In Gabon, the 168 transitional deputies and senators have been meeting since Thursday morning, September 12, for ten days in the Constituent Assembly, at the invitation of the head of the transition. They must examine the draft Constitution drawn up by a technical committee and submitted to General Oligui Nguema on August 31, and propose amendments to the CTRI military, who will have the final say on the draft, which will be submitted to a referendum by the end of the year. Yesterday, Thursday, the office was set up and the internal regulations adopted. Work will begin in earnest this Friday, September 13.
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The transitional parliamentarians will begin their hearings on the morning of September 13 with the Prime Minister, Raymond Ndong Sima, and the Minister of Institutional Reform, Murielle Minkoué Mintsa. The latter is at the forefront on the subject, since, after having been general rapporteur of the national dialogue in April, she headed the national constitutional committee appointed at the beginning of May by the transitional president. The members of this group of drafters will be heard in turn.
Parliamentarians will certainly want clarification on points that are being debated: what counterweights to the hyper-presidency and what control bodies? what penal regime for leaders? how to ensure the independence of justice? or do the drastic conditions of eligibility for the presidency not put the Gabon in breach of its international obligations?
Amendments until Sunday evening
The editors will recall their roadmap : build a text based on the 1,000 or so recommendations of the dialogue, which, according to one of them, reflect the recent history of the country and respond to the frustrations of the Gabonese. The leaders of religious denominations and the National Council for Democracy, a political consultation framework that has been struggling since its creation in 1996, will then be heard. The parliamentarians, meanwhile, will be able to submit their amendments to the bureau until Sunday evening.
The work is led by the President of the National Assembly, Jean François Ndongou, who spoke to our correspondent, Yves Laurent Goma: ” We have received the preliminary draft of the Constitution. We will examine this document, we will amend it and we will adopt our amendments. At the end of our work, we will draft a report containing all the amendments and what we believe to be the future Constitution. »
” We have no limits in the work environment »
” We will give this report to the transitional president who will certainly submit it to the government so that it can be adopted by the Council of Ministers before it is submitted to a referendum.continues Jean François Ndongou. We have the ability to suggest and amend whatever we want. This text is in the hands of the parliamentarians of the Constituent Assembly. We have no limits in the framework of the work, except our good conscience and what we want for this country. We are not deputies at the disposal of the military. We do the legislative work. We will propose to the President of the Republic our aspirations for the future Constitution “, he concludes.
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