By Ramatoulie Jawo
The Office of the Clerk, in partnership with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, held a one-day meeting on Friday that brought together National Assembly Members, civil society members, and the media to finalize the plans for building a strong foundation and mechanism for effective engagement.
This meeting was a follow-up to two separate seminars held in January and February of this year, where the National Assembly met with journalists and civil society organizations, respectively, to discuss areas and modalities of cooperation.
The goal of this convergence is to implement the recommendations from prior discussions, creating a practical mechanism to improve and strengthen their partnership.
Addressing the gathering, Honorable Kebba Jallow, the National Assembly Member for Niumi Central, emphasized the significance of this convergence, stating that it was a proactive and essential event.
“The convergence of this nature, the National Assembly and the office of the clerk, of course, welcomed it to the maximum because we cannot have an effective parliament if there is not smooth relationship between the media and the CSOs,” he said.
Ousman Jallow, a representative from the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, stated that the convergence is one of their interventions with the National Assembly.
He also added that they have engaged extensively with the media, civil society organizations (CSOs), National Assembly members, and National Assembly staff.
Kalipha MM. Mbaye, the deputy clerk for legal and procedural matters of the National Assembly, presented on the goals and importance of engagement between parliamentarians and civil society. He stated that the goal of the engagement is to establish a direct and formal interface between the two groups and to create mechanisms for their relationship to thrive.
“In our policy that acknowledges the importance of collaboration with CSOs to effectively achieve their aims, the limited existing interaction between parliament and CSOs will be enhanced. Of course, there are some limitations. How do we address those limitations? All the challenges so this engagement will therefore help us see how we can improve on those challenges and enhance our relationship,” he said.
Mr. Mbaye stated that the purpose of the meeting was to create a favorable environment and framework for the National Assembly and civil society organizations to collaborate in order to achieve a strong and reliable partnership and the possibility of developing a policy document. He also encouraged the participants to interact, discuss, and reach a consensus by the end of the day.
During the discussion, both the president of the Gambia Press Union and the Executive Director of TANGO gave presentations on their roles and expectations in the collaboration.