environment to participate in the affair of the State and not just be
informed. A Nation where we are seen, heard, recognized and respected.
5. A nation which continues to promote religious
tolerance and the peaceful co-existence of the communities in particular
Christians and Muslims.
6. A nation where no organ of government,
whether the executive, legislative or judiciary, will have the power to pass a
bill, make a pronouncement or declaration or directive or order to establish
any religion as a State religion.
7. A nation where civil law is applied for all
civil cases where a Christian is involved or affected.
Secondly,
we have committed to identify our rights as a Group in the context of the 1997
constitution without trampling on the rights of other groups.
Finally,
we have agreed to reach out to our Muslim brothers and sisters in the spirit of
Dialogue to discuss openly and respectfully, with the view to finding a common
ground on faith-based group rights. The Gambia Christian Council is therefore
grateful to Honorable Halifa Sallah who has agreed to accompany us in this
journey to act as an adviser where and whenever needed to facilitate interfaith
dialogue on the group rights of our religious fraternity of Christians and
Muslims that should in fact act in unison to ensure that no state is created
that bars us from holding, promoting and exercising our beliefs. His assurance to make effort to bridge any
divide between the Gambia Christian Council and the Supreme Islamic Council is
reassuring. We gave commitment to listen and try to understand their own
understanding of a secular state and are ready to build consensus on the
subject through dialogue. We are also appealing to the CRC and all Gambians to
give dialogue a chance and even come onboard to work with all the parties to
ensure a successful constitutional reform outcome.
