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EDITORIAL - Senate appointments: More thoughtfulness needed
published: Thursday | September 27, 2007
It has long been recognised that checks and balances are necessary in a system of government to ensure that individual power is not abused. A Parliament to which the executive government is responsible for its actions is one such check. Parliament is the law-making assembly where the opinions, interests and beliefs of the people are represented. It is the foundation upon which modern democracy is built. It is, therefore, Parliament's role to ensure that the Government is answerable to the governed.
As the Upper Chamber in a bicameral Parliament, the Senate is expected to act as a check and balance to review legislation coming from the Lower House.
It is important then that persons appointed to the Senate bring to the Upper Chamber a measure of mature and sober thinking - less constrained by partisanship. We have seen the real danger to proper governance in the recent past when sloppily drafted legislation from the Lower House was presented for approval but which was rejected because of the vigilance of Senators. So Senate appointments should be considered serious business, and not merely as rewards for loyalty, longevity or personal friendships.
In the evolution of Jamaica's political system we have seen various permutations in Senatorial appointments. It was quite common in the past for the Senate to be comprised largely of politicians who failed to win their seats in contested general elections. We've also had the peculiar arrangement borne out of the crisis of the People's National Party's boycott of the 1983 snap elections when then Prime Minister Edward Seaga appointed a slate of 'independent' Senators as counterfoil to his government appointees. In a subsequent administration, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson appointed two independent Senators - Douglas Orane and Trevor Munroe the latter's position more often than not wa with the government which appointed him. Mr. Orane made some timely and outstanding interventions, but we have also had persons appointed apparently to appease the interests from the trade union movement, gender or youth constituencies. Their interventions were not always useful.
But the Senate has also been an arena in which young, thoughtful persons began to make their mark on the national scene. Edward Seaga's long involvement in Jamaica's political life began with his entry at age 29 in the then Legislative Council - the equivalent of our present Senate - in 1959. And in later administrations, the Senate has evolved into a real chamber of review often with erudite debate surpassing standards in a more rambunctious Lower House.
In the current dispensation, it would, perhaps, be invidious to name individuals, but it does seem that in some of the appointments by Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller greater import is being given to political and personal friendships than to the serious business of what a Senate should be. Of course, being partisan does not in and of itself negate potentially useful interventions in debates about legislation. But where party loyalty trumps good governance, the interests of the wider public are undermined. Our political leaders need to demonstrate more thoughtfulness in their appointments. Jamaica deserves this.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
published: Thursday | September 27, 2007
It has long been recognised that checks and balances are necessary in a system of government to ensure that individual power is not abused. A Parliament to which the executive government is responsible for its actions is one such check. Parliament is the law-making assembly where the opinions, interests and beliefs of the people are represented. It is the foundation upon which modern democracy is built. It is, therefore, Parliament's role to ensure that the Government is answerable to the governed.
As the Upper Chamber in a bicameral Parliament, the Senate is expected to act as a check and balance to review legislation coming from the Lower House.
It is important then that persons appointed to the Senate bring to the Upper Chamber a measure of mature and sober thinking - less constrained by partisanship. We have seen the real danger to proper governance in the recent past when sloppily drafted legislation from the Lower House was presented for approval but which was rejected because of the vigilance of Senators. So Senate appointments should be considered serious business, and not merely as rewards for loyalty, longevity or personal friendships.
In the evolution of Jamaica's political system we have seen various permutations in Senatorial appointments. It was quite common in the past for the Senate to be comprised largely of politicians who failed to win their seats in contested general elections. We've also had the peculiar arrangement borne out of the crisis of the People's National Party's boycott of the 1983 snap elections when then Prime Minister Edward Seaga appointed a slate of 'independent' Senators as counterfoil to his government appointees. In a subsequent administration, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson appointed two independent Senators - Douglas Orane and Trevor Munroe the latter's position more often than not wa with the government which appointed him. Mr. Orane made some timely and outstanding interventions, but we have also had persons appointed apparently to appease the interests from the trade union movement, gender or youth constituencies. Their interventions were not always useful.
But the Senate has also been an arena in which young, thoughtful persons began to make their mark on the national scene. Edward Seaga's long involvement in Jamaica's political life began with his entry at age 29 in the then Legislative Council - the equivalent of our present Senate - in 1959. And in later administrations, the Senate has evolved into a real chamber of review often with erudite debate surpassing standards in a more rambunctious Lower House.
In the current dispensation, it would, perhaps, be invidious to name individuals, but it does seem that in some of the appointments by Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller greater import is being given to political and personal friendships than to the serious business of what a Senate should be. Of course, being partisan does not in and of itself negate potentially useful interventions in debates about legislation. But where party loyalty trumps good governance, the interests of the wider public are undermined. Our political leaders need to demonstrate more thoughtfulness in their appointments. Jamaica deserves this.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
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