Dear Editor,
When Trinidad and Tobago’s former prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, amended her country’s constitution last August, to allow term limits for that office, it was roundly condemned by her regional counterparts.
Kenny Anthony in St Lucia and Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines criticised the legislation.
In an August 2014 editorial, ‘Let the people decide’, the Jamaica Observer said the Trinidadian Government acted with “indecent haste”. It is that kind of reasoning which keeps vision-less leaders like Anthony and Gonsalves around forever. Not to mention like-minded career politicians in Jamaica.
If Bruce Golding had kept his pre-prime minister pledge of constitutional reform, which includes term limits, Jamaica would be rid of the Simpson Millers, Pickersgills, Henrys, and Charleses.
The website, Americas Quarterly, points to the significance of term limits: “Brazil, one of the largest democracies in the world, is one of the best illustrations of the benefits of term limits. Presidents are banned from serving beyond a second term. As a result, Government and Opposition forces over the past 16 years have developed an equilibrium of power, which in turn has helped the country address its deepest problems through consensus. The result has been internationally acclaimed anti-poverty programmes, including conditional cash transfers and long-term investments in primary education.”
The writer went on to note: “Defeating a long-sitting president in Latin America is a forbidding task.” Sounds familiar? Jamaica and the Caribbean should take heed.
George Caldwell
Above Rocks, St Andrew
serialkid2000@hotmail.com
When Trinidad and Tobago’s former prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, amended her country’s constitution last August, to allow term limits for that office, it was roundly condemned by her regional counterparts.
Kenny Anthony in St Lucia and Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines criticised the legislation.
In an August 2014 editorial, ‘Let the people decide’, the Jamaica Observer said the Trinidadian Government acted with “indecent haste”. It is that kind of reasoning which keeps vision-less leaders like Anthony and Gonsalves around forever. Not to mention like-minded career politicians in Jamaica.
If Bruce Golding had kept his pre-prime minister pledge of constitutional reform, which includes term limits, Jamaica would be rid of the Simpson Millers, Pickersgills, Henrys, and Charleses.
The website, Americas Quarterly, points to the significance of term limits: “Brazil, one of the largest democracies in the world, is one of the best illustrations of the benefits of term limits. Presidents are banned from serving beyond a second term. As a result, Government and Opposition forces over the past 16 years have developed an equilibrium of power, which in turn has helped the country address its deepest problems through consensus. The result has been internationally acclaimed anti-poverty programmes, including conditional cash transfers and long-term investments in primary education.”
The writer went on to note: “Defeating a long-sitting president in Latin America is a forbidding task.” Sounds familiar? Jamaica and the Caribbean should take heed.
George Caldwell
Above Rocks, St Andrew
serialkid2000@hotmail.com