Separate forums to focus on Senate reform
But while the P.M. was away, one issue that has been gathering political steam concerns possible reforms to the Senate. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports.
Anthony Chanona, P.U.P. Senator
“People want to have greater participation in what is happening in their country. Anybody who wants to deny that is basically in the dinosaur age, Belize has come alive at twenty-five.”
Janelle Chanona
With little warning, the debate over whether Senators should be elected or appointed has come to dominate political discourse. Representatives on both sides of the fence have presented arguments in support of and against changing the status quo, but the first formal discussions on the issue have been planned for next week at venues in Belize City and Belmopan.
Anthony Chanona
“And certainly, this issue has to have national consensus, national dialogue.”
The People’s United Party Senator Anthony Chanona is organising the events.
Anthony Chanona
“The shortcomings of the Senate, given the heightened awareness of our country, people are alive, people are now demanding transparency in government, accountability of elected officials. So I believe that while the party is looking at the Senate as an issue, to me it’s a symptom of a bigger problem and I subscribe personally, my input in this is that we need to look at constitutional reform rather than political reform and I believe that we have to be careful that we don’t go in and tweak an area of our constitution and disrupt governance. So before we even begin to make these changes, I believe the dialogue will point to the need to educate our people more on this issue, to have nationwide consensus, and I think that is what the party would like to garner from these two short forums to be able to move and guide that process. But I think you’re absolutely right, the need to address this holistically might not be delivered if we only tweak the Senate and say that we’ve fixed what is broke in Government, I don’t think that would be the point.”
Janelle Chanona
“You’re in the Senate now, are you satisfied with the Senate as it is being operated?”
Anthony Chanona
“No, I am not satisfied. I think the last two issues that took my vote along the lines of a moral conscience I would say fell short of my moral conscience in the sense that the Vesting Bill and the Super Bond are two clear national issues that needed more debate, I think needed greater transparency and I would subscribe that we should empower the Senate. Now the question to the country would be: do you want your Senators to be answerable to the public or to the party? Because the way the Political Reform Commission has it structured, it is still an appointment based on elections, it is not what I think are in the minds of persons, they will elect directly their Senators and that will create a check and balance and the separation of powers because if you look at it closely, the House, the legislature is made up of two houses, you can’t separate those and still expect to govern.”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“I think it’s, I’ve given my personal opinion, I think it is a step forward in deepening our democratic process to move towards and elected Senate and I maintain that position. Of course we need to work out the mechanics of it, what kind of—how will the Senate be elected, if we so agree to go with that, and secondly what will be the powers of this elected Senate. All these details need to be worked out and as far as the People’s United Party is concerned, we believe that it requires going now into discussion and consultation with the people to get their views before we finalise a formal position on this matter.”
Increasing the power of the Senate by bringing the House of Representatives and the Senate together to make a unicameral assembly, that is, having only one legislative chamber, was one of one hundred three recommendations made to Prime Minister Said Musa in the final report of the Political Reform Commission in 2000. But for the past seven years, there has been political silence on the issue of reforming the Senate. With only nine months left in office before the next general election, the Musa administration’s motives for pushing the issue into the spotlight are now being questioned.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“I know that the cynical journalist will say that I was looking for a distraction, but that was not the case. I really felt that the time had come. When I listen to my own Senators, how they feel that they resent the fact that people consider them just a rubber stamp, even though it was the People’s United Party government that advanced the process of the Senate by expanding the inclusiveness of the social partners into it. It’s still not good enough if we want, in the 21st Century, democracy that we are trying to build.”
It will be months before changes, if any, are made to the Senate. Political leaders will also have to bear in mind that whatever the system in place, its proper operation will depend heavily on the people running it. Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.
The Belize City forum will be held at St. Mary’s Parish Hall at seven on Monday night, while a similar event will be hosted at the George Price Centre in Belmopan Tuesday night at seven.
