‘Over my dead body’

“I give you the assurance that it will be over my dead body before they remove the Privy Council,” Persad-Bissessar promised members attending the United National Congress (UNC) National Assembly on Saturday at Rienzi Complex in Couva.

Persad-Bissessar was referring to a draft proposal for a new constitution laid in Parliament on Friday in which it was proposed that the Privy Council be replaced by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Firmly stating that the UNC was against the removal of the Privy Council, she said, “You could imagine Mr (Basdeo) Panday have to go to CCJ to appeal.” On the issue of the appointment of an Executive President instead of a Prime Minister, Persad-Bissessar said the draft was designed to put more power in the hands of Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

She declared, “If we must get an Executive President it must be by a one man, one vote system.”

The Executive President must never be Manning. If I have my way the Executive President must be Basdeo Panday.”

Expressing similar views as Persad-Bissessar, former attorney general, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, told members that Constitutional reform was not relevant at this time since the General Election was less than 12 months away.

“The pressing issues are crime, rising food prices, wastage of money and health care,” Maharaj said, adding that “Manning was using the Constitution to shield himself from the real issues.”

In condemning the proposed removal of the Privy Council, Maharaj warned: “People will have no individual rights. We have to first fix our national justice system and the public must have confidence in the justice system before you can think about abolishing the Privy Council.”

In his capacity as President of the Civil Rights Association, Maharaj said he was exploring the option of inviting a team from the Congressional Com-mittee of the US Congress to examine whether the prosecution process in Trinidad and Tobago was being used as a political tool against those who oppose the Government.