Local News

If the PM is right; Why is he Wrong

One thing The Prime Minister of Grenada Mr. Tillman Thomas is correct about is that the closure of Parliament is of no concern to Grenadians and that they have not demonstrated it to be a concern. He even went on to say that the country is running as normal which is an indicator of the fact that probably the parliament should never be reopened.

Several people have advanced theories as to why Grenadians are prepared to sit back and relax while the three man junta gives them the run around, pays them late, fires them from their jobs, block their contracts and generally pauperize them and now floats the idea of increasing taxation.

Some have said that it is the events of October 1983 that left Grenadians traumatized and unwilling to openly show their emotions. This I disagree with strongly and will address under a separate heading at a later date.

The PM got it wrong when he made his second assertion. He stated that there was no parliamentGrenadafor a longer period than now and no one complained a vague assertion to a lack of democracy under the revolution. Quite clearly he completely forgot how he landed in prison, but that is a matter for him.

In 1979 Maurice Bishop in his wisdom suspended the Constitution. Quite clearly he knew that some of his revolutionary actions were not be consistent with the Constitution. He then moved to substitute the lack of a Parliament with many institutions of democracy since he insisted that his model of development would be Democratic Socialist. On any given day the country was buzzing with Village Councils, Parish Councils, General Councils, national consultations, local budget consultations, Youth Councils, Pioneer meetings, People’s Militia and a host of other democratic channels. But the current PM would not know anything about that.

Further, the revolution agued, that it was better to have a shot at democracy every day than to have five year waits in order to exercise your franchise. In this modern setting one must admire theUnited Statessystem for three reasons: 1. The four year period between elections; 2. There is a fixed date known to all when the elections will be held; and 3. A President is restricted to two terms in office consistently.

Therefore in context the closure of Parliament is the shutting down of the only vent of the people under a constitutional democracy and cannot be compared with a revolutionary situation.

In isolation, the idea that the Prime Minister is provided with five years of reign to do whatever he likes to whoever he likes is absurd. Whereas one may accept the Prime Minister’s assurances that he would not do anything foolish during the period of no parliament, does his assurances extend to the actions of his henchmen?

Garvey Louison FCCA

Comments are closed.