The chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission has dismissed plagiarism allegations, describing it as “personal opinions”.

Justice Cherno Sulayman Jallow’s reaction comes after Dr. Lamin J Darboe, a prominent Gambian lawyer accused the Commission of plagiarising the Kenyan constitution.

But speaking at a news conference days after the rejection of the Draft Constitution by lawmakers, Justice Cherno Sulayman Jallow, insisted: “The CRC has not blindly adopted constitutional provisions from elsewhere; it thoroughly reviewed and applied them in The Gambia’s own national circumstances, especially having regard to the opinions expressed by members of the public during the public consultations. It is from such sources that international best practices are gleaned.”

“CRC with its team of experienced draftspersons and international consultants’ drafters, has not given any credence to such claims and essentially view the claims as merely stoking emotions to back up the critics’ rejection of the Draft Constitution,” he added.

He lashed out at critics saying “some people never said anything good of the CRC since its inception” adding international experts on constitutional drafting have said adopting and adapting best constitutional provisions around the world is globally accepted. He was quick to clarify that the CRC did not “copy and paste from any foreign constitution as claimed by some Gambians”.

According to Justice Jallow “no Constitution in the world is copyrighted”saying “every Constitution, including the USA that has been touted as a model by some critics, has drawn inspiration from some one or more constitutions or other written literature.

 “We see the best example of such encouragement in the Website called “Constitute.com” which collects and collates the constitutions of the world for purposes of serving as a reference to constitutional builders and researchers.”

Reporting by Adama Makasuba