Govt. commences building of new legislative house

President Yahya Jammeh has Monday laid the foundation stone of a new National Assembly Complex in Banjul. The proposed legislative house would be built some 200 metres away from Arch 22 and behind the Gambia High School. The foundation stone laying ceremony was part of events marking the 16th anniversary of the July 22nd Revolution.

Speaking at the occasion, the Gambian leader noted the overarching need to build a new complex for the National Assembly. According to him, the present complex was not purpose-built and it lacked many essentials that are normal features of a legislative house.

“The need to build a new National Assembly building cannot be over-emphasised. Since assuming power, I inherited a National Assembly that has long over-lived its usefulness as The Gambia progresses into high and complex level of the democratization process of my government,” the president said.

According to him, the current building which houses the national assembly is too simplistic, too small to accommodate the day-to-day operations of a well functional assembly, and its location is becoming congested and un-ideal. All of these, he said, justify the government’s decision to relocate the complex to its new site.

President Jammeh highlighted that the second arm of a democratic government everywhere is the legislature, noting that this comprises those that are the people’s representatives and tasked with the numerous responsibilities of making laws to guide the collective conduct of citizens as well as the government.

His government, he said, has always recognized the importance of having in place an effective legislature, adding that the necessity therefore of creating the most conducive of conditions necessary to enhance legislative performance in the country is overwhelming.

He also revealed that the new building will now overcome the difficulty of office space presently encountered at the old site. He noted that in addition to increased sitting capacity not only for members of the National Assembly Members, there is room for members of the wider public.

The design also is a well done masterpiece and one that assures Gambians that it will take hundreds of years before the need could be expressed for another site. He noted that because of its complete nature, it is unlikely that the need would be felt for expansion of the facilities in a hundred years.

The Gambian leader disclosed that when the project is completed, the new edifice will add to the aesthetic beauty of the city of Banjul.

He also said that it will provide an excellent eye-appealing picture of the sky line of the city, and the building will become an elegant edifice, and a source of pride not only for the nation that is being transformed into a modern city state, but also for the multiple visitors that would be attracted to The Gambia and the city of Banjul.

The president then thanked the government and friendly people of India, in particular, the India EXIM Bank for their patronage in providing the requisite multi-million dollar financing towards the construction of what would become an ultra modern National Assembly Complex, “the best perhaps in the entire sub-region of West Africa.”

For her part, Hon. Elizabeth FY Renner, speaker of the National Assembly, commended the timely decision to provide the National Assembly with a new building. According to her, even though the National Assembly is a different arm of government, the President has taken personal interest to make sure that Gambian parliamentarians have a state of the art building comparable to world standards in which to carry out their functions effectively and efficiently.

She said the foundation laying ceremony thus demonstrates President Jammeh’s love and commitment to the development of the Gambian populace.
Renner further posited that this magnificent building after completion will house the various offices of the Hon. Speaker with a waiting /meeting room for VIPs, offices for the majority and minority leaders.

According to her, it will also be a chamber that would accommodate about 400 guests and dignitaries, committee rooms, group offices for parliamentarians, an auditorium with a capacity of 150 persons, a canteen for dining among others. She also noted that it would also be equipped with modern technology for the effective conducting and reporting of sessions, noting that such infrastructure will at last enable the National Assembly to fulfill its international obligation of hosting regional and general conferences.

According to the speaker, parliamentarians have recently developed and validated the strategic development and investment plan of the National Assembly with co-funding from the UNDP to develop the human resource base of the National Assembly.  This she said is keeping in line with the Vision 2020 and with parliamentary best practices.

She said this is also essential especially for members of parliament to acquire the required knowledge and skills in parliamentary procedure to enable them carry out their oversight functions effectively.

“Also with the global emphasis on information societies and the undisputed fact that parliamentarians are shouldered with the task of accessing information globally and of keeping the people in their constituencies well informed of national and global issues, it is essential that they are computer literate and that they acquire adequate computer skills to enable them to network with other parliamentarians worldwide and more importantly, to access other information sources to keep themselves well abreast with global and national issues,” she said.

She added that building the capacity of the NAMs and staff of the National Assembly through a strategic and development plan will ensure that the new assembly building, with its modern facilities would be matched with an invigorated, well informed and skilled human resource base.


 

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