Constitutional reform is an important process in the development of The Bahamas, and the work of this Constitutional Review Commission will have far-reaching implications for future of the country.
Prime Minister Perry Christie announced a 23-member commission on Monday that is co-chaired by Paul Adderley, one of the nation’s foremost legal minds, and Harvey Tynes, QC.
It will be engaged in extremely important work, and its recommendations should not be allowed to gather dust on a shelf. The enormity and importance of its task cannot be too strongly emphasised.
The commission is mandated to carry out a “comprehensive review” of The Bahamas’ Constitution and related consequential amendments to other laws where necessary, and the method of adopting and amending the constitution.
The Constitution is in urgent need of overhaul. As a living document, the constitution, which protects the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, must change with the times. It is not a static document stuck in the past. It is the supreme law of the land.
Rights like free speech, the right not to be held incommunicado, the right to life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are just some of the freedoms guaranteed under our Westminster model of parliamentary democracy.
The constitution governs relations between the various branches of government ﾗthe executive, legislature and the judiciary ﾗ and it jealously guards the lines of demarcation between the three. There is, as far as possible, to be no interference the one with the other.
Although this is so, the reality is that there is some degree of contact between the three branches. An example of this is seen in the fact that the Attorney General, a member of the Cabinet, also has roots in the judiciary and, in most instances, is a member of the House of Assembly. He wears three hats, as it were.
Maybe the commission might wish to consider looking at this unique constitutional position occupied by the Attorney General, particularly in lights of its mandate to “devise means of ensuring the independence” of the three branches.
Each citizen owes the state a duty of loyalty, to observe the law of the land. And the state, as a sort of trade-off, is obliged to protect the citizen from abuse of his rights and freedoms under the constitution, which is the supreme law of the land.
We have no doubt that the persons appointed to the commission understand the importance of the rights of the individual vis-�-vis the state in relation to the constitution.
And so it might not be too far a field to suggest that those engaged in this most important task will seek to widen, rather than diminish, those rights and obligations which spring from being a citizen of this country.
We take nothing from the composition of this commission. But we are a bit curious that not one representative of the working press ﾗ the fourth estate ﾗ has been invited to sit on the commission. Maybe this was just an oversight, but we feel that as freedom of speech is one of the foremost pillars of our constitution, it might have been a good idea to include a member of the media on the commission.
We are delighted that the commission will glean views from what appears to be every strata of society, and that it plans to hold meetings and public forums where appropriate. This is good for democracy and members of the public should be encouraged to express their views.
At the end of the day, The Bahamas is not a police state and it is not a dictatorship. A healthy and vibrant constitution is often time the only thing that stands between freedom and servitude. It is our only defence against a government, which might wish to enslave a people using constitutional wiles.
Editorial, The Nassau Guardian
