The executive has promised that a referendum on the Constitution will be held before the end of 2024. We have repeatedly emphasized that any bill dealing with the Constitutional promulgation would have to conform to the provisions of section 226 of the 1997 Constitution.
This provision requires the publication of the Bill for not less than three months and a second publication for not less than ten days after the first. It is after such publications that a bill could be laid at the National Assembly for consideration and submission to the IEC for a referendum.
A referendum must be held within six months of the submission of the bill to the IEC for a referendum, if the December 2024 deadline for the publication of the bill in the Gazette is to be adhered to.
The government is fully guided. What is left is the political will to act with decisiveness.
