Several calls were made yesterday for a public referendum that would give T&T citizens the power to express their opinion on proposed legislations before it becomes law. Making the call at a “Let’s Do This Together: Participatory Governance in T&T” forum were economist Indera Sagewan-Alli and former arts and multicultural minister Dr Lincoln Douglas.
The discussion came up after presenters — Reginald Dumas, former head of the Public Service, UWI lecturer Dr Gabrielle Hosein, political and social activist Ashaki Scott and head of Fixin’ T&T Kirk Waithe — addressed members of the public at the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies on issues affecting governance in T&T.
In addressing the attendees, Waithe said he believed the people were the biggest failed institution in T&T.
“The problem is not our politicians it is us. We are prepared to sit down and talk and call that George. That don’t work. If all you serious come and join me and let us do it (march) on the streets,” he added.
Waithe said for 16 years citizens have been clamouring for proper procurement legislation which has fallen on deaf ears. He added what politicians responded to was people actively demonstrating with courage and determination.
Waithe said citizens were within their right to call on politicians to implement legislation on procurement, party and campaign financing and whistleblowing protection. With these legislations in place, Waithe said we could guard our Treasury and protect our patrimony. He said while T&T was a wealthy nation, citizens continued to suffer for health care services and justice.
Waithe, who was instrumental in bringing information forward on Port-of-Spain South MP Marlene McDonald which led to Prime Minister Patrick Manning firing her as Housing Minister last month, said he intended to start searching for answers involving Life Sport and the awarding of suspicious contracts.
“Corruption is the ultimate evil. Corruption destroys families, communities, economies and countries. We have to fix corruption,”he added. He said once the inefficiencies were fixed, corruption would be reduced. Waithe said one area that needed to be addressed was the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“At the office of the DPP strings are pulled by a political appointee in the form of the Attorney General. That is insane,” he said. Dumas agreed that people have the power to demand better governance.
“We have to go beyond writing letters, calling radio stations to cuss and calling television stations to complain. You are emoting.
“You are not changing things. That is not good enough. If you continue to do that the same frustration would arise, resulting in things we may not like. If you want to change things then you have to take an entirely different approach,” he added.
A crucial aspect of good governance, Dumas said was consultation which was often described as a public relations exercise.
“Have there been proper consultation between governments in this country and the people? The answer is no. But they have already decided what to do. They have these consultations to give the impression that they are speaking and listening to the people, which they are in fact not doing.”
Dumas said while former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s mantra was “Serve The People” and the PNM “Let Do This” tag line gave the impression of democracy and good governance, governments have a tendency to make decisions without consulting first with the people.
In a questions and answer segment, Sagewan-Alli said while the Constitution barely protected its citizens “I think if we could get the right to a referendum enshrined in the Constitution then we the people would have a constitutional mechanism in between the five years of voting.”
Agreeing with Sagewan-Alli was Douglas.
“I want to agree that the right to a referendum would be a good start because it gives the people an opportunity to organise and get their voices on the agenda,” he said. Since being defeated at the 2015 general election, Douglas said he had been reconstructing a formula for non-partisan democracy.
Douglas said politicals made decisions on how their party could win an election.
“The primary evil in government is ignorance. There have been stupid people running this country right from the beginning and some of them have been militant at it,” he added.