By Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ
On Wed 29 January 2014, I attended a meeting at which the Acting Prime Minister, Hon. Prakash Ramadhar, presented copies of the Report from the Commission which conducted the National Consultation on Constitutional Reform. CCSJ had submitted to the Commission, written recommendations which had been approved by Archbishop Joseph Harris.
Hon. Prakash Ramadhar, Minister of Legal Affairs, chaired the Commission for Constitutional Reform which was launched on Sat 2 March, 2013. Members of the Commission were: Dr Hamid Ghany, Justice Amrika Tiwary-Reddy, Carlos Dillon and Dr Merle Hodge. Justice Sebastian Ventour, who had been appointed, resigned when he became a member of the Integrity Commission.
The Commission, during its tenure, held 19 consultations and received written, oral and email submissions. On Thurs 30 January a copy of the Report was included in the 3 main Newspapers in TT. It is offered to members of the public for comment and criticism.” It can be downloaded from the Ministry’s website. 60,000 copies have been printed so hard copies are also available from the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
At the meeting last Wednesday, the Acting PM stated that the People’s Partnership had promised in its manifesto that the Constitution would be changed and action would be taken to ensure that this is done in the Coalition’s first term.
The report comprises: Executive Summary, Introduction, Chapter 1: Preliminary, Chapter 2: Rewording the Preamble, Chapter 3: Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, Chapter 4: The Head of State, Chapter 5: Reforming the Parliament, Chapter 6: Reforming the Executive, Chapter 7: Reforming the Public Service, Chapter 8: Reforming the Institutions and Processes of Scrutiny, Chapter 9: The Judiciary, Chapter 10: The New Constitution and its effect on Political Culture, and The Constitution Commissioners (bio data).
Some of CCSJ’s recommendations have been included as recommendations in the Report. CCSJ recommends that the entire report be read in its entirety to fully appreciate the issues arising out of the consultations. The following refer mainly to the Recommendations relating to each Chapter of our current Constitution.
Recommendations relating to:
Chapter Two: Rewording The Preamble:
- “The wording of the Preamble of our Constitution should not eliminate any reference to God.”
Concerns that non-believers felt excluded led to the inclusion of a recommendation that states: “b. The Preamble should be amended to provide a sense of inclusion as opposed to a feeling of anyone being excluded.”
Note also that ‘c’ in this Chapter states: “The Preamble should include a statement about the protection of the environment.” This is a key social justice issue.
Chapter Three: Fundamental Rights and Freedoms:
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CCSJ had recommended that a provision for the fundamental “right to life from conception” be entrenched in Chapter 1, Part 1 of our Constitution – as Sir Ellis Clarke had done in a draft that had been prepared by him some time ago. CCSJ had also recommended that capital punishment should be abolished. Although the report notes that there were submissions such as these, it recommends that this Chapter “should not be altered.”
The report recommends that “The issue of sexual orientation and human rights should be made the subject of further national discussion and public education.”
Chapter Five: Reforming the Parliament:
The following, with some alterations, were recommended by CCSJ and have been included in the Report’s recommendations:
g. Members of the House of Representatives should not be eligible to be appointed Ministers.
i. Members of the House of Representatives should be subject to the right of recall by their constituents, after the expiration of three years and not during the fifth year.
l. There should be fixed dates for general elections.
m. There should be a limit of two consecutive terms for the Office of Prime Minister unless that is a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to remove the Prime Minister.
n. The Prime Minister ought to be able to return after the intervention of the term of some other person as Prime Minister.
CCSJ had recommended the introduction of some form of Proportional Representation. The Report recommends that the President should continue to appoint Independent senators but the rest of the Senate should be elected by the Hare Method, through proportional representation.
It is noted that some of the recommendations in this Section with regard to Parliament, will allow MPs time to focus on their constituencies and should facilitate proper oversight of members who are elected to represent their constituencies.
Of note are key changes in the Executive: Chapter Six: Reforming the Executive:
The report proposes that Cabinet, drawn from the Senate, should consist of the Prime Minister, deputy Prime Minister, Attorney General, ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs and National Security, and a limited number of other ministers drawn from the elected senators. The deputy Prime Minister should be appointed from elected senators by the President, on advice from the Prime Minister.
Chapter Seven: Reforming the Public Service: CCSJ had recommended, based on the CST principle of “subsidiarity”, that Constitutional provisions should be included to promote a more just and equitable relationship between Central and Local Government. The report recommends that: “There should be constitutional recognition of local government, as well as provision for fixed dates for the election of local government councils.
At the end, the Commission makes it clear that its approach was simply to make recommendations after the Consultation process, as opposed to drafting an actual constitution, since this would require resources that were not available to the Commission.
