In this Constitution, unless a contrary intention appears-
any reference to a power of appointment to an office shall be construed as including a reference to the power to appoint a person to act in or perform the functions of that office;
any reference to the holder of an office by a term designating his or her office shall be construed as including a reference to any person for the time being lawfully acting in, or performing the functions of, that office.
Where in this Constitution power is vested in any person or authority to appoint any person to act in or perform the functions of any office if the holder thereof is himself or herself unable to perform those functions, no such appointment shall be called in question on the ground that the holder of the office was not able to perform those functions.
306. Resignations
Any person who is appointed or elected to, or otherwise selected for, any office established by or under this Constitution may resign from that office by writing under his or her hand addressed to the person or authority by whom he or she was appointed, elected or selected.
For the purposes of subsection (1)-
in the case of the President, his or her resignation shall be addressed to the Speaker and the Chief Justice;
in the case of the Vice-President or a Minister, his or her resignation shall be addressed to the President;
in the case of the Speaker or a Deputy Speaker, his or her resignation shall be addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly;
in the case of the Chief Justice, a Supreme Court judge or Court of Appeal judge, his or her resignation shall be addressed to the President;
in the case of a member of the National Assembly, his or her resignation shall be addressed to the Speaker; and
in any other case, his or her resignation shall be addressed to the person or authority that appointed him or her.
Any such resignation shall take effect, when no date is specified, when the writing is received-
in the case of the President, by the Speaker and the Chief Justice;
in any other case, by the person or authority to whom it is addressed or by any person authorised by that person or authority to receive it.
307. Re-appointments and concurrent appointments
Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, where a person has vacated any office established by or under the Constitution, he or she may, if qualified, again be appointed, elected or otherwise selected to hold that office in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
Where by this Constitution a power is conferred on any person or authority to make any appointment to any public office, a person may be appointed to that office notwithstanding that some other person may be holding that office when that other person is on leave of absence pending relinquishment of the office.
Where two or more persons are holding the same office by reason of any appointment made in pursuance of this section, then, for the purposes of any function conferred on the holder of that office, the person last appointed shall be deemed to be the holder of the office.
308. Duty to provide reasons for adverse decisions
Where an adverse decision is taken against a person in the public service, irrespective of the nature or form of the adverse decision, the person who takes the adverse decision has a duty to inform the person against whom the adverse decision is taken of the reason or reasons for the adverse decision.
The reason or reasons for the adverse decision taken shall be in writing addressed to the person against whom the adverse decision is taken.
Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to any adverse decision taken by the President in respect of an appointment to the Cabinet, the Office of Chief of Staff and the Office of Chief of Defence Staff of the Armed Forces of The Gambia.
309. Duty not to act on an unlawful directive
No power exercised, or an order given, on the basis of an executive directive issued by any person or authority shall be inconsistent with this Constitution or any other law, and any directive issued in that regard shall not be acted upon by any person if the directive is so inconsistent.
310. Power to legislate for and publish matters in this Constitution
Without prejudice to any provision in this Constitution empowering the National Assembly to enact legislation for specific purposes, the National Assembly may enact such other legislation as is necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Constitution.
Where under this Constitution or an Act of the National Assembly any matter or action is required to be published in the Gazette, such matter or action may, in addition to publication in the Gazette, also be published in the print, online and broadcast media.
PART II. General
311. Interpreting this Constitution
This Constitution shall be interpreted in a manner that-
promotes its purposes, values and guiding principles;
advances the rule of law, and the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in Chapter VI;
permits the development of the law;
contributes to governance;
promotes and protects the sovereignty of the people of The Gambia; and
is cognisant of the historical, social, cultural, political and spiritual context that necessitated the adoption of this Constitution.
