The Gambian government is seeking to enact a new law criminalising ‘insult’ against the president, public officers and their parents.

The draft bill, which is expected to be published next week, is intended to amend the current criminal code on sedition.

It will grant the court extra powers to fine or jail anyone who “insults the president and his government officials”.

The bill is being introduced a year after the Supreme Court partially declared sedition “unconstitutional”.

The draft bill states that “any person who insults, or does any act to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the person of the President, or the Government of The Gambia as by law established, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not less than fifty thousand dalasi or a term of imprisonment of not less than one year or to both the fine and imprisonment.

“Any person who directs parental insults to the President, Vice President, Cabinet Ministers, Judicial officers, Members of the National Assembly or any public officer holding a public office or in the exercise of his or her official functions, shall be held liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than ten thousand dalasi and not more than fifty thousand dalasi or a term of imprisonment of not less than one month and not more than six months or to both the fine and imprisonment.”

Civil society and human rights activists have condemned the draft bill as “draconian” and “politically motivated” to silent the president’s critics.

Coach Pa Samba Jow, a leading civil rights activist, said “the leaked document from the Attorney General’s office to prosecute people for ‘insulting public officials’ is an insult to us.

“This government must understand that governance through egotism and paranoia is not the way to go. The National Assembly members must reject this retrogressive act that is meant for nothing but to subvert the civil liberties of the people. When we said ‘Never Again”, we meant anything that will remotely mirror Jammeh’s ways.”