Politics
Trinidad and Tobago: 36 years as a republic
The political leader of the Congress of the People (COP), Prakash Ramadhar, said the time has come to revisit the country’s constitution so that future generations will be able to successfully confront the challenges ahead.
“As a growing democracy 36 years later, there is need to revisit the Constitution, with the expressed intent of deepening our democratic systems as we aim to move rapidly towards developed-nation governance,” he said.
He said while this country has accomplished much in the 50 years of being an independent nation, there was still a lot more to be done and our constitution actually provides us with the ability to chart our own destiny.
“An immediate revision of our Constitution facilitating a higher level of participatory governance, among other objectives, is very timely. Government of the people, by the people, for the people must be practised at the widest possible level,” he said.
“Our political leadership is well advised to move away from raw electoral politics in favour of a system of progressive democracy, where values such as trust, honesty, accountability, transparency, mutual respect honour, and dignity are the norms.”
The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), which left the coalition government earlier this year, has also backed called for a review of the constitution, noting “indeed, what we have seen in the last two weeks is a level of disrespect to the people of this country that should never be allowed to be repeated.
“We refer to comments such as “time to move on”, and “one hundred thousand people could march and that wouldn’t change our position” – all of which were made by sitting members of the Cabinet in response to the outcry over the infamous Section 34.
