Election day will also be referendum day on the elected senate. The Prime Minister announced it yesterday and today, former senator Godwin Hulse called it nothing more than an election promise. Hulse was speaking this afternoon at a press conference called by the Group of Three. The three are namely Hulse along with former Cabinet Secretary Henry Gordon and Kevin Herrera. This afternoon the group laid out an intense program of reform which they say can make government more accountable and transparent. It took 2 hours to present and Keith Swift has some of the major proposals.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The group of three - made their case for reform to a room filled with third party candidates and social activists. Champion of the cause, Godwin Hulse says the system needs to be changed because it is broken.
Godwin Hulse, Group of Three
"The power resides in the government to do what it wants, when it wants, how it wants, if it wants, and the only power and responsibility we have is to pay our taxes."
But Hulse says that isn't the way it should be - and in close to two hours - he along with Henry Gordon detailed their program for reform.
Godwin Hulse,
"We felt that taxpayers funds are to be used for the collective benefit of the people. I don't know who will disagree with that. The custodians of the people's assets and resources must account to the people in a timely manner for the stewardship of those assets and resources and the people have a right and a duty to demand such accounting and to take appropriate action to secure it. I don't know who will concur with that but if we do, that is the first principle and concept - that guided accountability. And if we agree with that - then all the changes will lead to that result.
The people have a right to know the business being conducted in their name. It follows then that the people's business must be conducted in the public domain and the people have a right to know. If we concur with that of transparency then all the changes we make will reflect that; such as taking contracts to the National Assembly, we don't have to be wrestling the government down to the ground to find out what you are doing in my name.
The people have a right a duty and a responsibility to participate in making decisions that will affect their lives. If we subscribe to that then it speaks to the need to have consultation when bills are presented and to afford the time and space to do so and to recognize the input of the people."
The group proposes sweeping changes to the structure of government - including daily House meetings and an increase in the number of House members.
Henry Gordon,
"The House of Representatives should meet more often. The House of Representatives should meet five days a week, throughout each month because there are enough things happening, there are enough bills to be passed, enough
laws to be made for them to meet more frequently. We would also have to increase the number of seats in the House to 35. That is a simple straightforward act.
Whenever there is an election, we are going to propose that on the ballot in every division, we are going to have the name of the leader along with the name of the person who is aspiring to be the representative for that division. So whenever you go to vote and you tick whatever name you tick as area representative, the leader will be there so you know that if he wins, then your leader is going to be noted.
What we want is for the Governor General to exercise the powers he now has and we also want the Governor General exercise powers which we are proposing he should have. We want him to exercise his veto power because under the constitution her has such power. He can do things on his own deliberate judgement and we want him to do exactly that. We want if the Prime Minister says to him it is time for us to call new elections, the Governor General has the capacity the power, to say to the Prime Minister, that he does not believe it is in the interest of Belize for us to have an early election."
Godwin Hulse,
"We felt it was important to remove the oversight bodies from the day to day operations from the control of the Cabinet. There is no point in having the Auditor General, the Integrity Commission, the FIU, the Contractor General and the Ombudsman and all the oversight bodies that are supposed to be officers of the National Assembly and report to the National Assembly under the stewardship of Cabinet in any form fashion or maneuver. It will not work.
Reconstitute the Public Accounts Committee which is the most important control committee in the National Assembly, making it a joint senate committee chaired by a social partner member of the senate and that already tells you what we are thinking about the senate because we do not believe that this business of having one party, mainly the opposition chair and all the arguments about not having quorum and we cannot get the data and all of that is proper. Let us get that committee up and running."
But the lynch pin of the group's proposal is the senate. They say that while an elected senate would be good - a proportionate and empowered senate would be good enough.
Henry Gordon,
"We want senate that has power, we want a senate that has the capacity to do what the people wants it to do. It can best do that if the senate is elected on proportional representation basis and even if the senate is appointed. Whether or not it is appointed, if it is appointed or elected, we are going to keep that proportion so that when the election is over, the Prime Minister goes and he says, based on the proportion of votes these are the persons I want to be senators and the opposition leader will do the same thing. The church, the union, and the business community will also elect their person."
And that's why the now former Senator Godwin Hulse - a staunch advocate for an elected senate - called government's referendum on an elected senate on election day disingenuous.
Godwin Hulse,
"It becomes nothing more than a campaign promise and what makes it worst is when a political party or another picks it up and decides to say if you vote for me you'll get it and if you don't you won't get it. That is just not possible for you to make that kind of pledge. It is disingenuous to use a referendum to validate a campaign promise."
Again there is a long list of proposals. Some we didn't mention are a fixed date for an election, a proposal for the House of Representatives to appoint and remove the Governor General, a renewable term of 7 years for the Governor General, an ability for the house to override a veto from the Governor General, a provision stipulating that members of the House of Representatives not serve in Cabinet, and an amendment to the Referendum Act which would allow the citizens to call a referendum. Again there are a lot of proposals and the group plans to travel around the country to discuss it in communities.
