Munroe: Publicise CRC meetings
Published:Tuesday | April 25, 2023 | 1:16 AM
DIRECTOR OF the National Integrity Action (NIA), Professor Trevor Munroe, is pushing for the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) to have meetings under the glare of the public, and to make available to Jamaicans decisions of fundamental significance that were made in previous meetings.
Munroe’s suggestion resonates with a recommendation made by St Andrew South Eastern Member of Parliament (MP) Julian Robinson during the sitting of Parliament last Tuesday.
The NIA director said that the deliberations of the committee, which will address changes to provisions related to the Charter of Fundamental Rights and other entrenched sections, should be conducted in a transparent manner and be open to public scrutiny.
He also called for the terms of reference of the committee to be formally published by the committee.
While the committee has pledged to engage members of the public through meetings in each of the counties, Munroe cautioned against presenting concrete decisions to the public before proper consultation.
He said a ‘Consultation Code of Practice for the Public Sector’, published by the Cabinet Office more than 15 years ago, defined consultation as a process that provides an opportunity for groups and individuals to make input into decisions.
“These folks seem to think this is a matter that you decide and then ask what you think?” Munroe said.
During the sitting of Parliament last Tuesday, Robinson argued that the meetings of the CRC should be accessible in the same way parliamentary committees are open to the public.
“This is close to a once-in-a-generational activity and if you want to generate public interest in the discussions, I believe the committee should open up itself beyond having post-press conferences and media interviews so that the public can be privy to the discussions, the conclusions and recommendations,” Robinson said.
Responding to Robinson’s recommendation last Tuesday, Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Marlene Malahoo Forte, said that the committee did not close itself down, noting that the suggestion could be discussed within the committee.
“I appreciate that people want to know and many times suspicion arises because of ignorance. There is really nothing to hide,” she said.
Malahoo Forte, the former attorney general, said that constitutional reform work is complex “so that deliberating outside of the public glare doesn’t mean it is secretive”.
She added: “The call for putting everything in the public glare at once may not always be the most productive way of dealing with it and it doesn’t equate to being secretive and hiding.”
Malahoo Forte also disclosed that the formal terms of reference for the CRC were finalised and agreed to by the committee.
The terms of reference, she said, indicate that the committee was building on the vast body of work previously done.
“They specify that the work will be carried out in phases with proposed timelines and that decisions on what to recommend are being made by consensus,” she said.
She told her parliamentary colleagues that members of the public would have an opportunity to provide feedback on all recommendations made by the CRC before a submission goes to the Cabinet for its approval.