By Amadou Jadama
Momodou Sellu Bah, the Alkalo of Basse and former National Assembly Member has urged the members of the Constitutional Review Commission to include presidential term limit when they are drafting the new Constitution.
He was speaking Friday at the Governor’s Office in Basse during the Constitutional Review Commission pre consultation meeting with the regional governors and traditional leaders across the country.
Alkalo Bah revealed a two-term limit for president was included in the 1997 constitution but was later removed making the Gambia among few countries in the region without a term limit. The Alkalo said term-limit is necessary to prevent presidents from entrenching themselves too long in power with risks of turning dictatorial or corrupt.
“The president should not stay more than ten years; once you overstay you abuse power, it makes you corrupt. A president who is not able to deliver in two terms can never deliver again and should go,” he said.
Alkalo Bah also called on the CRC to include laws that will protect journalists to enable them to do their work effectively.
The former NAM warned that the desirability of the moratorium on the death penalty in the 1997 constitution is still not reviewed and it is still in the constitution, adding that it is for Gambian people to decide if they want the abolition of the death penalty as these are important issues because they impact on lives of the citizens of the Gambia.
The CRC tour led by chairman Justice Cherno Sulayman Jallow continues today with consultative meetings in Banjul and the KMC.
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