How can we hold politicians accountable? - Part 1
An interesting, but incomplete, conversation on facebook made me wonder: what methods do we have in T&T to hold the winning politicians to their campaign promises after 24 May 2010?
The People's Partnership's (PP's) campaign is based on seven development pillars, one of which is a return to good governance (e.g rebuilding public trust, rooting out corruption). COP supporters have said that the electorate must turn out to ensure that their candidates are voted in because they believe the COP's promise to act as a check and balance is a key element for delivering the goals under this pillar. Not voting is not an option - especially in marginal seats - because no vote is actually a vote for the status quo.
One COP supporter, understandably, pitted this as a once-in-a-lifetime election where the choice is either to return the PNM to power so they can extend their legacy of bad governance or vote in the People's Partnership that isn't perfect but has enough elements to provide good governance. Then cames the key issue to me: she said once the COP and other minority partners are voted into power with the UNC, the public can hold them accountable for their promises, especially constitutional reform.
So I asked: how will the public do that? Put aside for the moment that if the UNC wins 21 or more seats, it doesn't really need any of the minority coalition partners to govern, so the COP would actually need a certain result to get boost their influential power within the coalition. Just assume the COP gets the power to act as a viable check and balance: what can the public do to ensure the COP acts as promised?
The PNM was voted into government in 2002 on the same central campaign issue: a need to end the UNC's run of corruption. It is to their great shame that they've turned out to be no less corrupt than the government they replaced. The public is feeling just as abused now - if not moreso, since the PNM was voted in on an anti-corruption ticket - as they felt in 2002. Politicians get voted in and then become either deaf or shameless. Or both. How do we stop ourselves from feeling it again at the end of the PP's term in 2015 (or whenever the next election is called), or at the end of every future government's term?
The PP promised to implement a right to recall non-performing parliamentary representatives. Until they deliver this promise, it can't be used by the public.
So here's my question to you: what will you do from 25 May 2010 to make the winning politicians honour their campaign promises?
Respond using the Add comment link below. Thanks much.
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[...] How can we hold politicians accountable? | KnowTnT.com (Beta) www.knowtnt.com/node/171 – view page – cached An interesting, but incomplete, conversation on facebook made me wonder: what methods do we have in T&T to hold the winning politicians to their campaign promises after 24 May 2010? Tweets about this link Topsy.Data.Twitter.User['knowtnt'] = {"photo":"http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/721436715/knowtntscreenie_normal.png","url":"http://twitter.com/knowtnt","nick":"knowtnt"}; knowtnt: “How can we hold politicians accountable? http://tinyurl.com/2etd4gq by Edmund Gall ” 13 minutes ago view tweet retweet Filter tweets [...]
Recall of MPs
Does the right to recall MPs mean that the entire government can be recalled especially with a small majority?
Good question, well presented...
... I have no idea what the PP's or COP's version of 'right to recall' is.
If the majority is slim - say 1 seat - then if RtR is implemented in a manner that declares one or more government MPs' seats vacant before by-elections are held, it could lead to constitutional crisis.
Follow-up articles
Not much response so far so folks either thinking about it or haven't a clue on how to respond.
So I'll give some suggestions I got from facebook conversations.
One person said 'under our current political system, we can only seek our interest and speak out against the actions of a government at a general election which comes every five years. In the meantime, we can try to form advocacy, lobby, change and pressure groups as in the U.S. and other countries. Question is are enough of our citizens motivated enough to do that?'
I've also recommended weekly town hall-styled debates on TV that bring MPs and ministers face-to-face with the public to address the issues.
Further, local politics is still about the holding of power, which is contained within roles. Once persons assume those roles, they're free to ignore advocacy, lobbies and public groups. Thus, I suggest folks identify how candidates get those roles and become influential stakeholders in the selection processes. General and local elections is one process. Party elections is another. I strongly urge folks to join the parties so they can have a meaningful say in who gets selected for MPs in national elections. And examine how party constitutions should be reformed to make it truly 'people-centred governance' - e.g. if party officers were elected every 3 years instead of 5, you can get a mid-term opportunity to knock some sense into the party leadership.
Holding politicians accountable
The problem is not that the people we elect don't have to be explicitly accountable to us for the next 5 years but rather that when election time comes around we revert to old allegiances and largely ignore the events of the preceding term.
In any given government, the majority of people will have hopes of being in government
in the following term so they will tend to act, at least in part, to achieve this objective by serving well. Unless of course they take their constituency for granted.
I think that you (and your facebook friends) have hit the nail on the head when you speak about things such as increased advocacy or working within the parties for better. I think we are a very passive people in that respect. Even the level of campaign rhetoric is influenced by how we, the public, respond to it. So if the level isn't being raised it's because we happy with it.
I think there are too many people who define themselves as PNM voters or UNC voters. I'm not talking about people who are party members and actively working within the party framework. There are too many die-hard supporters who are just willing to settle for what direction their party ends up going in.
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Enoug is Enough
For every election the PNM make promises after promises but seldom deliver. And when they do deliver it is used as a cover up to fill their pockets first and to hell with whom else suffer. Are we really that stupid to fall for this crap again? We made this mistake for so many years. Are we that dumb to not learn and make the right choices this time? Are we not encouraging servitude upon ourselves? We are holding back the power we have in our hands to govern this country by blindly voting along racial and party lines. And this has to stop. The country and I mean we the people will never see prosperity or have progress if we allow this disease to spread. It will eat away the strength we have to fight for our survival and leave us as slaves, just waiting to be oppressed by the next dictator. By not realizing that only we can shape our life and in so doing the destiny of our country, otherwise we will become breeding grounds for the next Hitler or Idi Amin.
Holding politicians accountable
When the UNC had their scandal they were held accountable and they lost power.
We didn't just hold them accountable at that one election as many members of the party eventually left to form the COP when they realised that Panday wasn't willing to cede power. In 2007, the electorate as a whole rejected them again because they hadn't made any real changes. Eventually in 2010 the membership held the executive accountable by voting for a changing of the guard. Not saying that everyone from that era has been removed but they underwent as big of a facelift as you can expect from a political party in T&T.
Please People Wake Up, I am Begging You.
Manning is overspending and building up to a bubble, creating a false sense of prosperity. That bubble will burst soon and Trinidad will see very dark days. I am very very concerned. He is encouraging the migration of labour into the country when his own people are living in the slums. When the bubble burst these people will be living on the streets. People please wake up, I am begging you.
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[...] 8, 2010 by Edmund Gall I first asked this question in the run-up to the recent General Elections and got a few responses. The general conclusion then was that voters only have the power to hold their representatives [...]