Further delays for fixed-election date proposal

IT COULD take some time before the Government takes the bill to Parliament which would pave the way for debate on whether a prime minister should be stripped of the right to call an election whenever he or she so desires.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the House of Representatives last Tuesday that a bill is now before the House of Represen-tatives and seeking to implement term limits for the prime minister should have been accompanied by the fixed-election date proposal.

"That was a commitment we gave in our manifesto," Golding told the House during debate on the Charter of Rights.

He added: "The reason why it was not brought is because it was pointed out to us by the legal authorities that while that section of the Constitution is not entrenched because it is related to another section that is entrenched, you cannot change it because you are changing the scheme of arrangements in the Constitution."

At present, the prime minister may call an election whenever he so desires but Golding said it was unhealthy for democracy and said the date must be fixed.

Already he has taken a bill to the House which proposes that no person who has served more than nine years, consecutive or not, can be eligible to be appointed prime minister.

It also proposes that an incumbent prime minister "shall not be required to vacate his office by reason only of the fact that after his appointment he exceeds the nine-year limit".

In the memorandum of objects and reasons which append the bill, Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne said the constitutional review was "desirable in order to strengthen democracy by encouraging the infusion of new leadership at the highest level of government".

The parliamentary Opposition has signalled that it would follow the wishes of Jamaicans on the issue. Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller said it is ineffective and unnecessary.

Toothless bulldog

"The legislation will turn out to be a toothless bulldog," Simpson Miller warned the House of Representatives at the start of the debate on the term limits for prime ministers.

She charged that the presentation of the bill to the Parliament and the public was typical of the Golding government's approach to governance.

"The manner in which the prime minister presented the bill is demonstrative of the exclusionary approach of this Government," Simpson Miller declared.

She warned warned that if the Government pushes through the bill, which can be done by a simple majority, any future administration led by her would reverse the decision by a similar process.

"In the same way it can be amended by one government, it can also be undone by a future government," declared Simpson Miller.

The law makes provision for prime ministers to serve for nine years, but allows him or her to continue to the end of the electoral tenure if still in office at the time.

Simpson Miller argued that a prime minister, in his eighth year, could exploit the law by calling an election, creating an opportunity for him to serve into his 14th year.

"I don't know where this nine years originated," declared Simpson Miller. "A simple and effective way to do this is to legislate it in the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party)," she quipped.

Golding is the leader of the JLP, which currently forms the Government. The JLP promised in its 2007 election manifesto to institute term limits for a prime minister and to legislate fixed election dates as a means of strengthening governance in the country.