Dear Editor,

It is often said that the evil that men do lives after them. This statement is still relevant today, as concerned citizens grapple with aspects of constitutional reform and its effect on their quality of life and the swing of the pendulum of justice.

The reform of our constitution could not have come at a worst time as it relates to the trust factor of those who lead. Recommendations from the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) have done nothing to improve the trust factor among citizens that reforms are being done with them as the beneficiary and centrepiece of the changes, and rightfully so.

The greatest mistrust the average citizen has is that the reforms are being done not to bequeath power in the hands of the powerless but cement and increase power in the hands of the powerful. There are some glaring bullet points and line items in the recommendations from the CRC that prove this point.

Recommendations to increase the number of senators to 27, of which the composition of those 27 would summarily and systematically caponise the Opposition would be dangerous for our democracy. Those of us who have critically read and analysed the CRC’s recommendations are concerned that impeachment, term limits, fixed election dates, the integrity commission, campaign financing, and recall legislations, all of which are profound concerns, were not part of the discussion, much less part of the reform.

All the aforementioned concerns are far more important to the citizenry than republic status for the country, which is just another system of Government in which the indices of criminality, corruption, lawlessness, bad governance, social injustice, and illicit self-enrichment will still be intact.

What aspects of the reforms seek to make life better for those who live below cross roads, those who live on the gully banks, those who live in penal institutions, those peeping through the roots of mangroves; those inside the “rum n bomb” constituency, and the impoverished farmers trying to eke out a living on poor soil.

The more we change, the more we remain the same. What is it that other successful economies have that we don’t? Or what do we have that they don’t? My answer would be too many bad governments.

Fernandez Smith

fgeesmith@yahoo.com