Time for term limits

KEITH Rowley, 75, wanted constitutional reform.

He brought Tobago autonomy bills. He appointed an advisory committee to investigate changing the Supreme Law. He urged the population to have their say. He even commissioned a new coat of arms.

But the Prime Minister leaves Whitehall with his wishes largely unfulfilled. The Tobago bills faltered. Few people took on the National Advisory Committee on Constitutional Reform; its November “conference” was indefinitely postponed. The original coat of arms remain.

Yet, the Diego Martin West MP has, in the muddled manner of his impending exit from public life, given the country significant reason for constitutional reform.

More relevant than any report, more persuasive than any eminent jurists’ recommendation, more illustrative than any draft bill are the unprecedented actions of Dr Rowley since January 3.

Those actions yield a compelling case for term limits for prime ministers and for fixed general election dates.

From the start, too much uncertainty has defined the process.

Telling the country that he would demit office prior to the expiration of his term, the prime minister did not state when he would do so.

Nor did he indicate when he would step down as PNM leader.

Nor did Rowley identify a successor – interim or otherwise – or say how that successor would be selected, when and by whom. This, as he promised a “smooth transition.”

Some blanks are now filled in. We know, for instance, that Stuart Young has Rowley’s backing as heir apparent. But there seemingly remains a degree of fluid support for figures like Pennelope Beckles-Robinson. Thrashing out many issues will be Balisier House.

All of this is permitted by the letter, if not the spirit, of the Constitution, which was forged to emulate the Westminster model of government.

Yet, the framers of the law might not have felt it ideal for a PM to be chosen via a straw poll.

If there were rules requiring a prime minister to step down after two terms, none of this would be happening. All would have long known Rowley was about to go.

Furthermore, if such a limit had been in place, not only would the country have been spared the spectacle of a political soap opera, but we might have also avoided the trauma of long-serving Dr Eric Williams dying in office in 1981.

If there were fixed election dates, too, no political leader could keep country and party in suspense by holding a poll in their back pocket.

So today, we call on all political entities, PNM, UNC or otherwise, to pledge, whether they end up in government or opposition, to support special-majority legislation to effect such changes.

After all, Rowley’s own advisory committee in July 2024 recommended same.