Directors instead of Ministers

THE EDITOR: The topic of the day seems to be the subject of constitutional reform which I am sure the majority of the citizens of this country would fully endorse. In my humble view, the entire existing constitution should be scrapped lock, stock and barrel and rewritten starting at line one, paragraph one, page one. The first item that should be changed is the system of government that presently exists whereby, there are two groups of parliamentary representatives that are firmly dedicated to oppose anything and everything that is tabled for rational consideration, to the detriment of the constituents who voted them into office to seek their best interest.

The mere term “Opposition” seems to imply that members on that side of the House have a sworn duty to disagree or adopt a contrary stand with regard to anything that is tabled for discussion. This situation, whether some people wish to accept it or not, is further aggravated by the fact that the two political parties in question are racially divided between Afro Trinidadian and Indo Trinidadian followers. Notwithstanding that, it is often said that “All of we is one.” The House of Representatives should consist of 36 members each elected by their respective constituents, presided over by an executive president who should be voted into office by the electorate and not appointed by the members of the House as obtains at present.

The President would replace the Speaker of the House who customarily is elected by the government of the day and who, as far as I am aware has always been a prominent member of the ruling party. It is difficult to conceive that a Speaker who is a prominent member of any political party can perform in a free and fair manner without allowing party affiliation to influence his or her decisions. The next item should be the abolition of the Senate, since if 36 adult intelligent men and women working in concert towards the best interest of the citizens cannot arrive at a reasonable and equitable conclusion, it is quite unlikely that another group of individuals will succeed in doing so, especially bearing in mind that there would be no more opposition to contradict and disagree with everything.

Following this, all ministerial posts should be abandoned and replaced by departments headed by a director (not party appointed) who should be a highly qualified experienced person with a commanding knowledge of the department that he or she is to head and with a high degree of managerial skill. The present situation promotes the custom of placing square and rectangular pegs into round holes on the basis of party affiliation with disastrous results and gross incompetence. It has proven impossible so far to engage a shoemaker no matter how good he may be at his particular trade, to successfully manage a business engaged in the manufacture of electronic equipment for example.

An added benefit would be the fact that it would be exceedingly difficult for any parliamentary representative or small group thereof to conspire to defraud the public purse, since each member would be closely scrutinising the actions of the remaining 35. Obviously no politician would agree with any of the above suggestions but the sad alternative is to keep on the present path of inefficiency, waste and corruption and forget about the basic needs of the constituents who voted them into office. At least until the next general election comes around, when they will again solicit the votes of their constituents in exchange for more false and unachievable promises.

MARTIN KAVANAGH
La Romaine