Following is a statement from Dr Merle Hodge on the Constitution Amendment Bill. Thank you for your service Merle. Government Dishonesty about Run-Off Proposal My concern with the run-off proposal is not so much where it first appeared; at this point I don’t care. My concern is how the population has reacted to it. Many people are offended and alarmed by this particular item, and a democratic government would take heed, rather than respond with bad-john defiance to a week of widespread objection. 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. Further discussions were held at a meeting on July 9, 2014. Myself and another Commissioner were absent from that meeting. I had other longstanding commitments for the July-August period. Notes from that meeting were circulated on July 13 for review and comment. That was my first introduction to the run-off idea. I did not warm to the idea of thousands of votes being cancelled, and I pointed to this as part of my feedback. I did not see the red flags at the time, for the idea was developed with cogent arguments supported by concrete evidence (sections 46-57). I don’t know where the run-off idea came from; but I have never had any reason not to trust the expertise and the good intentions of the CRC member who was our resource person in constitutional matters. Again, I gave my consent to the document, and again, I take responsibility for all of its contents. This confidential document, addressed exclusively to the Prime Minister in mid-July 2014, is the one that became, on the morning of Friday, August 8, the “Addendum to the Constitution Reform Report”. It was never published and disseminated as the Report was. The run-off provision did not come from the people, and it was never revealed to the people before Monday, August 4, 2014, one week before it was to be debated in the Parliament. It is therefore dishonest to claim that the people were consulted on this provision, especially as the government is turning a deaf ear to what the people are saying about it during that week. Were we “handsomely paid”, Mr. AG, for us to be silent on this kind of dishonesty? Very unfortunate comment, Mr. AG, for it suggests that your government pays professionals not for their work, but to buy their acquiescence. You must know that you will never be able to buy everybody. As for the convoluted gossip that the AG has made up about me and the COP 2014 internal elections and Mr. Dookeran and my speaking on a COP platform in 2010 (yes I did – it is not a secret – but what does that have to do with constitution reform?) – all of this only further discredits the AG, not me. The AG seems unable to sustain a logical and reasoned level of debate. He descends very quickly into personalized disrespect and vilification. Very immature behaviour, Mr. AG. God help our children looking on. Merle Hodge
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 01:31:01 +0000