In part one, we examined the structure of the government of Trinidad and Tobago, identifying several shortcomings of the system. In this post, I will outline my proposed changes to the political system and the reasoning behind those changes.
My proposed changes will be aimed at improving system efficiency and effectiveness, reducing costs to the taxpayers' and ensuring that those who get into power are truly competent and willing to perform their duties.
I will not pretend that my proposed system is objectively better or worse than the current system because it would be impossible to know that without being able to compare the two. Furthermore, without testing it in real-life conditions it is impossible to gauge the practicality of such a system. So this post is meant to be a theoretical exercise as I also have little faith that anything that I list below will ever be implemented. But that caveat aside, I invite you to read the rest of the post to see my proposed changes to the system.
General Systemic Design Changes
Smaller Government
One of the key philosophies of this system re-design is to shrink the overall size of the country's government, by reducing the number of officials. The main reasoning behind this will be to reduce the overall costs of the system to the taxpayers through a reduction in the amount of money spent on things like salaries and benefits for government officials.
Additionally, a smaller government reduces the probability of corruption. A smaller government will mean that there is less opportunity for incompetent or corrupt individuals to enter into office as there will be less positions for them to compete for and these will be more easily monitored and candidates more closely scrutinised.
The smaller the size of the government would also mean less complexity, thus improving the efficiency of the system. There will be less officials and less bureaucracy to hinder system operation leading to efficiency gains which can also help reduce the economic and social costs of the system.
The proposed changes to the system of government are discussed in greater detail later on, however a general description is given below.
At the national level, the new system will see the senate reduced in size from thirty-one members to fifteen and the house of representatives reduced from forty-one members to fifteen (one senator and member of parliament per administrative region). It will also see the elimination of prime minister, president of the republic, president of the senate, speaker and deputy speaker of the house.
At the local level, there will be the simplification of municipal corporations to one singular type as opposed to the four separate ones they have now. The positions of councillor and mayor or chairman will be eliminated and their powers given instead to the member of parliament for the area. Aldermen will be kept but there will be a limit of five per administrative region.
With respect to Tobago, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) will be disbanded under the proposed system and their system of local government restructured to match that of the administrative regions in Trinidad. The new Tobagonian regional corporation will have the same powers, structure and role as its Trinidadian counterparts and will also be headed by a member of parliament.
Reduction in Post Electoral Checks and Balances
Post electoral checks and balances are checks and balances built into the system to ensure that no one person can corrupt it for their own ends. As their name suggests, they are all implemented after elected individuals get into power. The general principle employed is to limit the decision making power of each government official to prevent an incompetent, corrupt or malicious individual from hijacking the system for their own agenda. Methods utilised to accomplish this goal include separation of powers, debates and group decision making among others. While this is not necessarily a bad thing by itself, it does have the unintended side effect of increasing bureaucracy, making the system more expensive and inefficient while slowing down the decision making process.
Therefore the proposed new system will see a reduction (but not an elimination) of post electoral checks and balances. This will be done in favour of implementing more pre-electoral checks and balances.
Implementation of Greater Pre-Electoral Checks and Balances
Pre-electoral checks and balances focus on preventing potentially unfit individuals from getting into power in the first place. At present there are no official pre-electoral checks and balances in the Trinidad and Tobago system other than a citizenship requirement. Political parties do conduct informal screenings of candidates but there are no standard procedures for doing this and as has been made clear by now, parties cannot be trusted to appoint suitable individuals into power.
The pre-electoral checks and balances proposed under the new system will aim to prevent potentially unfit individuals from attaining positions of power as well as correcting for faults on the part of voters such as bias or ignorance. They will include things like minimum educational requirements and double-blind voting. Additionally, stringent background checks will be carried out on all applicants. Anyone who was convicted of a serious crime (murder, sexual assault, embezzlement, fraud or anything along those lines) will be disbarred from becoming public officials.
Under the proposed system, the bulk of the pre-electoral checks will be carried out by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC). The EBC is the body responsible for regulating local elections ("Elections And Boundaries Commission | Partners In Democracy" 2017). Their powers would be expanded to allow them to screen applicants for public office. This job that was previously done by the political parties for elected individuals and by the prime minister, president, leader of opposition and/or senate for non-elected individuals.
