MSJ writes open letter to COP and TOP MPs: Dear Member of Parliament, This is an open letter to you as you were elected to the Parliament on either the Congress of the People (COP) or the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) ticket in May 2010. We are publicly calling on you to seriously consider the effects of the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill 2014. Given the history of the Section 34 it is not unwarranted that the population would seek proper ventilation of controversial pieces of legislation as the level of trust by citizens of the Peoples Partnership government is very low. It would be against the norms of social justice to have this piece of legislation in its current form debated in the confines of the Parliament rather than among those whom it would affect the most; we the people. The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) therefore takes this opportunity to state that this is one issue where the interests of the country must come before all else and to insist that you vote against this piece of legislation. In the past it would have been arguable as minority partners, with the United National Congress (UNC) having 21 seats in the Parliament, that in the case of a vote requiring a simple majority your hands would be tied and a rejection of the majority position would have no material effect on the outcome of the passage of legislation. That condition has since changed and the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the minority partners to reject this Bill. With only nineteen (19) remaining seats, the UNC does not have enough votes to pass this Bill on its own. In that regard it is the COP and TOP which will be held to account by the public for imposing this Constitutional Amendment Bill upon the population. It is to be noted that the TOP’s miscalculation of public discord for the current administration cost the party any stake which it had in Tobago in last year’s Tobago House of Assembly elections. Many sections of the population have expressed concern about different aspects of the proposed Bill with most of the emphasis placed on the “Run off ballot” provision. In fact public scepticism has been bolstered in light of statements from two respected members of the Constitution Reform Commission (CRC) who come from civil society — women’s rights activist Dr Merle Hodge and Tobagonian hotelier Mr. Carlos Dillon - who have publicly called for the debate to be stopped. It should be obvious to all that it is untenable in a democracy to have a Government attack an opposing view as has been done in such a crass manner by the Attorney General. Dr Merle Hodge has had to send out two releases in an attempt to counter the pronouncements of the AG. In the last statement Dr Hodge in defending herself against unwarranted attacks states: “But since the government’s strategy includes trying to make me a liar by putting out this “addendum” story, I will have to forget honour, and breach confidentiality in order to clear myself. I do this with great reluctance. Up until Friday, August 8, 2014, at 10.17 a.m., the purported “addendum”, which contains the run-off proposal, was an internal document, tagged “Private and confidential. NOT FOR CIRCULATION”. That document did not then bear the title “Addendum to the Constitution Reform Report”. It had grown out of a meeting held on April 30, 2014, at which the CRC discussed and agreed to some proposals selected from the Report, to be taken to Parliament. The run-off proposal was not there, because it was not in the Report. “ The complete details of the positions of the Movement for Social Justice are attached for your consideration. We find ourselves once again at a fork in the road as a nation and the inadequacy of our systems are yet again proving to be a major hindrance to facilitating genuine democracy. Indeed the irony of a totalitarian approach to implement a Bill touted as an enhancement to our democracy ought not to be lost on you. We find as appalling the tactics by the Attorney General to bully the population into accepting these proposals. It is even more damning when the AG is on record having lied about the origins of the run-off ballot proposal in the Bill. The AG has seen no problem in trying to secure political points in a situation where all moral authority has already been surrendered. Lest you be concerned about whether you are bound by Government policy or Partnership Manifesto, we wish to assure you that while the Manifesto (which was approved as Government Policy) speaks specifically to being committed to amending the Constitution to provide for (a) term limits for a Prime Minister and (b) the right of recall; there was absolutely no reference, indeed absolutely no consideration of anything remotely resembling the ”run off” provision. You are therefore completely free to vote against this provision. Furthermore as Dr. Hodge has stated, there was neither public proposal nor any serious discussion within the CRC of such a proposal. It came like a thief in the night. In light of our request for you to state what is your position (WYP) the COP and TOP can now demonstrate to the public the true nature of the coalition that is the People’s Partnership. As stated before with the UNC having only 19 votes in the Parliament passage of the Bill can only be achieved through consent by its partners. If all faith is lost in our politicians’ commitment to their duties to subserve the common good then we risk losing a generation to apathy and cynicism. The country has sunk to its lowest and the sense of hopelessness has all but consumed us. Even in this dark moment there is an opportunity to be seized. The COP in particular has articulated a policy which is diametrically opposed to what is to be debated. Surely no member of the COP can in good conscience vote for such a Bill. The Movement for Social Justice once again demands that the COP and TOP Members of Parliament do the right thing, by your conscience and for your country. This Bill can and must be defeated in the Parliament because rest assured it has already been defeated in the court of public opinion. This is not Section 34 - your eyes are wide open and there will be no absconding from the responsibility of your action whichever way you decide to cast your vote. The nation awaits.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 20:44:11 +0000
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