“Following the failure of the draft constitution to pass the third reading, we realised that while the public consultations were elaborated, there were minimal emphasis on engagement with political actors,” the Minister said.
“This gives rise to an urgent need to initiate political dialogue. In this regard, mediation was seen as the most desirable option,” he said.
He revealed that the Attorney General was given Cabinet approval to negotiate the said draft with political actors and other stakeholders.
“The ministry felt the need to engage with its traditional partners as International IDEA, an international NGO which has done a lot of work in The Gambia and internationally on constitutional matters.”
“Our choice of IDEA is due to the belief that being an independent institution and having the expertise in constitutional building process, they are the best partner to accompany us in the mediation process. We are therefore partnering with them in supporting the mediation process among the political actors towards the success of the draft constitution.”
“It is important to note that the ministry is not developing a new draft. We are mediating on contentious issues raised by honorable members during the debate of the draft constitution. Given that there is contention on most of the provisions of the draft constitution – the issue that has a reason now is how the amendment of the contentious issues should be carried out. The two options circulated at the moment is for either the Ministry of Justice to update the draft before sending it to National Assembly or for the draft to be sent to the Assembly in its current form and subsequently be updated at the level of the House,” Justice Minister Jallow hinted.
“What is observed is when the draft came and failed the first time, it was because there was a massive campaign that it should not and must not change anything and it was either it goes as it was or is rejected. And the rejection happened which we paid for.”
He assured that IDEA has secured funding to commence the process of reviving the draft; however, he added one of the conditions raised is for them to set up country office. “That process is currently in the final stages and we are confident that the war of reviving the draft constitution will begin in earnest by the end of this quarter,” he reassured.
He highlighted that the ministry is mindful of not opening the entire process again, thus making consultations in order for it to take off where it stopped when it is brought back to the parliament.
