Under almost all the constitutions Great Britain wrote for their former colonies, the prime ministers and representatives serve five years if they are elected, with no term limits. This means that once these people are elected and able to be reelected, they can remain in office until they choose to resign or die.
Over the years, Caribbean countries have experienced that some of these prime ministers start to act like dictators and the representatives behave as if they are not accountable to the people who elected them. In some cases, the people's needs are being neglected as well. Five years is a long time for the people to wait to decide whether they want to retain a prime minister or representative in a country.
I think it is now time for Caribbean countries to amend their constitutions to limit the terms of their prime ministers and elected representatives to three terms. Also, it is time to change the term in office from five years to four years, have an elected senate and set a specific date for general elections rather than leave it to the discretion of the prime minister. Having an elected senate is a good thing for Caribbean countries because, under this current system, the senators are serving to the satisfaction of the prime minister. If the prime minister likes that senator, he or she can make him or her a minister in his cabinet over an elected representative and that has been done on several occasions in most countries.
I would prefer that each district or parish be given a senator and one be appointed by the governor general for a period of three years. The senate in most of these countries for the most part rubber stamps everything their party approves in the House of Assembly. Under the constitutions of these countries, the prime minister can call elections anytime he or she chooses to do so. Most of the time he or she will only call it when he or she thinks it is most convenient for the party to win and get reelected.
The opposition party can table a vote of no confidence against the party in power, if they can get some members of the ruling party to vote along with them on the motion. However, in most cases the opposition party fails to get members of the ruling party to go along with their request because it is not to their advantage. They would have to change their allegiance to the other party and be offered some tangibles before they agree to make that decision.
The vote of no confidence clause sounds good when we talk about it in political theory but getting the politicians to use it has always been difficult. A good example is the situation in the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where the Unity Labour Party (ULP) has eight seats and the New Democratic Party (NDP) has seven seats following the elections on December 13, 2010.
There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the current prime minister and his ULP government but yet they have been able to hold on to their power for five years. One would think that it would be a golden opportunity for the NDP to table a motion of no confidence against this government. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves will have to call elections soon and if his party was to win, he will remain the prime minister for four terms. Not too many prime ministers in the Caribbean have been elected for four consecutive terms.
Last year the country of Guyana was in a similar situation where the president of the country was hesitating to call general elections. In fact, he was contemplating on not calling elections until the last minute but many international organizations and the opposition political parties in Guyana applied severe pressure on him to call the elections and he did. When the elections were held, international observers were brought in to make sure that the elections were fair.
When all the votes were counted, the opposition coalition political parties won the election and they are the government running the country today. Before the elections were held, the government was accused of being corrupt. A couple weeks after the elections, a few former ministers of government were arrested and charged for bribery and corruption.
Caribbean countries need to have some electoral and constitutional reforms. To have people in power for too many years, while the people and the nation are suffering, makes a mockery of democracy.
o Wellington Ramos is an adjunct professor of political science and history.
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