Gaye Sowe and Maria Saine in the National Assembly for it to go through a second and third reading before a referendum is held on the proposed constitution. Several reasons such as the retrospective provision on the introduction of the two-term limit of the office of the president, retirement package for the judges and alleged plagiarism of the Draft Constitution from the Kenyan Constitution as alleged by some members of parliament led to rejection of the Bill in Parliament.30 As of February 2021, there was a possibility of the draft to be re-tabled before the National Assembly; but the two biggest political parties (the United Democratic Party and National Peoples’ Party) could not agree on whether the Draft Constitution should be resubmitted to the National Assembly as drafted, or amendments could be made to it before it is sent back to the National Assembly. 4.1 Proposed changes to the citizenship regime The draft constitution proposed major changes to the citizenship regime of The Gambia including reducing the residency requirement for non-nationals married to Gambians from 7 years to 5 years.31 The 15 years requirement for naturalisation remained the same. The other change with regards to naturalisation was the requirement for naturalised citizens to renounce their other citizenship. This was changed to introduce the reciprocity principle providing that citizens of countries that allow Gambians to retain their Gambian citizenship after they naturalise don’t have to renounce their other citizenship.32 Another notable change is there is no longer a distinction between citizenship by birth and citizenship by descent. Persons born in or outside The Gambia to one Gambian parent or grandparent are all Gambian citizens by birth. The 1997 Constitution only provides for the citizenship of persons either of whose parents was a Gambian citizen at the time of their birth, and also created a restriction on transmission to those born outside The Gambia.33 Children adopted by Gambians can also be registered as Gambian citizens.34 The Draft Constitution also restores the presumption of citizenship for children of unknown parents removed in 2001. Children below 8 years who are found in The Gambia and their parents are not known may also be presumed to be Gambian citizens. The Draft in section 21 also provides for the National Assembly to, inter alia, come up with a law dealing with citizenship of persons born in the country to non-Gambians by a particular date.35 Section 261 of the Draft also proposed the limitation of land ownership rights of nonGambians citizens by providing that there shall be no interest in or right, or a freehold interest over a land in The Gambia for a person who is not a citizen of The Gambia.36 Persons who are not Gambian citizens may acquire and hold land on the basis of lease tenure only and shall not exceed for more than fifty years, according to the Draft. The nationwide public opinion poll conducted in 2019 by the International Republican Institute (IRI) on the content of a new Draft Constitution, illustrated that 81% of the people 30 Vanguard, “Gambian lawmakers rejects draft constitution over 3rd- term clause”, September 24, 2020. Available at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/09/gambian-lawmakers-reject-draft-constitution-over-3rd-term-clause/. Last accessed 16 October 2020. 31 Draft Constitution for the Third Republic of The Gambia, 2020. Section 16. 32 Draft Constitution for the Third Republic of The Gambia, 2020. Section 17. 33 Draft Constitution for the Third Republic of The Gambia, 2020. Section 15. 34 Draft Constitution for the Third Republic of The Gambia, 2020.Section 16. 35 Draft Constitution of the Third Republic of The Gambia, 2020. Section 21. 36 Draft Constitution of the Third Republic of The Gambia, 2020. Section 261. 10 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/7 © 2021 Author(s)