Legal Advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister Tamara Khan on Wednesday urged participants at the National Toshaos Council (NTC) conference to “read and understand” the Constitution so they can better prepare for planned constitution reform consultations.
During her presentation at the NTC conference, which will conclude today at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre at Liliendaal, Khan said that she was aware of the fact that only a few persons were familiar with the Constitution.
As a result, she proceeded to outline the functions and the importance of the Constitution, while making mention of articles regarding human rights and the protection of indigenous lands and territories.
She noted that indigenous people are not fully benefitting from the Constitution because only a few have made an attempt to read it.
Khan’s remarks came after a Toshao, who did not state his name, asked why Toshaos and village councillors were being asked to “understand and interpret the document” which he said is written in a difficult form of English. He added that despite him being a university graduate, he was struggling to understand it.
He wondered about the people in the remote villages who have not received a sound education in English or who do not understand the language would fare if even he was having problems. “I understand what you are saying, education is important but they go home and someone maybe read it and they are unable to explain it fully and when your team or whoever goes into the villages there are not many who would understand enough of what is being said and might have more questions,” he told Khan.
In addition, he said, he was hoping for her to explain the meaning of constitutional reform during the presentation as she had not mentioned the topic. “You told us the functions and why it is important—and I agree that it is the most important document—but not once did you explain what constitutional reform is,” he stated.
In response, Khan told the Toshao that she agreed that the “language” is not for “everybody” and that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has been continuously stressing on that fact, hence the constitutional reform. The Prime Minister, she said, has stated that the reforming of the constitution process starts with simplifying the language because it is “way too complicated.”
Khan then noted that when she asked the participants during her presentation if they had read the Constitution, only a few hands were raised and she asked if they were going to “live this way forever” as it relates to not understanding the Constitution. Further, she said that village leaders can make a request to the government for teams to visit the villages to explain the constitution in “Creolese.” She then asked why a room full of leaders, all who are carrying certain weight on their shoulders, which comes with the territory, would not want to understand the Constitution. She then urged them to “make an effort” to read and understand the document.
Addressing constitution reform, Khan said the government has opted to have the public involved and has since formed a constitutional reform committee, which will be visiting various communities in the country to find out what are the various issues that are affecting them. They are expected to hold consultations with village leaders and the entire communities about the constitution. “This is the best route. If it affects you, you need to have a seat at the table to say how you want to see how your rights or interests protected,” Khan added.
Rockstone
Meanwhile, Flanagan Carter, the Toshao of Rockstone Village, which is located in Region Ten, said that there will always be difficulties in understanding various terminologies, whether it is written in the language of the people or in Greek. “I think we have to start changing the sentiment that the indigenous cannot understand or can’t figure out the phrase,” he commented before urging other participants to think outside of the box and stop saying that they cannot understand or it is too difficult to understand. “We need to be positive and we should enlarge our mindsets,” he further stated.
Another Toshao, who did not mention his name, stated that there are a lot of intelligent and educated persons in hinterland areas who do not have degrees and who should not be underestimated and who can contribute to the reforming of the constitution.
Another Toshao, who did not state his name, noted that he knows the reforming process will take some time and asked what stage the process is at now and when is it expected to be concluded.
Addressing the question, Khan said that politicians and experts made a list of changes to the constitution but the president said that he wanted the public to be involved in the process after which the Cabinet made a list of potential reforms and drafted a bill so a commission, which will facilitate the process and travel around the country in addition to consulting with members of various communities, can be formed. She said that during those meeting persons will have to state what is affecting their villages or lives personally and what changes they would like to see in the country or their community.
She said that they were told to start by educating the public about the Constitution. “This is an effort to steer the ship away from total control of the bureaucracy of the experts or politicians and open up the table to the public,” she added. Further, she said they have already embarked on a number of initiatives, such as radio and television programmes, so people can understand the contents of the Constitution.
NTC Chairman Nicholas Fredericks asked how a statement from the Constitution protects the indigenous people. “What is the mechanism in place for us to ensure that they are protected by the Constitution?’ he asked before stating that there are laws that protect indigenous rights but those are just words. “We are not seeing the law in action,” he said, before adding that there are a lot of people that are being mistreated in various communities by strangers or miners.
Khan once again urged the Toshaos to read and “try to understand the Constitution” so they can be prepared to answer the questions asked by the Constitution Reform Committee when they visit their communities.
In their 2015 manifesto, APNU+AFC had said that within three months of taking office it would appoint a Commission to amend the Constitution with the full participation of the people, which among other things, would reduce the powers of the president but to date this has not happened.
Instead, it appointed the Steering Committee on Constitutional Reform (SCCR) in September 2015. The SCCR submitted a report to the government on April 30, 2016. This report was not released to the public though it was reported on by this newspaper.
The coalition has been flayed for breaching this solemn promise to reform the constitution and as it currently holds caretaker status there will be no progress in this area until general elections are held and a government elected.
