GOVERNANCE
Professor Barrow-Giles said what currently exists is an exclusive electoral system that hurts the opposition and citizens, one in which the votes of all citizens do not count for the same. “For the most part, based on experience and observation of the double standards, partisan-driven public pronouncements, and often legal instruments, I argue that in the absence of constitutional certainties, we cannot be assured that the political class will do the right thing at all times and not resort to political expediency. I believe that the political class is motivated primarily by self-interest, and for that reason, I prefer to speak of constitutional guarantees that will guillotine attempts to manipulate the parliament for instance. I prefer to leave little to the capriciousness of that class and opt instead for certainties. “Equally important is the need to include the political opposition even though such inclusion is not undergirded by any intrinsic belief in bipartisanship, because such bipartisanship is clearly a mechanism inbuilt into the constitution for securing constitutional change except where, of course, there is not a requirement for a referendum. Where this is absent in the final outcome of our constitutional rebuilding efforts, we are merely doomed to a repeat of the all-too-familiar path of abuses and dysfunctionalities.” u
T urning her attention to the matter of no-confidence motions, Professor Barrow-Giles described the approach taken by some governments as deeply flawed and said the process was a caricature of the Westminster system of governance. As examples, she pointed to St. Kitts and Nevis where there was a prolonged dispute over a no-confidence motion and questions of the illegitimacy of the Government, a similar occurrence in 2012 in Grenada under then Prime Minister Tillman Thomas and in Guyana in 2018. In contrast, she said Britain amended its constitution to fix the term of office of the parliament and to provide for dissolution under the conditions of a no-confidence motion in the Government and when a two- thirds majority in parliament agreed it was in the best interest of the nation to take such action. “The time has certainly come for the Caribbean to do likewise and to prevent such undemocratic tendencies. If we fail to deal decisively with such matters during this constitutional moment offered to us by the revisiting of our constitutions, which is triggered primarily by the transition of Barbados to a Republic, the reparations narrative, the declining interest in the British sovereign, Windrush and its fallout, we will continue to face the potential threat of despotic power.”
She stated that there was a need to have “the necessary checks on the political elite that would stay their inclination towards dictatorial behaviour” . She went on to suggest, “We need to insert into our Constitution some minimalist restraints on this too powerful individual [Prime Minister]. We need these constitutional guarantees. These will not unduly fetter a Prime Minister but will serve to build into the system the kinds of ex-post behavioural mechanisms that are shockingly absent in constitutions which are, after all, not first-generation Westminster constitutions but second-generation.”
CHILL NEWS 109
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