Age and term limits of the president dominated the Constitutional Review Commission’s second round of public consultation meeting in Kerewan yesterday.

Many of the participants in the public consultation called for the inclusion of an age limit for the president in the draft Constitution.

The provision of a presidential age limit was repealed in 2017 by the National Assembly several months after the election of President Adama Barrow.

Bubacarr Bah suggested the reversing of the law in the draft constitution saying “I think presidential age limit should be 65 (years) because when you reach 65 you’re limited in brain and physical power.”

Lamin Kanteh also recommended 65 years for the president’s age limit, and 40 years to be the minimum qualification for the presidency.

However, Ousainou Saine disagreed with these suggestions and called for an increase of the presidential age limit to 75 years.

Mr Saine also recommended the minimum age qualification for the president to be 40 years adding “because at 40 thats when one becomes fully matured.”

The draft Constitution was published last month by the Constitution Review Commission after 18 months. The public consultations are to allow the Gambian public to express their opinions on the draft Constitution before it is sent to the president next year for approval.

The draft Constitution contains 22 chapters and 315 clauses.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba