St Helena : CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS – 30th June 2009
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Juanita Brock) 01.07.2009 (Article Archived on 15.07.2009)
Yesterday there was a very important debate in Legislative Council. You will know that at the end of that debate the voting of your Elected Members was tied at four for the proposed new Constitution, and four against. The two Ex-Officio Members of Council, the Chief Secretary and the Financial Secretary, have the right to vote under the existing Constitution, but on my instruction did not do so as they are not elected by the people.
CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS – 30th June 2009
Yesterday there was a very important debate in Legislative Council. You will know that at the end of that debate the voting of your Elected Members was tied at four for the proposed new Constitution, and four against. The two Ex-Officio Members of Council, the Chief Secretary and the Financial Secretary, have the right to vote under the existing Constitution, but on my instruction did not do so as they are not elected by the people. I am sure you realise that under the proposed new Constitution they would lose that right anyway. Madam Speaker cast her vote for the status quo which meant that in Legislative Council terms the motion for change failed.
It is sensible to see that result in the broad context of the many years of hard work and consultation that has led up to this opportunity to embrace a modern Constitution. I will not weary you with stating once again the very many benefits to all of you that are contained in the new draft, but it is unarguable that our progress as an island will be held back if we remain stuck in the time warp of the existing 1988 Constitution. That problem would not just be for ourselves as we share this new Constitution with both Tristan da Cunha and Ascension. The Elected Members on both those islands have already indicated their agreement to the proposed changes.
During the debate both sides of the argument expressed their disappointment that only eight of the twelve Elected Members were present, indeed Eric Benjamin in proposing the motion for the change indicated that three of the four absent would have supported the motion. If that is the case, then the result was particularly unfortunate in that it did not reflect the majority view of those who have been elected to represent the wishes of the people.
On 18th June the new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth office, Chris Bryant had a teleconference with the eight Councillors present on the island. During that conference a significant concession was made in that at last it was agreed that the words “British Citizenship” would appear in our Constitution. All Councillors liked that suggestion and when asked at the end of the conference whether any of them had any further concern over the draft, the answer was that they were now content.
I know that Chris Bryant is keen to make sure that a thorough and transparent decision is made regarding the Constitution. That is why he is particularly keen on following through the approach taken by his predecessor, Gillian Merron, who wrote a letter to all Elected Members to seek their individual view. Thus although yesterday’s debate was inconclusive in so far as Elected Members present were concerned, the Minister is currently seeking the views of your other four Councillors to assure himself that he has the most complete advice available before any decision is made.
Andrew Gurr
Governor
30th June 2009
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