Constitutional reform a must
Published:Thursday | December 10, 2020 | 12:09 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
The debacle concerning the recommended appointment by former People’s National Party (PNP) President Dr Peter D. Phillips, of Norman Horne to the Senate, in light of the leadership change in the party and the recommendation of the new leader, Mark Golding, to appoint Peter Bunting to fill the still-vacant Senate seat, underscores the need for constitutional reform.
Mr Horne’s failure to assume his seat in the Senate, to date, out of concern by him that a newly elected leader ought to be given a free hand to appoint who he so chooses, in retrospect, now rings hollow in light of revelations in the media that Mr Horne is a citizen of the United States of America and, therefore, ineligible to sit in the Jamaican Parliament. With all that is being reported in the media, key among them the fact that the PNP is indebted to the goodly gentleman to the tune of millions of dollars, it is not unreasonable for one to muse that the party and the country is now being held ransom by the Senate appointee, as he seeks to settle his grouse with the party.
More important, this debacle signals to the country, if not the Government of the day, that there is a need for constitutional reform in how Senate appointments are done. By any measure, it is unreasonable that a Senate appointee should fail to be sworn in two full months after the Parliament was convened, not because of any insurmountable challenges, but based on his own volition. I submit that all constitutional offices to be held by appointees, on recommendation from the prime minister or Opposition leader, be time-sensitive once the rite of appointment is issued by the governor general.
Proper governance demands that all constitutional offices should be filled within good time for the smooth functioning of government. The hornet’s nest that this situation has created is unacceptable, if not unpatriotic, self-serving, and raises questions as to the credibility and character of the goodly gentleman that he ought to be mindful of, remedied by quick action. Jamaica deserves better.
FABIAN E. SANCHEZ, JP