The word Constitution comes from the latin word, constitutio‘, meaning a legally issued authority from the people. Article 16 of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of  Man and the Citizen, according to which ‘[a]ny society in which rights are not guaranteed, nor the separation of powers determined, has no constitution.

The denial, albeit continously and consistently, by the police HQ, of permit to UDP, is an affront to all parties, all individuals, all equality loving citizens of The Gambia and must be condemned by all in the strongest possible terms. ‘[c]onstitution-texts can be mere façade legitimation, mere window-dressing on actual state practice. The practice may be of one-party rule, of police torture, of corrupt and intimidated judges, of a military or militia barely if at all under civilian rule, of business practices distorted by the need for systematic bribery of officials, and so on’ (MacCormick, 24; see also Sartori).

The International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 19 guarantees the right to expression and association which can only be restrained if necessary and by law for the sake of security, public order and morality. The 1997 Constitution of The Gambia guarantees the rights to expression and association with the reasonable restriction necessary in a democratic society.

The case of Darboe, UDP v IGP demonstrated this effectively, where Justice Obayan ruled that the denial of the UDP to hold a rally was unconstitutional and in contravention of their fundamental rights, much more if no reason (reasonable or completed) was given. 

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