18 April, 2009

New Constitution


Chief Minister announces he is to meet with the British to discuss new Constitution. I was not paying much attention this morning to what I was hearing on the news. Renford Kelsick was reading the news on Radio Anguilla in his own idiosyncratic way. That is why I cannot be sure that I heard right. I believe I heard him say that the Chief Minister was going to London to hold discussions with the "British constitutional committee".


They will hold discussions about what, I asked myself?


Is “discussions” not just another word for “negotiations”?


Has Lolita Richardson’s new draft constitution been published to the Anguillian public?


Has anyone in Anguilla seen a copy of this alleged new Constitution?


Are its provisions in line with the 2006 Report of the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission?


Have the Members of the House of Assembly debated the draft before the Chief Minister commences negotiations?


I went to the government website to look. I searched the home page for a link or reference, but there was none. I searched Press Releases to see if there was anything there. As of 5:00 pm but there was nothing on the government website about the new draft Constitution.


How could the Chief Minister be going to London to discuss our new Constitution when none of us has seen what is being proposed?


Will the British permit him to discuss with them any constitutional proposals which have not yet seen the light of day in Anguilla?


Have we not been through this issue over and over before?


Please tell me I imagined it all.

Related Links:

Police Reform



7 comments:

  1. I don't know what you heard. I decided long ago that listening to Kelsick mispronounce the news would make my ears fall off, so I don't listen to the news on Radio Anguilla. And anyway, Ras B says it's pronounced "knee-YOUS".

    I believe Kelsick pauses at the end of each line of the text in front of him, and not when there is a comma or other punctuation mark. He also makes up his own personal pronunciation of every foreign name and place. You have to put yourself into a sort of transcendental state to be able to let your brain make sense out of the jumble of words coming over the airwaves

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  2. It's not a draft. Dame Bernice says it's a "template."

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  3. It's not BBC Radio Anguilla is it? Our local BBC Radio leaves alot to be desired. Not only for their very poor Journalism but for the very friendly relationship they have with our Government.

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  4. Please do not mislead the public and draw Dame Bernice into this debate with postings which are incorrect. She has made no comment about the constitution being "a draft" or " template".

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  5. Mr. Mitchell, last night on The Elkin Show you indicated that the new draft Constitution produced by Lolita Richardson is replete with spelling, grammatical and other errors and fails to follow the instructions she was given about what it was to include.

    Is is true that the CM gave her EC$11,000 per month of our money to do this work? How many months did it take her, and how much more will it cost us to turn out a proper document?

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  6. NO CONSTITUIONAL CHANGE WITHOUT REFERENDUM

    Again, why is Mr. Mitchell misleading the Public?
    He has NEVER seen nor does he have a copy of the draft Constitution produced by Lolita Richardson. He himself said it is an official secret!

    The draft Constitution is a very professional document, and there are no “spelling, grammatical and other errors in it”. It is a and has been submitted to the AG's Chambers for publishing and distribution to the public.

    Anguillians have nothing to worry about. There will be no change to our Constitution, unless there is proper consultation and a referendum.

    Can Mr. Mitchell only build himself up by tearing everyone else down?
    Why all this spite and ill-will?

    Anguillians for Unity, Peace and REFERENDUM!

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  7. When will the House of Assembly be considering legislation to allow referendums in Anguilla? First I knew anything about this!

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