Chairman of The Gambia Centre for Victims of Human Rights Violations, Sheriff Kijera, has argued that retaining the 1997 Constitution will make it difficult to implement the recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission (TRRC).
Development Diaries gathered that Kijera was reacting to the position of civil society organisations on the Constitution of The Gambia Bill 2020.
He said, ‘TRRC will make recommendations that will identify perpetrators that bear the greatest responsibilities of crimes that have been perpetrated during the past regime.
‘Retaining the 1997 Constitution will make it problematic for effective implementation of the accountability mechanisms.
‘The mandate of the truth commission is at the tail end. The TRRC has succeeded in a good path in its public hearings that unfolded.
‘We have all heard some of the atrocities that have been perpetrated on Gambians for the past 22 years of brutal dictatorship’.
Kijera also noted that his organisation strongly believes that the new progressive constitution will ensure an effective and impartial accountability mechanism that due process is guaranteed.
‘We will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure that the “Never Again” slogan becomes a reality. The Victims’ Centre is totally in support of the draft constitution’, he added.
‘The transitional justice processes has shown us the atrocities that happened during the former regime. Our concern at the Victims’ Centre is ensuring that the mass violation and abuses that happened in the past regime do not happen in The Gambia ever again.
‘Therefore, it’s imperative that adequate legal and institutional reforms are made in order to usher The Gambia into a new democratic dispensation’.
The programme manager at The Gambia Press Union (GPU), Lamin Jahateh, noted that the GPU and the Gambian media were in the forefront in fighting dictatorship and tyranny for the past 22 years.
Jahateh said, ‘The new government promised that they are going to give us laws that guarantee freedom of information, access to information, and media independence. This was why the media fraternity opened up to the new government and welcomed it with open arms’.
Source: The Point
Photo source: Paul Kagame
