In a PDOIS press conference held on Wednesday at Churchill’s Town, Mr Sallah said: “We the Gambian people are now to ask ourselves the fundamental question: What do we do next? Are we to allow ourselves held hostage by those we have given authority to serve us, or do we need to open up a national discussion and involve in that conversation so that we can find out for ourselves and our country?”
The PDOIS secretary general argued that the 2024 draft constitution has “many shortcomings and not deemed fit to become a constitution”.
Mr Sallah also noted that during the second reading of the draft, the debate should have been about principles and the inadequacies of the 1997 constitution.
“For the 2020 and 2024 draft, are the inadequacies that should have been examined and the foundation laid that there’s need to interrogate on the constitution and improve its content,” he said.
Sallah contends that laws are made for a purpose that can represent every individual in the country and the lawmakers must scrutinise the bill to meet the public satisfaction.
“Section 226 was not meant for wholesale transformation of a constitution; it has provisions for amendment of a constitution - that is constitution building. What is required now with immediacy is for the executives to engage in discussion on the constitution and we all look at the 1997 constitution and make bold recommendations for its amendments,” he said.
He further urged all Gambians to take responsibility and hold those in positions accountable in the nation’s constitutional reform process.
“The executive by its own actions, without much consultation, decided to bring another bill to the National Assembly to start the promulgation process of the constitution,” the PDOIS leader intimated, saying: “We the Gambian people are now to ask ourselves the fundamental question: What do we do next? Are we to allow ourselves held hostage by those we have given authority to serve us, or do we need to open up a national discussion and involve in that conversation so that we can find out for ourselves and our country?”
Read Other Articles In Headlines
