By-passing Parliament THE PRIVATE meeting of PNP and JLP leaders along with selected representatives of the commercial community, has been hailed by the participants as a success, and we the people are expected to put our trust in their promise that social and economic benefits will flow from that deliberation. The optimism may well be justified, but in my view the main achievement of that tête-à-tête is that the political party leaders have once again circumvented the Constitution and by-passed Parliament by setting up their own mechanism to deal with the country's problems. The Constitution determines that Parliament has the responsibility "...to make laws for the peace, order and good government of Jamaica". However, there is a growing tendency to conduct public business by extra-Parliamentary procedures, unofficial announcements, and closed-door negotiations for which no one is legally accountable to the people. This practice has gotten completely out of hand; and it is the type of behaviour that has invited opprobrium and a lessening of respect for elected officials and public institutions. We have 60 men and women voted into Parliament with wide powers to debate and define public policies and programmes; paid to use their good offices to operate the ship of state and keep it on even keel. But instead of using Constitutional mechanisms established for public business they resort to unorthodox devices and unofficial procedures that are not recorded in Hansard, not minuted for the records and not available to future generations that may come to judge their actions. This entire nation is being overwhelmed by crime and economic disasters of one kind or another; and we need desperately to identify and correct the causative factors. This search for solutions is the prime responsibility of the people's representatives in Parliament all of them; not just a few selected by the two political parties at the behest of the commercial sector. For my part, I question the role of the elected representative who is expected to speak and act in the interest of the constituency in which I live. I believe that I am entitled to hear his opinion, publicly stated in Parliament, not behind closed doors at Vale Royal or any other privately chosen venue. As it is, my MP was not even a part of the arrangement and therefore had no say; and this goes for the citizens of at least 40 other constituencies throughout Jamaica. The particular happenings in the western part of the City of Kingston, as well as the general escalation of criminal and police activity are only symptomatic of a larger, deeper problem that needs to be addressed by all of us, and such action should be led by those who asked for and were given the power and authority of political leadership via Parliament. It is neither right nor proper for the two leading Parliamentarians, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, to by-pass Parliament where their words and deeds are open to public scrutiny and judgement. The 'dissing' of Parliament is not in isolation. Gradually, we have seen the obfuscation of the Commissions of Enquiries Act. We have observed the down-grading of Question Time in the House. We have heard of major decisions affecting all the people, being announced without the prior knowledge of the people's representatives; and of public works being undertaken through private channels. We have witnessed deliberate delays in calling by-elections, so as to deprive thousands of Jamaicans of the Parliamentary representation to which they are entitled. There has been judicial paralysis when decisions are to be made as to who should rightfully represent constituencies. And now the constitutional machinery for the public service and the police service commissions are to be reviewed by a team chosen not through Parliament but by an off-the-record meeting of selected party politicians and self-appointed representatives of the commercial community. Is this not another step toward the weakening of Parliament, the undermining of the Constitution and the widening of the gap between Government and the people? I think so. Ken Jones is a freelance journalist.
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