Nominated National Assembly member says a large number of Gambians opposed the rejected Drat Constitution.

Manjako Samusa, who was one of the 23 lawmakers that voted against the Draft Constitution last month, said they have overwhelming support from the Gambian public.  He said he is not bothered with negative comments of critics. 

“We love to hear that, that negative statement makes us very proud because we know we have the views [sic] of the public. 65% of the population today and let’s go and as we are going, we are gaining more popularity,” he said.

Mr Samusa claimed as of today “we have 65% and as we go by the end of October, we will hit 80%.”

According to him, the Constitutional Review Commission should have engaged the National Assembly members after publishing the first draft of the constitution, adding “they never because they believe those people [lawmakers] are rubber stamp.

“At least we should have more than 50% views of the people captured and other things can come. We cannot say everything but sometimes different things also can be inside that is left out by the public. 

“But they never did that. I will throw the report. What the report contains and what is actually in the draft constitution is quite different. 65% of it has not been captured in the draft constitution.”

Reporting by Adama Makasuba