Vincentians attend forum on proposed constitution in New York
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| Published on Thursday, November 19, 2009 |
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NEW YORK, USA -- Vincentian nationals braved inclement weather conditions to participate in a spirited discussion on the proposed new constitution for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the referendum on November 25, 2009. The occasion was a forum presented by the St Vincent and the Grenadines Progressive Organization of New York (SPOONY), and hosted by the Friends of Crown Heights of Prospect Place, Brooklyn, New York on the evening of Saturday, November14, 2009.
The President of SPOONY, Lennox Daniel, welcomed the audience and presented the moderator of the evening’s proceedings, Don Bobb, a popular Vincentian media personality and long-serving United Nations staff member. After the invocation by Pastor Alwyn Craigg and the singing of the national anthems of the United States and St Vincent and the Grenadines, Bobb explained the nature and expectations of the event, and laid out the rules of procedure.
The forum was envisaged and presented as a timely opportunity for members of the New York based Vincentian community to express and discuss their views on the proposed constitution and the upcoming referendum. The format featured a guest presentation, followed by a panel discussion, questions and comments from members of the audience.
The organizers invited four presenters each from the supporters of the ‘yes’ vote being promoted by the Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration, and proponents of a ‘no’ vote, led by the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP). Two from the ‘yes’ side declined the invitation. A third did not show up. Only Maxwell Haywood, a national of St Vincent and the Grenadines and a senior official with the UN Secretariat in New York, turned up from ‘yes’ vote invitees.
All four of the ‘no’ vote proponents, Linton Lewis, who travelled to New York specially for the event, Kingsley CA Layne and Dennie M Wilson, former Ambassador to the US and Permanent Representative to the UN respectively, and Claude Leach, a teacher and lawyer, were in attendance.
In his introduction of the guest speaker, Linton Lewis, the moderator emphasized his practical and wide-ranging involvement in development in SVG. Teacher, footballer, professional cricketer, calypsonian, and civil servant, Lewis is a chartered accountant and holds a Ph.D in International Law from the University of Durham in England. He was responsible for the computerization of the National Commercial Bank of SVG, and served as Director of the government’s offshore financial regulatory authority. Lewis is an attorney in private practice, and lectures part time in the University of Durham’s external program in SVG. He is Chairman of the NDP, and is a leading spokesman of the party on constitutional and legal matters.
Lewis gave a comprehensive overview of the proposed constitution, and meticulously explained the reasons for the ‘no’ vote campaign being championed by the NDP. He compared some of the provisions included in the current 1979 Independence Constitution and their inclusion in the guiding principles section of the proposed constitution, where they do not have the gravitas and authority of enforceable law. Lewis dealt at length with a number of critical issues: like the direct election, by the people, of the Head of State, with real power to act in his own deliberate judgement, in certain specific areas, instead of a purely ceremonial President, elected by the parliamentary majority party, with rubber stamp authority; Parliament should not be increased to twenty-seven (27) members from the current twenty-one (21), at a time of statistically declining population figures; Fair compensation of persons for property acquired by the government i.e at least current market value; Objections to the omnipotence of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission in the proposed constitution, where its decisions cannot be challenged in a court of law, thereby having the potential to perpetuate the life of an unpopular government in office by fraud and other undemocratic practices; Representatives should be accountable to electors in their constituencies, not the speaker in parliament; an unnecessary number of commissions, which do not enhance the efficacy of the document or the well-being of citizens; Failure to advance the establishment of a meritocracy in the public sector; The proposed constitution does nothing to effectively diminish the power of the Prime Minister, a stated objective of the constitutional review exercise. Lewis received a prolonged standing ovation after his address.
The panelists each gave five minute presentations, beginning with Maxwell Haywood, who emphasized the importance of the constitution review exercise and the unique opportunity it provided to complete a defining and historic journey through our collective experience of slavery, exploitation, and colonialism, to full political independence and psychological emancipation. He said that after long deliberation he agreed to participate, not as a promoter of any side of the raging debate of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the proposed constitution, but as a proud citizen of SVG whose motivation is primarily the best interests of his native land. Haywood expressed disappointment that the discussion had become a debate along political lines, and called for assurance from the NDP that should the ‘no’ vote succeed in the November 25 referendum, they will not abandon the constitution review project but continue to engage the people in focused public discussion, with a view of producing a primary document of which all Vincentians can be justly proud.
Ambassador Dennie Wilson spoke of the traditional disinterest of successive Labour Party administrations in the development of the Grenadines. The former Speaker of the House of Assembly in a Labour controlled parliament emphasized that SVG is a unitary state, that “ SVG is, not SVG are!” He deplored the imposition of a surcharge by the ULP regime on travel to and from the Grenadines. Ambassador Wilson declared that this was a highly discriminatory act against the people of the islands. He also spoke about the blatant and exclusive use of public money to promote the ‘yes’ vote at a time of national financial crisis. The UN Permanent Representative, who hails from Union Island in the Grenadines, called for a resounding ‘ NO’ to the proposed constitution.
Ambassador K.C.A Layne told the gathering that he could not promise them to be apolitical in such a matter as the creation of the primary legal document providing the framework for political activity in the country. Ambassador Layne said that in spite of greatly diminished public respect for the vocation, in his opinion, politics still provided the greatest opportunity to really contribute to the equitable and harmonious development of the country in the interest of all the people. He reflected on the work of former leaders, like the country’s first Chief Minister, Ebenezer Theodore Joshua and the Peoples Political Party, and the first Prime Minister, R Milton Cato, and the original St Vincent Labour Party. He said that they inspired his commitment to national development through political engagement. The former Ambassador to the US, UN and the OAS, stressed the importance of extreme vigilance to ensure the complete integrity of the Referendum exercise. He said that both proponents and objectors of the proposed constitution have virtually completed their public information programs, and that it is only now left for the people of the country to speak with their votes. He stated that any attempt to interfere with the free, fair and transparent conduct of the exercise is a crime against generations of Vincentians, from colonization, slavery, through emancipation, the attainment of universal adult suffrage in 1951, and full political independence in 1979.
Claude Leach, a former Manager of the Development Corporation and a native of Bequia, did not sit on the panel, in view of the non-appearance of three invited speakers representing the ‘yes’ vote group. He, however, spoke briefly during the discussion period, and drew attention to the issue of neglect and cynicism of the ULP government towards the people of the Grenadines, a point earlier expounded by Ambassador Wilson in his presentation.
When the discussion was opened for audience participation the panelists had to deal with some straight, honest, and incisive questions and comments eg: (1) In 2001 the ULP was swept into office on a platform based on the promise to advance Accountability, Transparency, and Good Governance. Given the current dismal state-of-affairs in SVG today, would you agree that the ULP administration has now been reduced to a failed experiment in Accountability, Transparency and Good Governance? (2) Does the NDP have an alternative constitution like the Republican alternative health plan in the US Congress? (3) Why should naturalized Vincentians with US citizenship be disqualified from election to parliament in their native land, and their US born progeny not? (4) If the government decides what it will pay a citizen for his or her property, what recourse does the citizen have to seek redress?
Questions like these engendered much discussion in the interactive session which went way past the designated closing time. After closing prayers by Pastor Craigg, the general vote of thanks was given by the Vice-President of SPOONY, Vincent Bacchus. Discussion and conversation continued informally after the closing at a number of small group gatherings in homes and other places. | | | | Reads : 876 | | | |
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