“It is true that there is no time-limit for the president to bring the draft to parliament but who would have thought, given those circumstances why they wouldn’t want to bring the draft to parliament. I think for me it’s impossible; they have to bring it to parliament,” she said.

“Another thing that people always lose sight of is parliament can bring this draft to itself. It doesn’t necessarily have to come from…the executive” Speaking on the actual process to this alternative draft tabling, Ms Jaiteh added:

“There is a process of how this bill will come to life and that is in the 1997 Constitution. The constitution has made provisions on how you can repeal it or amend it or how you can amend certain provisions or entrenched provisions. And there is nothing in it that says it cannot be brought by a member of the National Assembly. It is the responsibility of the Legislature to make laws; we should never lose sight of that.”

She said parliament too can put forward laws just like the executive, and in this instance, it can always introduce the draft if it is very needed.

“Laws can be proposed by the executive but they can also be proposed by the National Assembly. So if in any case the executive says they are not bringing this to parliament, well the parliament can bring it to itself. That is very simple and straightforward. So if they decide not to bring it, one of us or a committee can bring the bill to itself,” she told Harona Drammeh, the host.

Source__Standard Newspaper