Citizens Do NOT Rule TT - They Can’t Unless They Vest Sovereignty in Themselves

The PM in his Republic Day message called on all citizens “to take stock of what is going on in parliamentary sittings” and pay attention “specifically to the way this representation is exercised in the Parliament “.
The basis for the PM’s appeal is that “A Republican form of Government is a system whereby citizens rule through their elected representatives.”. Based on this premise, he continued, “We cannot hold our leaders to account if we are ignorant to the quality of their representation”.
Our experience, as citizens, of Parliament and of Parliamentary Representatives since Independence and Republican status 14 years later, calls into question the whole argument advanced by the PM in his message.
Questions to be Answered
Reality imposes some questions which we must answer: Do Citizens Rule? Do MP’s Represent Citizens (Electors)?
Since the 1990’s when candidate walkabouts were becoming fashionable, I have asked every candidate 2 questions:

1. If you are elected, how will you know what we are thinking about the things you debate in Parliament?
2. If we are not satisfied with what you are saying or doing as MP, what can we do about you?

Here are some answers I got:
1996:  Those are party matters.  2001:   You can come to the (party) office and discuss them.
Well, in 5 years, not much improved, and it hasn’t since. At least the second candidate contemplated the possibility of discussing my concerns. But, at his convenience and at his party’s office.
In all my life, I have never encountered a Parliamentary Representative calling a meeting of electors (whom he is supposed to represent) to discuss any piece of legislation that his/her party was taking to Parliament.
 Some Opposition MP’s have had meetings with constituents about Government legislation which they oppose. But, that is not very often.
Generally, Parliamentarians do NOT represent citizens. They represent their parties in Parliament. What they put on the Order Paper is decided by their party and what they say is decided by their party caucus. How they vote is directed by their party whip and their Political Leader.
What Parliamentarians say in Parliament, as a rule, is not based on any discussion with or decision by citizens.
Nor is it a regular feature of political life that an MP reports to or renders any account for what he/she does in any forum of the electors of the constituency of which he/she is Parliamentary Representative.
There is no requirement for either consultation or reporting in the provisions of the Constitution. None existed before 1976 and none have been included since.
Even Local Government representatives tell burgesses that they can attend statutory meetings which are generally at an inconvenient time and even if a citizen goes, they are merely spectators.
The “Conversations with the Prime Minister” conducted by this PM or street political party meetings to “account to the people” organised by his predecessor, Manning, do not amount to either genuine consultations or accounting between Elected Parliamentarians and Electors.
In my experience, I know of few Local Government Councilors who held regular meetings with their burgesses.
In my constituency, my last Opposition MP for Arouca Maloney held some meetings with constituents mainly to oppose projects proposed by the Government.
I share this example. The Government proposed to locate a Family Court in our community in an area with mostly commercial properties located nearby. The MP mounted a campaign to oppose such a Court arguing that it would lower residents’ property values and that criminals would be in our community.
 What the MP did not say was that the Family Court in Port of Spain is located on Cipriani Boulevard and property values in that area have neve fallen, nor are criminals roaming that neighbourhood.
The end result is that with her party now in Government, the site for the Family Court is now the location for the construction of a second major mall in the Trincity area.
So, as it turns out, the MP’s ‘representation’ was for the interests of the owners of the new mall who do not even belong to the constituency and not for the interests of the citizens she was elected to represent.
When the PM says that “A Republican form of Government is a system whereby citizens rule through their elected representatives” the basis of his position is completely false.
Political parties represent interests, but, those are the interests of the propertied and moneyed minority and not the citizens of the constituencies.
NO Control by Electors
No matter how much attention we pay to Parliamentary proceedings, what is said there does not come from us and if we are dissatisfied with what our so-called representatives say or how they vote, there is NOTHING we can do about it.
Wait till the next election and vote them out that is what they will tell us and that is all our Constitution permits.
We have no control, as Electors over Elected Representatives at national or local levels.
In 2014, in the first major attempt to amend our Republican Constitution, after a very well-attended consultative process, a Bill to amend the Constitution went to Parliament. Included in that Bill was a provision to introduce the Right of Recall of Elected Representatives by Electors.
That was the first attempt to begin to give Electors some level of control over the Elected.
Sadly, that Bill was rejected by 41 MPs whether they were for or against voted based on their party or individual positions because NOT A SINGLE ONE of the ever discussed the contents of that important Bill with their constituents.
The Opposition voted Against. Some Government MPs voted Against or Abstained because they did not agree with a Run-Off clause that was included by the UNC because they feared Jack Warner’s ILP.
The bottom line is that, without a single MP, acting based on the opinion of his/her constituents (citizens), the citizens were denied the Right of Recall and any measure of control over the very same Parliamentary Representatives.
So, when the PM in his Republic Day message says that “We cannot hold our leaders to account if we are ignorant to the quality of their representation” (by paying attention to what they say or do in Parliament), he is being less than faithful as a representative.
He knows full well that there is no mechanism for holding our representative to account. He and his party voted introducing even the Right of Recall in 2015.
No Role in Decision-making
The PM concluded his message with this statement:” A truly Republican state requires the involvement of all us working together to protect and maintain the fundamental human rights and freedoms that have been entrenched in the Constitution”.
What he did not say is that our Republican Constitution does NOT give the majority of the society, its citizens, any role or involvement in decision-making about all matters that affect their lives and that affect their Rights and Freedoms entrenched in the Constitution.
Parliamentarians and Local Government Representatives are not required to represent the views of those they are supposed to represent; nor are they accountable to them.
By his statement about a ‘truly Republican state’, the PM has unwittingly confirmed that apart from removing the Queen as Head of State and having a ceremonial President with ‘powers you think I have, I don’t’, our Republican Constitution has not vested sovereignty in the citizens of this country, but in the Cabinet and Parliament.
The parties in the Parliament and their MPs do NOT represent the citizens but represent their parties and the interests they do serve.
What this, and our experience, tells us is that after 56 years of Independence and 42 years of Republican status, our Constitution still does not vest sovereignty or decision-making power in the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
Our project Independence and nation-building project has a lot to do to put sovereign control of our affairs in the hands of the people.
We must strive even harder to create a Constitution based on 21st century definitions of Rights, of sovereignty, of power and accountability if we are to accomplish the goals of 1962 and create a “truly Republican state” as described by the PM in his Republic Day message.
 
Clyde Weatherhead
A Citizen Fighting for
Democratic Renewal of
Our Society
24 September 2018
 

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