Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Prorogued Parliament exposes need for constitutional reform
…provisions being used for the wrong reasons – Trotman
By Gary Eleazar
The decision to prorogue the Guyana Parliament is provided for in the Guyana Constitution but the time has come
Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman
when there is need to have a re-look and overhaul.
This is the view held by Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman, who said that in recent times, politicians have time and again been made to confront provisions that have never been previously used or are now being used for the wrong reasons.
“We are due for a constitutional overhaul,” according to Trotman.
When Trotman officially informed the members of the Opposition on Monday last of the President’s proclamation to prorogue the Parliament, he said “the power of the elected office of the peoples representatives has been neutered; this is also in my opinion most undemocratic.”
Meanwhile Deputy Speaker, Basil Williams, who also addressed the members of the Opposition on Monday last after Trotman’s announcement, reminded that in the past three decades all have been regaled over how bad the Constitution is.
“Even before the Constitution came into being it was attacked as being a dictatorial Constitution,” said Williams.
According to Williams, Guyanese have since lived to see Presidents Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan, Samuel Hinds, Bharrat Jagdeo and now Donald Ramotar “hugging and embracing the same Constitution.”
Williams said that this is the first time that the Guyana Constitution is being used to create a dictatorship and it has “occurred under the PPP/C Government.”
In his analysis of the events, Williams said that what has happened is unprecedented in that there is a minority government, “embarking for the next six months a one party rule.”
He suggested that such a reality is the hallmark of Marxists/Leninist.
“This is not a government of the people…They have shut out the opposition majority, this is the majority of all Guyanese
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Basil Williams
people in this country,” according to the Deputy Speaker.
Williams was adamant that the world must know that apart from Haiti, Guyana has the first dictatorship in Guyana.
He said that this is the first time in Guyana where there is minority rule of the majority and this cannot be allowed to persist.
The current Constitution of Guyana is the highest governing document that officially came into effect on October 6, 1980.
It was however not Guyana’s first constitution; previous to this one, Guyana had another constitution that was enacted in 1966, upon the country attaining independent status.
Many are convinced that the existing constitution places an unhealthy amount of power into the hands of the President.
The last effort at constitutional reform was made between 1999 and 2000. The Constitution Reform Commission (CRC) sat for six months, visited all regions of Guyana, received oral and written submissions from individuals, parties and groups and accepted local and overseas expert advice. The Report of the CRC was substantially adopted by the National Assembly and the Constitution amended to give effect to the recommendations.
The Constitution Reform Commission was headed by Senior Counsel, Ralph Ramkarran, a former Speaker of the House and member of the ruling Peoples Progressive Party for decades before recently resigning.
Ramkarran, in one of his recent writings on the matter of constitutional reform, said it has been a great disappointment to many that the combined Opposition did not have on its agenda the subject of constitutional reform as the principal issue after the indecisive results of the 2011 elections.
“A constitution that allows a minority government to remain in office indefinitely is not the greatest constitution in the world, as proclaimed by the PPP…It is seriously flawed…It remained so after the reform process of 1999-2000 because of the failure of
Former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran
the main political parties to confront the presidential system and its absence of checks and balances.”
According to Ramkarran, by failing to focus on constitutional reform since 2011 the Opposition may have lost a golden opportunity to have the upcoming elections as a clear referendum on the issue.
“To believe that it could have influenced governance and decision making from the opposition benches was a grievous error…Hopefully, it will use the opportunity of the election campaign to attempt to correct its mistake and confront the issue for the Guyanese people as the most, or one of the most urgent and important facing the nation at this time.”
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Land, taxes and penalties
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News-The American humorist Will Rogers once remarked that the best investment on earth is earth... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
