The crucial issue of constitutional reform (CR) is once again being discussed by several notable commentators and individuals in civil society. Unfortunately, the two main political parties – PPP and PNC – have remained quiet, thereby revealing their preference for the pernicious and tinkered 1980 Burnham Constitution.
The dominant rationale for CR has been to propose some form of executive power sharing between the PNC and PPP, since these are essentially communal parties with communal leaders reflecting their respective ethnically skewed voting base. The communal party that wins the election projects a leader to the national stage. However, the rationale of political patronage means that the distribution of economic resources and career opportunities are largely skewed in the direction of the supporters of the victorious party. Since 2015, for example, we see once more the reversal of career paths – as occurred in the late 1950s, 1964 and 1992 – to the extent that there is only one East Indian Permanent Secretary in the public service.