Post-Vincentian referendum…
Analysis by Rickey Singh
ONE QUITE disturbing political factor to have emerged from the recent surprising percentage of ‘no’ votes by Vincentians against a new post-independence constitution is how largely Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, still looms in the psyche of the people in the Anglophone Caribbean — 47 years after the Union Jack was first replaced in Jamaica as a national flag in this region.

Enthroned in 1952 and now 83, Her Majesty, Queen of Barbados and seven other independent CARICOM countries, was on her way to the Commonwealth Summit in Port-of-Spain when some 55 per cent of the electorate of St Vincent and the Grenadines became the first to actually vote to keep her as their symbolic Head of State, instead of a non-executive national as President.

In addition to St Vincent and the Grenadines, the eight other CARICOM states that comprise 16 of the 54 Commonwealth countries of which the Queen is Head of State are: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia.

Barbados is among few of the countries that do not require a referendum to move away from the monarchical system of government, with the Queen as Head of State, to one with republican status — as obtains, for example, in Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica, both with a non-executive presidential system. Guyana is the only CARICOM state with an Executive President.

The fact that Jamaica, first in this CARICOM region to sever the colonial relationship with Britain, is still struggling with itself on fundamental constitutional issues for ending the monarchical system of government and replacing the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) can be viewed as an unflattering commentary about the weakness of our Caribbean brand of nationalism.

The two parties that have been changing hands in running governments in Barbados since independence in November 1966 — DLP and BLP — are among others in the Eastern Caribbean that often speak in favour of switching away from monarchical to a republican system of government.

But neither has pursued, with any seriousness, an educational programme to even sensitise the Barbadian people about the post-colonial political and cultural factors in favour of republican status without an executive presidency, much less to introduce a motion in parliament for this objective to be a reality.

If it is fear of rejection by the electorate — 43 years after the end of British colonial rule in the case of Barbados — then not only this country, but the seven other CARICOM states that still embrace the enduring British monarch as their Queen, should perhaps revisit the quality of education on politics and culture being provided by their parliamentary parties and other national stakeholders interested in new forms of democratic governance.

When Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, armed with a draft new constitution approved by a two thirds parliamentary vote, sought at the November 25 national referendum the required two-thirds approval also of the Vincentian electorate, he may well have been uneasy about getting the verdict he wanted, but certainly not the decisive rejection that awaited him.

The opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) of Arnhim Eustace managed to turn the referendum ‘no’ vote for a new republican status constitution into a general election-style campaign against the government.

It focused on social, fiscal and economic problems that have been aggravated by the prevailing global financial and economic crisis affecting all CARICOM countries as it passionately exploited domestic discontent that had little to do with constitutional provisions quite befitting for a Caribbean state that had shed colonial rule three decades ago.

In so doing, however, the opposition NDP that had never displayed any serious interest in post-independence constitutional reform, succeeded in a ‘victory’ that may yet come to haunt it at the coming new general election, possibly in a year’s time from this month.

Verdict implications
For, in defeating Gonsalves’ governing Unity Labour Party on the constitution referendum, the NDP succeeded in saying ‘no’ also to replacing the Privy Council in London with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the country’s final appellate institution.

The current scenario is one that with the exception of membership by Barbados and Guyana –and soon to be formalised that of Belize — the rest of CARICOM’s English-speaking nations are yet to have the CCJ as their final appeal court, but continue to support its operations with committed annual budgetary allocations since its inauguration in 2005.

In relation to the verdict of the Vincentian referendum, that did not involve the participation of at least 45 per cent of the eligible voters — the development has prompted a challenging question, whether it was a classic political case of “throwing out the baby with the bath water.”

The ‘baby’ in this instance being a very significant initiative in the Eastern Caribbean region for constitutional reform after 30 years of independence and in support of an enlightened sense of Caribbean nationalism and culture.

The referendum came after almost two years of national consultation to which process the opposition NDP was an active participant.

Now, its ‘no vote’ victory has not only served to keep the British Monarch as Head of State and to snub the CCJ in favour of retaining the Privy Council as Vincentians’ final court, the verdict has also affected:

*The creation of an independent and transparent five-member Electoral Commission (EBC);

*Establishment of an independent Integrity Commission to oversee and investigate matters relating to the conduct of parliamentarians and all holders of prescribed public offices; and

*Arrangements for the institution of Ombudsman; and the empowerment of Leader of the Opposition as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and supported by the appointment of more opposition parliamentarians than those from the governing party — said to be unique within CARICOM.

Gonsalves, the political scientist, may have gotten it wrong in his timing for the referendum that his NDP opposition transformed into a campaign against his ULP administration.

However, Eustace and his NDP strategists may find it quite an uphill battle to win sufficient hearts and minds in order to translate the victory of November 25, 2009, into one that replaces the ULP at new general election by December 2010.