Keeping constitutional reform on the national agenda

The House of Assembly, at its sitting at the end of June, approved the establishment of a Steering Committee to help to give further impetus to the five-year old Constitutional Review process in St Vincent and the Grenadines. This Committee is in reality not a new entity but rather a slimmed down version of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) which has completed its original work and reported to Parliament.{{more}} It provides continuity in personnel in that all the members were part of the larger body and like the CRC, has the backing of both sides of our Parliament.

The rationale for setting up such a continuation body lies in the necessity to intensify the debate and public discussion on the proposals for constitutional reform generated by activities of the CRC thus far. That body, well spread over the various sectors of civil society, not only spent countless hours in internal discussion and debate, but generated much public interaction by a series of consultations not only throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines but also in the Vincentian Diaspora. The debate therefore touched Sandy Bay, Union Island and Chateaubelair as much as it did Luton and Reading in the UK, Washington and New York, Toronto and Edmonton, Barbados, Trinidad and Tortola.

Yet, as impressive as these sound, only the tip of the iceberg has been touched, the surface has just been scratched. Having aroused the initial stirrings, we cannot allow the process to slip into abeyance. While we welcome the reactions to the CRC’s proposals by citizens as expressed in the media, the print media in particular, they do not reflect an adequate level of public debate on such an important subject. In addition a good deal of comment has been directed more on the peripheral issues than on the core proposals themselves. We run the risk of relegating the constitutional reform process to a third-or-fourth rate ranking, not kept in public focus or given priority attention.

The danger is that when Parliament finally sets its seal on the process and adopts, by whatever means it chooses, a Draft Constitution, then we, the citizens are going to be called to exercise our duty to approve or reject it in a referendum. For many of us, the very term ‘referendum’ is akin to Greek. We have had no history of it, certainly in SVG, and only limited experience in the Caribbean. That, in itself, is a challenge. Our experience of voting has been related mainly to Parliamentary elections, local government having been abolished for over three decades now. Will our citizens be sufficiently motivated to come out and vote on a document or will we have only a minority bothering to make the effort?

To a large degree a lot would depend on the attitude of our political parties and the level of enthusiasm that they can generate among their members and supporters. But, judging from what has happened so far, on a purely party basis, there is not much room for optimism. Save for the two maximum political leaders, the response of the rest of the political leadership has been lukewarm at best. I can’t recall any of the Party Conventions holding any serious debate on Constitutional Reform nor any enthusiastic Resolution of support. Fortunately the consensus in favour of the reform process has held together thus far but in a climate of growing political polarisation, who is to say what will happen should this atmosphere continue to degenerate? Will we face a referendum on purely partisan lines?

Our political institutions therefore have a grave responsibility both to their members and supporters and the country as a whole. Constitutional reform must become an essential part of the political diet. I am confident that such an approach will provide rich dividends in terms not only of the proposals which would emanate therefrom, but also in helping to galvanize the national debate and lift our political focus above the narrow partisan limits to a broader national perspective.

In the shaping of a national consensus, the Constitutional Review Steering Committee has now to play a critical role, extending and deepening the debate, sharpening the focus, widening the scope. It must in itself be able to infuse the nation, and the Diaspora, with the enthusiasm that participation in the process, is not just a solemn duty or national responsibility, but that it is desirable, rewarding and intrinsically bound with the direction of the development of our nation. No easy task this. For it to be successful it requires not just the formal blessing of the Parliament and good wishes of the public but every bit of institutional and organizational support it can get in order to make it work and the process itself touch the lives of all our citizens.

We have an opportunity to blaze a new trail in our constitutional development, to use the reform process to impact positively on our political and social development. Let us all make use of it.