Foroyaa is aware that it is being broadcast on Gambian TV that the NCCE is on tour with the support of the UN system to explain the content of the 2024 Draft Constitution to the Gambian people before there is any indication that it will go to the people for a referendum. This is very strange because of the stage of promulgation of the Bill at the National Assembly.
Foroyaa sought the opinion of Halifa Sallah on this score. According to him, the functions of the NCCE is spelt out under section 199 of the 1997 Constitution as follows:
“The functions of the National Council for Civic Education shall be – (a) to create and sustain within society an awareness of the principles and objectives of this Constitution as the fundamental law of The Gambia.
(b) To educate and encourage the public to defend this Constitution against all forms of abuse and violence;
(c) To formulate, from time to time, for the consideration the Government, programmes at national and district levels aimed at realising the objects of this Constitution;
(d) To formulate, implement and oversee programmes aimed at inculcating in the citizens of The Gambia awareness of their civic and fundamental rights, duties and responsibilities;
(e) To educate the citizens of The Gambia about international, regional and sub regional matters relevant to The Gambia, and
(f) Such other functions as an Act of the National Assembly may prescribe.”
There is no provision in the 1997 Constitution requiring the NCCE to proceed to tell the Gambian people on matters that an Act of the National Assembly has not authorised it to do. It is therefore important for the council to be properly guided and for the international community to understand and respect the dictates of Gambian constitutionalism.
The living constitution of The Gambia which content the council is directed to teach is the 1997 Constitution. There is a bill introduced under that constitution aiming to annul the 1997 Constitution and promulgate a successive constitution.
This bill will have to go through a second and third reading and if approved will have to be sent to the Independent Electoral Commission for a referendum.
The Elections Bill has a provision for referendum that the current Elections Act does not have. Hence the National Assembly and the President of the Republic will have the task of passing the Bill and assenting to it, respectively, so that we have electoral law that provides the guidelines on how the IEC should conduct a referendum.
It would be appropriate for the IEC to draw the referendum question if the Constitution (Promulgation) Bill is approved by the National Assembly. The Elections Act dealing with referendum must also provide the NCCE with the responsibility of educating the Gambian people on the text of the approved Bill that is the subject of a referendum and the referendum question raised by the Independent Electoral Commission to be answered by the electorate. This is what should happen.
The most that the NCCE should do now is to explain how far the Bill has gone and what is expected of the National Assembly members if the Bill is to ever reach the Gambian people for a debate on its content, which should be under the watch of the NCCE as a neutral bystander in such a debate.
