Africa-Press – Gambia. A few days ago, the National Assembly (NA) rejected the draft constitution brought forth by the Adama Barrow government. I will call this the Barrow Constitution to distinguish it from the draft created by the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC). So here we are in 2025, and Gambians are still living under the 1997 Constitution, which was created by the Yahya Jammeh regime.
What Adama Barrow and his government attempted to do with this Barrow Constitution is like a child trying to trick an adult – you can see the plot from a mile away. When the CRC released a draft constitution after spending over D100 million, it languished in the NA. It failed to pass because Adama Barrow and his supporters felt that it was “unfair” to the president.
The draft constitution delivered by the CRC was not without problems. There were aspects of it that I and many others heavily criticized. But it was a significant improvement over the 1997 Constitution. More importantly, it was created by a non-partisan body. Millions were spent on it. The process involved extensive consultations. It took two years of hard work. It was an important element of the planned transition from dictatorship to democracy.
That CRC draft constitution did not pass specifically because Adama Barrow and his government disliked the fact that Barrow’s first term would have counted, preventing him from running beyond the 2021 election. They considered this unacceptable without any regard for the bad precedent it set. Barrow and his supporters always had their eye on at least three terms. In other words, Adama Barrow and his supporters undermined the adoption of the CRC draft constitution for purely political reasons, at the expense of democratic transition.
We arrived at this current predicament due to the bad faith effort by the Adama Barrow regime. The regime made a calculated decision to sabotage the adoption of the CRC draft constitution because Adama Barrow wants to remain in power well beyond two terms – and far beyond the one term he had promised. In other words, we should not be at this stage today if Adama Barrow had worked in the national interest.
Having successfully scuttled the adoption of the CRC draft constitution, the Barrow government embarked on its ill-fated journey to create a constitution tailor-made to benefit him politically. As everyone noticed, the process did not involve any real consultations. After all, the goal was not the national interest – rather, NPP interest. It was nothing more than a charade.
By replacing the CRC draft constitution with his self-serving version, President Barrow gave us a false choice between his constitution and the 1997 Constitution. Barrow and his coterie presumably think that the country is so desperate to escape from under the existing constitution that they would vote for any new constitution that is marginally better, even though a far better option is available.
The President and his supporters will soon embark on trying to craft a false narrative that an alternative and better constitution was presented but was rejected by the opposition. They will conveniently ignore their role in bringing us into this predicament. No one should be fooled. We continue to live under the 1997 Constitution because this government cynically gave us a false choice.
It is clear that Adama Barrow intends to cement his hold on power. He will not present a constitution to the NA that builds strong foundations for a real democracy as long as he and his supporters feel it limits his power or political options. For him, he would rather have the 1997 Constitution than a real improvement over it. This should not be surprising to anyone given the character of the people Adama Barrow has surrounded himself with.
The Gambia’s only hope for a real transition to democracy is to vote Adama Barrow and his entire government out of power in the 2026 election. Adama Barrow has shown that he cannot be trusted given how he has gone back on his own words. He has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that he does not have the leadership qualities needed to transition a country from dictatorship. He does not have the capability to run a country competently, which explains the country’s current economic woes. He simply does not have the required qualifications and leadership qualities to lead the country at this critical juncture in its history.
Source: Kerr Fatou Online Media House
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