Robert Buddan, Contributor
LOCAL GOVERNMENT elections and Local Government reforms have created opportunities for a new phase of democracy in Jamaica. We have entered an era in which more citizens around the world are calling for more direct forms of democracy to parallel the traditional forms of representative democracy. The basic argument is that if democracy means government of, for and by the people, then the more directly the people can engage Government, the more democratic politics would be.
The argument against representative forms of democracy is that representatives are only a proxy for the people. They do not always represent the people's interests. Sometimes they represent personal, party or special groups over the national interest. Yet, it is maintained that representatives do have a continuing role to play because of their specialist knowledge and full-time attention to Government and politics.
DIRECT DEMOCRACY
In a large number of countries around the world movements have been established for direct democracy. These have taken on special momentum since the 1990s. These movements say that the age of representative democracy is passing and a new age of direct democracy, paralleling but fundamentally improving the quality of representative democracy, is in the making.
Representatives will still exist but their independence will be more constrained and people will have more opportunities to directly check and balance what they do. Direct democracy movements have popularised instruments of direct democracy, particularly the referendum, direct elections, deliberative fora and electronic democracy.
These democratic techniques are particularly important to the Westminster systems of the Caribbean. The British parliamentary system is stubbornly attached to the representationist model. The Caribbean, of course, follows the British tradition. The idea of parliamentary sovereignty or supremacy is strong in the British tradition and so members of parliament have traditionally been allowed independence of action that advocates of direct democracy find unacceptable in today's political culture.
REFERENDUM
New forms of direct democracy are being developed in Jamaica. There is more talk today about referendum, direct elections, deliberative assemblies and electronic democracy than ever before. We should recognise these for what they represent and be careful about believing that Jamaican democracy is the same old democracy, or worse, suffering decline and decay.
There are two campaigns for referenda going on. One is a call for a referendum on Jamaica withdrawing from the British Privy Council and joining the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). The other is for a referendum on the new draft constitution for Jamaica. The latter is more certain to come. My suggestion is to combine both so that Jamaicans can vote in a referendum on a new constitution and membership in the CCJ. Whatever we ultimately decide, the referendum gives citizens a direct voice in national affairs, a voice that can confirm, override or adjust the positions of their representatives.
DIRECT ELECTIONS
There are two levels of direct elections that are being campaigned for. There is already success at one level. Jamaicans in Portmore have become the first voters to take part in the direct election of a mayor in the English-speaking Caribbean. It is true that the mayor is still a representative and advocates of direct democracy do not believe that representatives should cease to exist. The real difference is that the mayor is now directly accountable to the voters and is not elected by the council of Local Government representatives.
Over the next eight months, Jamaicans will have the choice of determining if other mayors should be directly elected. They will consider what appropriate management structures they wish to employ for their Local Government councils. In theory, all of the island's mayors can be directly elected. This is a decision that parliament has given to the people.
It is usual to criticise parliament for being a rubber-stamp of the executive and for the executive to have too much power. We must not miss the point that this same executive-dominant parliament has given the people the decision whether they wish to have devolved democratic power to elect their mayors directly or not.
At the national level, there is also the possibility of directly electing the Jamaican prime minister. The new draft constitution provides for Jamaicans to decide (in a referendum) whether the prime minister should be appointed from those who make up a majority in parliament, as the JLP wishes, or whether the prime minister should be directly elected by the people, as the PNP (and NDM) want.
This matter can be settled in a referendum on constitutional reform. Constitutional reform will also entrench Local Government (and the new system of local democracy) and the Electoral Commission (and the new reforms that have improved our electoral system). For these reasons, a referendum on constitutional reform is necessary to consolidate the new initiatives towards direct democracy.
DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY
Deliberative democracy means organising regular meetings of the people to debate and deliberate over issues of community or national importance. It gives the people a chance to be informed and consider, in a structured setting, issues that representatives should take into account as they make law and policy. The town hall meeting is the best known setting for or analogy of this.
It was interesting to hear a Canadian consultant on Local Government reform in Jamaica speak about the way that Parish Development Committees were inspiring deliberative democracy. Andrew Farncombe said: "I think there have been significant strides forward. You see town hall style meetings happening Local Governments are taking their budgets to the people for the first time, and the establishment of the parish development committees has meant that the average Jamaican has a better voice in local affairs."
Community and Parish Development Committees are acting as fora for deliberative democracy. It would be interesting to know how many meetings have been held, how many people have been involved, what cross-section of people has attended, and what decisions have influenced Government action.
We know that Parish and Community Development Committees exist in all parishes to stimulate participation in the planning and development process. But there are others, such as a Canadian (CIDA) project with the government that works with Parish Co-ordinating Committees to monitor parish infrastructural development. These committees also include NGOs and the private sector.
The idea of deliberative democracy is captured by Government's intention to "actively involve citizens through focus groups, citizens' juries and other fora." These are the very ideas that advocates of direct democracy promote.
ELECTRONIC DEMOCRACY
Proponents of direct democracy also advocate electronic or tele-democracy. Two main areas of focus are electronic voting and knowledge-based democracy. Electronic voting by itself only improves the integrity of the voting system and voters still only elect representatives. But by improving the integrity of the voting system, electronic voting also improves the credibility of the system by which people's voices and choices are expressed through elections or referenda. In fact, one reason for the postponement of a referendum on constitutional reform was that it should await electoral reform so that one could have confidence in the results of a referendum. Indeed, it might be possible one day for many people to vote through the internet and when that facility is more widespread, we can have more referenda.
One of the aims of Local Government Reform is to computerise all the parish councils. This would allow those councils to create a knowledge-based citizenry. The reform of governance involves facilitating access to information through the internet; publishing more information about government services and procedures; implementing the Freedom of Information Act; appointing liaison officers of departments and agencies to provide information to the public; and establishing Web sites in all ministries to make the public aware of their activities. These are not just ideas. They are happening.
RECOGNISING DEMOCRACY
A Government paper has acknowledged that, "There have been growing demands from the citizenry for greater involvement and a bigger say in government decisions that affect their lives." We might be so stuck on the image of the traditional forms of representative democracy that we do not recognise the new and more direct forms. There is more progress towards direct democracy in Jamaica than we generally believe. It will take time for a new consciousness of what is happening and what is possible to seep into our ways of thinking. It will take a sustainable effort to inform citizens of the opportunities they have to make themselves heard and for government to develop stronger capacity to respond. It will take a more active citizenship to attend Community and Parish Development Committee and other citizenship meetings. As we take the horse to water, it will take time to make him drink.
Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona. E-mail: rbuddan@uwimona.edu.jm