312. Interpretation
In this Constitution, unless a contrary intention appears—
“all the members”, in relation to the National Assembly, means all the members for the time being of the National Assembly; “an Act of the National Assembly” includes an Act of Parliament established under any previous Constitution of The Gambia;
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“compulsory retirement age” has the meaning ascribed to it in section 267
“court” means any court mentioned or established under section 173;
“disciplined force” means the Police Force, the Prison Service, the Immigration Service, the Drug Law Enforcement Agency of The Gambia, the Fire and Rescue Service, the State Intelligence Service, the Customs wing of The Gambia Revenue Authority and the Armed Forces, and includes any other force established by an Act of the National Assembly;
“existing laws” means the laws in force in The Gambia immediately before the coming into force of this Constitution, other than any such laws which are repealed or revoked on, or immediately before, the coming into force of this Constitution;
“Gazette” means the official gazette of the Government;
“Government” means the executive Government of The Gambia;
“high judicial office” means the office of a judge of a court of unlimited jurisdiction in criminal, civil and Shari’ah matters, or of a court with jurisdiction on appeal from such a court, in some part of the Commonwealth or such other country as the National Assembly may prescribe;
“judge” includes the Chief justice and other judges of the Supreme Court, a judge of the Court of Appeal, a judge of the High Court and a judge of the Shari’ah High Court;
“legal practitioner” means a person entitled to practise as such in accordance with an Act of the National Assembly;
“Local Government Authority” means a city council, a municipality or an area council;
“Minister” includes the Attorney-General;
“oath” includes affirmation;
“ordinarily resident”, unless the context indicates otherwise, means being resident in any part of The Gambia permanently or for a specified period or, being a citizen by birth, residing outside The Gambia for an extended period but occasionally (not more than one year apart) visiting The Gambia during the period of residence outside The Gambia;
“prescribed oaths” means such oaths as may be prescribed in this Constitution or by an Act of the National Assembly in respect of the relevant office, and if no such oath is prescribed, means an oath of allegiance to The Gambia;
“public elections” means the election for a President, National Assembly or a Local Government council;
“public office” includes an office the emoluments of which are paid directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or directly out of moneys provided by an Act of the National Assembly, and the office of a member of a Local Government Authority or the staff of a Statutory Body or State Owned Enterprise;
“public officer” means a person holding an office in the public service, a person in the service of a Local Government Authority, and a person in the service of a Statutory Body or State Owned Enterprise.
“the public service” means, subject to section 22 (3), a service declared to be, or established as, a public service by or under the section in which it is declared or established;
“session” means the sitting of the National Assembly of The Gambia commencing when it first meets after a general election or after the adjournment of a session and ending when the session is adjourned or the National Assembly stands dissolved;
“State Owned Enterprise” means a body corporate, wholly or partially owned or controlled by the Government, directly or indirectly, and includes any other body or institution specified as such in an Act of the National Assembly; and
“superior court”, in relation to the courts of The Gambia, means the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Shari’ah High Court.
In this Constitution, unless a contrary intention appears-
words importing natural persons shall include corporations;
words in the singular shall include the plural and words in the plural shall include the singular;
where a word is defined, other parts of speech and tenses of that word shall have the corresponding meaning;
words directing or empowering a public officer to do any act or thing, or otherwise applying to him or her by the designation of his or her office, shall include his or her other successors in office; and
references to a subsection, paragraph, sub-paragraph or item shall be construed as a reference to a subsection, paragraph, sub-paragraph or item of the section in which the reference occurs.
For the purposes of this Constitution, a person shall not be regarded as holding an office of emolument under the Government or in the service of The Gambia by reason only that he or she is in receipt of a pension or other like benefit in respect of service in an office under the Government, a Local Government Authority or a Statutory Body or State Owned Enterprise.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that any reference in this Constitution to the functions of the President includes reference to his or her functions as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of The Gambia.
313. Construction of various powers
Where any power is conferred by this Constitution to make any proclamation, order, regulation, rule, code of conduct or pass any resolution or give any direction or make any declaration or designation, it shall be deemed to include the power, exercisable in like manner and subject to like conditions, if any, to amend or revoke the same.
Where any power is conferred by this Constitution on any person or authority to do or enforce the doing of any act or thing, all such powers shall be deemed to be also given as are necessary to enable that person or authority to do or enforce the doing of that act or thing.
No provision of this Constitution that any person or authority shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority in exercising any functions under this Constitution shall be construed as precluding a court from exercising jurisdiction in relation to any question whether or not such person or authority has performed those functions in accordance with this Constitution or any other law.
Where under any provision of this Constitution any person or authority is authorised or required to exercise any function after consultation with any other person or authority, the person or authority first referred to shall not be required to act in accordance with the advice of that person or authority.
Without prejudice to the provisions of section 165, but subject to the other provisions of this Constitution, the power to make any appointment to a public office includes the power to dismiss any person so appointed.
315. Transitional and consequential provisions
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, the provisions of Schedule 3 shall have effect on the coming into force of this Constitution.
316. Repeal
Subject to subsection (2), The Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia, 1997 is hereby repealed.
This Constitution comes into force one day after its adoption at a referendum.
The Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction to hear all matters that may pertain to the transition from the repealed Constitution to this Constitution.
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