Hussein Thomasi, the Solicitor General, has disclosed that the administration is now conducting talks to revive the 2020 draft constitution, with plans to hold a nationwide vote for its adoption in December 2024.

Members of the ruling NPP and its supporters were accused of orchestrating the 2021 National Assembly rejection of the bill due to a section that would have limited incumbent President Barrow to no more than 2026.
Since then, the government has developed plans to bring the draft back to life, but talks headed by the former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, have likewise failed to produce an agreement.

Nonetheless, Thomasi disclosed that talks spearheaded by the UN secretary-general’s special representative, Dr. Ibn Chambers, international rights activist Fatou Jagne Senghore, president of the Supreme Islamic Council, and chairman of the Christian Council have started to ensure agreement is reached on draft impasses. The discussions were held on Friday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Processes under the Constitution do need time. Although members of the National Assembly voted against our [draft] constitution in a democratic process, the administration is currently making efforts and we have set deadlines for introducing the document.We want to intensify our efforts on the constitution in the first quarter of 2024, and by December of that same year, we hope to have a referendum. I’m only restating the government’s viewpoint; these are not my words. The government is dedicated to this stance, which the minister of justice has expressed in a number of settings. The proposed constitution is far more liberal. We long for it and want to see it all in the spirit of the desired Gambia. The former advisor to the Justice Minister, Thomasi, said, “This is our democracy; we have to make it right.

A number of participants, notably university law students, expressed worry about whether disagreements on retroactive clauses on the president’s term will not further disturb the process in the future.

Thomasi responded, saying, “Yes, that clause is still in the draft and it’s also in the document that the political parties agreed upon in Abuja. Therefore, the government must figure out how to present the constitution to the National Assembly, and I believe that at the appropriate time, the political parties will find a way to resolve this [retroactive] clause.