Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan will continue his mediation efforts on Gambia’s draft constitution deadlock in January 2021.

Mr Jonathan held a townhall meeting with leaders of 16 political parties following his closed door meeting with President Adama Barrow in Mankamang Kunda.

The former president also held a meeting with members of the National Assembly. 

At the end of the first leg of his mediation efforts, Mr Jonathan has returned home to brief Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari about the outcome of his mission to Banjul.

In a brief interview with State House reporters at the end of the closed door meeting, Mr Jonathan said his mission was meant to find amicable solutions to the political problem in The Gambia. 

He said he had successfully completed the first part of the assignment while the final part of the political misunderstanding would be addressed in January 2021.

The Gambia’s draft constitution is one of the major political changes promised by the coalition government that took over from ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh.  

It is meant to be a clean break from the 22 years of Jammeh’s tyranny and usher in the Third Republic. 

President Barrow in 2017 established the Constitutional Review Commission to draft a new constitution. 

More than 116 million dalasis was spent on the drafting process. 

The National Assembly members however rejected the draft constitution Bill in September. 

Reporting by Adama Makasuba