Africa-Press – Gambia. Ousainu Darboe, the party leader and secretary general of the United Democratic Party (UDP), said on Tuesday that his party stands firmly by its decision to reject the 2024 draft constitution, describing the vote against the draft as both principled and necessary.
Speaking at a press conference following the bill’s failure to advance during its second reading in the National Assembly, Mr. Darboe said the party “does not feel apologetic” about its members’ votes and accused President Adama Barrow of orchestrating the draft’s failure through a process he claimed lacked transparency and genuine public consultation.
“I want to say that the United Democratic Party does not feel apologetic about the votes that took place in the National Assembly yesterday. It was one that is expected, and if anything happened other than that, we would feel that our National Assembly members have indeed betrayed the Gambian people,” Mr. Darboe said.
The UDP leader alleged that the 2024 draft was “designed to fail,” asserting that President Barrow and his cabinet circumvented inclusive consultation processes in favor of what he described as a unilateral drafting effort.
“The design failure is the draft constitution; a failure that was designed by President Adama Barrow because they knew all along that bringing another document into the National Assembly for discussion without proper consultation will fail,” he told reporters.
Mr. Darboe, who previously served as foreign minister and vice president under President Barrow before the two parted ways politically, argued that the 2020 draft constitution, which was shelved after falling short of the required votes in parliament, should have been reintroduced instead. He said the UDP remains committed to constitutional reform, but only if driven by popular consensus and not imposed by the executive. Stating, “UDP resists any imposition on the people of The Gambia.”
Emphasizing the party’s longstanding commitment to democratic principles, Mr. Darboe insisted that any constitutional law must emerge from the free will of the Gambian people, not be imposed upon them.
“UDP believes that any law, particularly the constitution, the most basic and fundamental law, cannot be an imposition on the people. It must be one that comes out of the free will of the Gambian people. We say that the Gambian people’s constitution is what resonates with us, and that is why we have always stood for it, and we will continue to stand for that,” he said.
He reiterated that the UDP has long advocated for a people-driven constitutional process, emphasizing the party’s role since 1996 in pushing for democratic reforms.
“We cannot allow President Adama Barrow and his APRC allies to impose on the Gambian people a constitution that we do not deserve,” he concluded.
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