Panafrican News Agency

Gambia’s constitutional body to consult citizens in Diaspora

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) – Gambia’s Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) is set to embark on external public consultations with Gambians in the Diaspora.

CRC Head of Communications, Sainey MK Marana, confirmed this on Tuesday as the constitution-making body finalised arrangements to reach out to Gambians living outside the West African nation.

“The CRC is well poised to embark on external public consultations to incorporate the views and aspirations of Gambians living outside of The Gambia,” CRC chairman, Justice Cherno Jallow, was quoted saying.

According to Jallow, significant progress has been made in preparation for the consultations which will cover countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the United States of America.

In Africa, he said two countries will be covered, namely - Senegal (Dakar) and Mauritania (Nouakchott).

“Countries to be covered in Europe are: the United Kingdom (London), Germany (Berlin), Sweden (Stockholm), France (Paris) and Spain (Barcelona). In the United States of America the cities to be visited are New York City, Washington DC, Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis and Charlotte. With regards the Middle East, Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) will be covered,” he explained.

The CRC chairman further explained that the calendar for the external consultations is expected to be published shortly and it will provide advance notice to Gambians in the Diaspora to enable them to make appropriate plans to engage the constitutional body.

More details on meeting dates and specific venues will be announced in the coming days to the public.

“These consultations would ensure that a new Gambian Constitution is designed and developed based in the principles of inclusiveness, participation and ownership,” Jallow stressed.

As part of its mandate, the CRC had embarked on a series of in-country public consultations from 5 November 2018 to 26 January 2019.

The public consultations entailed direct interface with Gambian communities around the country to discuss issues related to constitutional reform and to establish public opinion on matters that Gambians wish to see included in the new constitution.

The public consultations involved face to face dialogue with communities, schools and individuals; in addition, face to face dialogue was held in Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) with women, youth and men and the CRC administered questionnaires in all neighbouring villages around the venues at which public consultations were held. The consultations covered 106 communities nationwide.

The commission in its quest to be inclusive and recognising the importance of the youth population as future leaders, has been engaging students through school consultations.

So far, 30 schools throughout the seven administrative regions of The Gambia have been consulted and the level of participation and engagement has been extremely high and impressive, the CRC noted.

Meanwhile, CRC will also prepare a report in relation to the draft constitution which will include the processes adopted by the commission in developing the new constitution and the rationale for the provisions enshrined in the supreme law of the country.

The consultation process is part of CRC’s inclusive drive of involving all Gambians in the conversation on what should be or should not be included in the new constitution.

The CRC was established by an Act of Gambian parliament in 2017 and was formally constituted in June 2018 after the appointment and swearing-in by President Adama Barrow of eleven commissioners, six of whom are female Gambian professionals with high integrity and social standing.

-0- PANA MLJ/AR 5March2019