Calls for Proportional Representation

THE population believes that any Government of Trinidad and Tobago could use the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) to rig general elections in their favour and the Constitution must be amended to prevent this from ever happening. According to the Opposition UNC, this is just one of the concerns raised by members of the public at a constitutional reform forum the party held at the Granville Community Centre on Saturday. The UNC claimed the CSME should allow for the free movement of persons working within the Caribbean, but “checks and balances need to be placed in the Constitution to prevent voter-padding via the CSME.

The UNC also said the Senate and House of Representatives should be merged into “one House of  Parliament” and the first-past-the-post electoral system should be replaced by one of proportional representation. The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) should be supported to act impartially with respect to the electorate and new boundaries should be established so that each elected person would represent a manageable size of no more than 15,000 persons. The UNC said Senators should be elected while the House Speaker and Senate President should be independent. The Opposition added that persons who did not face the electorate “should not be allowed to hold the post of Minister within the Government.” Service Commissions were viewed as “being too cozy with the executive arm of the Government” and there was a need for greater accountability from these Commissions, with the State having the ultimate power to dismiss them if necessary.

The UNC also believed that there should be an executive president, with the prime minister coming from the opposition party. Greater accountability was also demanded of police officers and teachers. Both should be fired if they fail to meet certain standards of performance. The UNC said there was a need for social reform programmes and methods to deal with the negative effects of polarisation among ethnicities and class groupings. The UNC said it would hold 53 further meetings throughout the country and these recommendations will form part of a working document that will be used as the basis for its position on constitutional reform in TT. The next meeting takes place in Charlotteville, Tobago.