By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
It’s been over a year now since the Constitution was killed by the Gambia’s National Assembly forcing the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) to hold a press conference on October 1st 2020 declaring that the Draft Constitution was in a coma. The Draft Constitution was central to the Gambia’s reform agenda and had cost the Gambian people over D120 million and years of consultation.
Similar to the Constitution, the Janneh Commission recommendations which investigated corruption orchestrated by the former head of state Yahya Jammeh has still not been fully implemented. Electoral Reforms which Solo Sandeng died for has currently been shelved at the National Assembly’s committee stage as the country prepares for another election without Electoral Reforms. The submission of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission’s Report has been postponed twice with the second postponement suggesting no new date for submission while the Security Sector Reforms process has progressed at a snail’s pace.
This series of interviews features former Commissioners and members of the public as we explore what it will take to revive the Draft Constitution and other reforms processes. This first publication features the former Chairperson of the CRC, Justice Cherno S. Jallow, QC (JSC) who shares his perspective of how the Constitution could be revived from the National Assembly induced coma.
Justice Jallow was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel (QC) of the British Virgin Islands in 2007 and also appointed as Justice of the Supreme Court of the Gambia in 2017 by current President Adama Barrow.
Yusef Taylor: About one year ago the CRC had a press conference about the Draft Constitution saying it was not dead but in a coma. What are your reflections one year on?
Justice Cherno Jallow: The events leading to the preparation and submission of the Draft Constitution and those that followed thereafter showed one undeniable fact: that there’s a strong yearning amongst Gambians for a new Constitution that will propel our country into a new dawn of strengthened institutions and governance structures in government administration to uplift the lives of all of our citizens.
That common desire continues to be alive. How we ultimately achieve that is admittedly fraught with challenges (as in any Constitution-building process) but it is certainly not without possibilities. So long as the desire and yearning for better and improved governance continues to be present, I have every confidence that, despite the difference of opinion, we will eventually get to what’s in the best interest of present and future generations of Gambians. We must not relent in our quest to actualize our good intentions for the good of all.
YT: How do you think the Draft Constitution will be revived?
Justice CJ: My colleague Commissioners and I, with the aid of our able support staff, have played our role and discharged the duty entrusted to us. It is now for the leadership in government and indeed the wider community of Gambians to consider the various options available to initiate dialogue to find a common platform to continue the Constitution-building process. I do not wish to muddy the waters with my CRC background. It will not be the responsible thing to do.
YT: What do you make of the other reform agenda which have suffered a similar fate most notably the twice-delayed TRRC?
Justice CJ: I much prefer not to express an opinion on this, save to advise that when we fall, we must get up, dust off and continue the journey to achieve what’s right and just and in the best interest of our country and our citizens. When we despair as a people, we fail collectively.