Gambia: Gambia cannot be turned into a monarchy – OJ
By Own Correspondent – Omar Jallow, alias OJ, the leader of the opposition People’s Progressive Party has opined that under the present constitution of The Gambia, it will be impossible for the Republic to be converted into a monarchy, except if the experience of Central Africa wants to be repeated in the Gambia.
“With the present constitution of the Gambia, it will be impossible for the Republic to be converted into a monarchy, except if the experience of Central Africa wants to be repeated in the Gambia,” Jallow told this reporter in an interview yesterday.
According to OJ, currently in Africa, all those countries that were one-party states are now introducing multi-party democracy, respect for the rule of law and instituting good governance practices.
For him, it will be ironic for the Gambia, which is already a democracy, to take itself back into the stone-age by becoming a monarchy.
While giving his assurance that they (the opposition) will do all within their powers to make sure that the Gambia remains a republic and a multi-party system, OJ said he was surprised and disappointed by some traditional rulers and National Assembly members trying to promote the concept of a monarchy in the country.
“As much as the phenomenon is totally unconstitutional and out of place in present-day Gambia, it reflects the status of our traditional rulers, and the cultural orientation of some of our traditional leaders, that is, how insensitive they have made themselves in competing for attention,” OJ stated.
He added: “But, as we know, history repeats itself. The Gambian people will resist any process to change our republic into a monarchy, and we will do it with all resources and powers at our disposal.”
