A group of concerned evangelical pastors and Full Gospel ministers say the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, which will be debated in the Senate on Tuesday, carries built-in potential for eroding the democracy of T&T. Spokesman for the group, Apostle J Vernon Duncan, said: “While we welcome the focus on reforming the Constitution, it would be undemocratic to attempt to hastily alter the process where every citizen exercises his or her rights to choose a particular party/candidate to govern our nation.
There must be wide and thorough public consultation and ample opportunity for both Government and citizens to examine, discuss, debate and finally decide on the proposals in question. The Constitution is too crucial to our existence as a nation to do otherwise.” The group expressed particular concern about the runoff ballot and the MP recall.
They said contrary to what was envisaged by the prime minister, the runoff ballot had the potential to actually reduce the number of people involved in the electoral process. In the case of the recall provision, Duncan said: “This proposal is rife with the potential for political mischief, in that two opposing members to the MP for a given constituency may well seize the opportunity, for no sound reason, to seek and get the support of the required ten per cent of the voters of the constituency and successfully petition for a recall.
“Even if the MP is returned, what prevents another two persons two or three months later from repeating the act, and so on and so on, plunging the country into a state of perpetual instability? Can we afford this as a people?” The group is calling for the Senate debate to be delayed until “proper structure and sufficient tightness” is applied to the proposed measures to avoid the possibilities of widespread manipulation.