Federal Details

Mar 06, 2011 Features / Columnists, Ravi Dev

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It is noteworthy that Kenya, which recently enacted a new constitution after a tragic bout of inter-ethnic political violence, included federalist principles as well as the principle of representative disciplined forces. Without constitutionally enshrined power delineations, central governments will never concede competencies to local government.
The following proposals may answer questions on last week’s article, “Federalist Power Sharing”.

(A) The Future State

Q1: What will be the jurisdictional parameters of the central government in the areas of legislation, executive authority and judicial competence?
A: The federal government will have exclusive executive and legislative competence over Defence, Currency (Central Bank), Banking, Foreign Affairs, Federal Elections, Census and regulation of Trade and Commerce. The federal government will also have concurrent competence over a specified number of other areas. The Supreme Court will be a Federal body and will act as the Constitutional Court with the power of Judicial Review.
Q2: What office will embody the sovereign authority of this entity and how will that office be filled?
A: Sovereignty will reside in the people and will be delegated to the organs of Federal and the State/Counties [Executive, Legislature and Judiciary] as specified in the Constitution with all residual powers resting with the states. The Executive and Legislative branches will be filled through elections while the Judiciary will be appointed.
Q3: Will the concept underlying the allocation and exercise of state power be devolutionary, contributory or co-equal as between this state and its constituent units?
A: Co-Equal. In Federalism we envisage power to be “non-centralized” rather than “decentralized”, since the latter implies a hierarchical relationship.
Q4: How will the exercise of state power, as between the central and peripheral foci of authority be mediated and balanced?
A: There will be institutionalized meetings between the President [head of the Federal Govt.], and the State/County Governors in addition to the specific-purpose commissions that will coordinate the operation of concurrent powers.
Q5: How will conflictual situations between inclusive units be resolved and how will the envisaged mechanism be created, composed and activated?
A: The Supreme Court will have the power of Judicial Review. The members of this body will be nominated by the President and confirmed by a majority vote of the Upper House of the Legislature.

B: The Component Units

Q1: Will these units be defined by geographic boundaries?
A: Yes. These will be Berbice, Demerara. Essequibo and Rupununi (which will consist of regions 8 and 9 from the present Essequibo).
Q2: What methodology is being proposed for use in effecting the demarcation of these boundaries?
A: The boundaries are already demarcated.
Q3: How is it proposed to obtain consensual and universal acceptance of these proposed boundaries?
A: The concept will have to be voted on by the populace.
Q4: How will residency in, and movement between, the component units be regulated?
A: To become a resident of a particular county one would have had to be in continuous residence there for one year. Movement between the counties will be free.
Q5: Will these units be sovereign? Will they have the right to secede from the inclusive conglomerate?
A: In all Federal States sovereignty is shared between the Federal and constituent States/Counties. The latter, for instance, will have concurrent competence in education. They will not have the right of secession.
Q6: What rights will persons who do not belong to the dominant ethnic group in any proposed component unit have there? How will their rights be protected and be made enforceable?
A: All citizens of Guyana will have equal rights under federal and state laws. These rights will be secured through constitutionally justifiable clauses effectuated through a Federal Race Relations Boards and Equal Opportunity Act etc.
Q7: Is it proposed that functions such as policing, education, health policy, trade and commerce regulation will be vested in these proposed units?
A: Policing will be concurrent between the Federal and State governments, Education will be exclusive to the State/Counties while the latter two items will be exclusive to the Federal Government.
Q8: What is proposed regarding the political classification of urban areas of Georgetown and New Amsterdam where the determination of ethnic predominance might be problematic?
A: Cities, Municipalities and towns, through the constituency method of voting for the state assemblies and the Federal Upper House should be able to articulate and represent specific ethnic interest.
Q9: What is the projected fate of normally centralized functions such as maintenance of registry of births, deaths, national identities, passports and vehicles?
A: Issuance and control of passports and national identity cards would be exclusively Federal functions while the others would be state functions, with the Federal government being supplied with the necessary data for national reporting or analyses.
Q10: Will revenue collection be divested to these proposed units in relation to customs, excise and income tax levies? If not, what rationale is proposed for use in effecting the distribution of such tax revenues to the federating units?
A: The three identified revenue authorities will be under concurrent jurisdiction, with the Federal share allocated under a formula which allows that entity the wherewithal to perform its constitutionally delegated functions. For Customs collections, the remainder of the revenues will be distributed to the county where the goods are destined, for excise, from where they originate and for income tax to where the individual resides.

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