A preliminary report of the work completed by The Bahamas Constitutional Review Commission, was presented to Prime Minister Perry Christie yesterday.
The Prime Minister said ultimately, that based on the final recommendations of the Committee, there will be a referendum to move constitutional changes. However, he was not in a position to say whether the referendum would be before the next general election.
PM Christie said, “At some stage, we are going to go to the people on a referendum. The lesson of this country is that when we do that, we must have exhausted every opportunity we have now for consultation. That must never be an issue again in matters of this kind.”
The Constitutional Commission was appointed on December 23, 2002 under the chairmanship of former Attorney General Paul Adderley and Queen’s Counsel Harvey Tynes. They were mandated to carry out a comprehensive review of The Constitution of The Bahamas.
“We will now redo the whole process again, with these preliminary recommendations. After that has been done, we will make firm recommendations to the government,” Mr Adderley said.
In completing their assigned task, Mr Adderley said the Commission held 44 meetings between New Providence and the Family Islands.
“We have not arrived at these [findings] by taking votes. We have done this by Cabinet style consensus,” he stated.
The recommendations will now be circulated and the Commission will begin its work again, before presenting their final findings. About 50 per cent of the findings were generated by the Committee, while another 50 per cent have been recommended by the people, he said.
The Commission recommended, “that reforms to the present Constitution be achieved by repealing the Order-in-Council (Bahamas Independence Order) to which The Constitution of The Bahamas is scheduled, and simultaneously replacing it with an Act of Parliament entitled The Bahamas Constitution Act, subsequently approved by Referendum.”
In addition, the Commission recommended that the Preamble of the Constitution retain its current state and no amendments be made to its contents.
The report indicated that “many people felt that the enormous powers of the Prime Minister, whether real or perceived, had to be limited, without affecting the Prime Minister’s authority. It was their view, that there should be greater opportunity for the involvement of civil society, before exercise of executive power.”
Additionally, much criticism was levelled at the devotion of some members of parliaments. Therefore, a view was expressed for some system of penalising or recalling delinquent representatives.
The report also indicated that there was no great dissatisfaction with the basic parliamentary democracy and two chambered Parliament.
By: JIMENITA SWAIN, The Nassau Guardian
