UNC PRO Rodney Charles: Distracting from constitution debate will hurt T&T FOLLOWING IS A PRESS RELEASE ISSUED THIS EVENING: Attempts to blur the facts of the current constitutional reform debate for narrow political purposes will only serve to hurt the citizens and our country, Public Relations Officer of the United National Congress, Rodney Charles has said. Charles was responding to comments by the chairman of the Opposition PNM, Franklin Khan. The UNC party and its various executive arms stand four square behind the Prime Minister and People’s Partnership Government as it begins debate on a Constitutional Reform Bill designed to empower the citizens, by giving them the power to recall MPs, limit Prime Ministers to two terms, and ensure that MPs represent the perspectives of the majority of voters in their constituencies,” Charles said. Charles, also a former UN Permanent Representative, dismissed the Opposition’s claim of surprise, saying: “The matter of Constitutional reform has been engaging the attention of the population for more than 35 years beginning with the Wooding Constitutional Commission Report in 1974, and the Hyatali Constitutional Commission Report 13 years later. We have also had the draft Constitution prepared by Sir Ellis Clarke in 2006 and the draft Constitution based on the Principle of Fairness subsequently.” “And today, what we have are proposals for constitutional reform that comes out of 21 consultations across the country, taking into account the views of citizens, stakeholders, non-government and community organisations and all interested groups. This is why it is distressing is that successive spokespersons from the Opposition have been completely avoiding the facts of the provisions, choosing instead to create fear and panic over very dubious suspicions,” Charles said. Charles added: “What is even more distressing is the fact that the power the Prime Minister is putting into the hands of the people is partly intended to prevent the kinds of abuses of power that have taken place in the past, that the Opposition has been most guilty of.” Pointing to previous PNM Governments, Charles added: “They were the ones who carried on an illegitimate Cabinet for 10 months, without a Parliament to scrutinise the many abuses they carried out using State resources. They are the ones who had a Member of Parliament spending more time outside of Trinidad and Tobago than in, denying the people their right to representation. They are the ones who have consistently caused instability by the threat of snap elections, and took our nation into two snap elections that they lost.” “If what the Opposition is saying is that they do not want controls and checks on such abuses, and their intention is to prevent people from having power over the politicians that would prevent such a flagrant misuse of power, then they must say that in clear words, rather than making up petty arguments as they go along.” Charles said that the constitution debate, so far, has been punctuated by “repeated attempts by Dr Rowley and his party to derail the debate, rather than put forward properly thought out alternatives that the people have had a chance to consider.” “We believe that the Prime Minister and Government must hold strongly to their course for constitutional reform. After 35 years of discussion on reforms, the country has little to show and the people remain powerless with MPs who sometimes visit their constituents only at election time. The march towards stronger democracy will benefit our people and our country’s future andthe interests of democracy will be well served by a healthy debate expected in the Parliament where representatives of the people will be expected to present their cases. If the Opposition wishes to stand against progress as they have always done, that is their prerogative, but they will eventually have to answer to the people of Trinidad & Tobago.”
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 00:23:51 +0000
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