If the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2014 goes before a joint select committee (JSC) of Parliament the People’s National Movement (PNM) will not take any part in the process, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley says. He made the comment as he addressed hundreds of supporters at a public meeting at Coffee Street, San Fernando, on Monday night. Saying “there is no right way to do wrong,” Rowley also called on Senate President Timothy Hamel-Smith to stop campaigning for the Government.
“You cannot stay in the chair and campaign for the Government on a matter in which the public is rising up against it. The chair is supposed to be impartial. The chair does not take part in the voting process,” Rowley said to thunderous applause. Rowley urged the public to stand up against the bill and to be aware of a sinister plot by Government strategists to steal the 2015 election. He said now that the matter was before the Senate, it was important for citizens to look past their differences.
“I want to tell the President of the Senate, who is advocating that this matter go before a JSC, that this matter—which was brought to Parliament so indecently, so surreptitiously, and which has the potential to create political instability in this country—will find no favour with the PNM. It has no place in the Parliament,” Rowley said. “The bill must be withdrawn from the Parliament and put before the public for adjudication.”
The bill, which is due to be debated in the Senate on August 26, has sparked public outcry. Several social groups including WorkingWomen, Democracy Watch and Fixin T&T, have been protesting outside Parliament. The runoff poll has sparked most criticism, with some sectors of the public saying it was not part of the constitutional reform forums across the country and the bill should be halted to allow for more talks on the issue. But the Government is insisting it will go ahead with it.
No support for PR either
Rowley also said the PNM wanted to limit the number of Senators who can serve in the Cabinet, and would not support proportional representation. He also challenged Attorney General Anand Ramlogan to throw his hat into the election ring. “One person who should be recalled from public office is Anand Ramlogan, and there is no provision in the law to recall him,” he said.
“So it is okay for him and the likes of him to wield power in this country, to spend your money and talk down to you. He has a problem with elected members serving their term. “I want to tell Ramlogan that if you want to serve in government or Cabinet, put yourself out and get elected by the people, and on that basis you can control the country’s affairs.”
Describing Ramlogan as “obnoxious and crass,” Rowley said it was evident that Government was heading down a road of political, ethnic and social instability if it tampered with the Constitution. He said it was not true that the PNM was caught napping when Government brought the bill, as months before it was laid in Parliament the PNM had already set up two committees to look at constitutional reform.