Replacement of Constituencies with Administrative Regions
This is pretty straightforward, under the present system there are separate systems for local and national government, with no synchronisation between the two in terms of geographic division. This means that the borders of the administrative regions and the constituencies do not always line up. Take a look at the maps below to see what I mean (Fig .1)
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| Figure 1.-Map of the Regional Corporations in Trinidad and Tobago ("Regional Corporations And Municipalities Of Trinidad And Tobago" 2017) |
Now compare the above map to the map of constituencies shown on the parliament's website at this link. See the issue? The constituencies do not always align with the administrative regions. The result? It's possible for a constituency to fall under two separate administrative regions or parts of an administrative region to fall under two constituencies. For example, The Tobago administrative region is split between the Tobago East and Tobago West constituencies or parts of the Rio Claro-Mayaro administrative region fall under the Mayaro constituency while other parts fall under the Moruga/Tableland constituency. This misalignment adds a layer of complication in terms of representation because the same MP may have to work with two separate local government councils or vice-versa, which can be problematic especially if there are partisan differences.
My proposed solution to this is a simple one: make the administrative regions the constituencies as well. Rather than having forty-one members of parliament in the lower house, there will be fifteen, one from each administrative region. Each constituency would also have to elect a senator, shrinking the size of the senate to fifteen as well.
The advantages of this is that the local government system is now synchronised with the national government system. It also leads to a smaller house of representatives and senate which again can lead to savings of taxpayers' money on salaries and benefits.
Introducing Minimum Age, Residency, Experience and Education Requirements for Candidates
Under the present system, basically anyone can run for office, with no consideration given to their fitness for the post they are contesting . It is assumed under most democratic systems that the electorate is capable of making a rational choice and selecting the most suitably qualified candidate on their own, the so called, "wisdom of the masses". However, this has not always been the case in practise.
Suriname elected Desire "Desi" Bouterse, a convicted felon, drug trafficker and mass murderer to the post of president ("Suriname Profile-Leaders" 2017) (Wilkinson 2017). President Bourterse then proceeded to grant himself amnesty from his murder charges much to the chagrin of the opposition parties and Suriname's former colonial master the Netherlands ("Suriname Profile-Leaders" 2017). He has also used his position as head of state and its associated immunity to avoid prosecution in foreign courts ("Suriname Profile-Leaders" 2017).
Venezuela elected Hugo Chavez, a former military officer who had attempted a failed coup in the past ("Hugo Chávez" 2017). Mister Chavez then proceeded to destroy their country's economy by overspending on wasteful social programs, destroying private businesses and not saving enough money to cater for future economic uncertainty. He also appointed another unfit ruler, Nicholas Maduro, a former bus driver with no higher education as his successor. This has led to Venezuela becoming a political and economic basketcase rapidly approaching failed state status (The Guardian 2017).
The Philippines elected Rodrigo Duterte to office. Duterte has regularly voiced his support for vigilantism in the Philippines, condoning extra-judicial killings of criminals and has been criticized by the international community for his various abuses of human rights ("Rodrigo Duterte" 2017). Despite his misdeeds being public knowledge, he was still elected by popular vote into power.
And of course we can't forget about the most prominent example of the, "wisdom of the masses," the election of Donald Trump, a candidate so demonstrably unfit to hold the position of president it defied logic that he even won the primary elections. Since taking office in 2016, President Trump has generally acted inappropriately and has made a series of poor policy decisions such as the infamous, "Muslim ban," (Dalton 2017) reversing the US's policy towards Cuba (Mazzei, Torres and Whitefield 2017) and appointing unfit individuals to public office who serve his supposed political agenda (Diaz 2017) ("A Raw Deal From Betsy Devos" 2017) ("Opinion | Attorney General Jeff Sessions Doesn’t Recall" 2017). There were mountains of evidence of Trump's unsuitability for the post of president during his campaign yet somehow he managed to be elected into power.
There are sadly countless more examples of unfit, populist leaders being elected globally but we'll stop with these four.
The electorate of Trinidad and Tobago are no exception to this trend of electing unfit, populist leaders into power. We have consistently done this throughout our history and this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Our country has paid the price for our collectively poor decision making in the form of improper policy decisions, corruption, scandals and countless other, immeasurable ways. It is obvious that the electorate cannot always be trusted to elect a suitable candidate on their own and certain objective checks and balances need to be done prior to elections.
Education
One way we can help ensure competence of public officials is by setting certain minimum educational requirements for candidates running for office. "But Barindra, that's wrong, you shouldn't block someone from running for office because they aren't properly educated what's wrong with you?" some of you may exclaim. Well dear reader, why not? We do it for other jobs. The next time you're flying, who would you rather fly the plane, pilots who have gone through years of training and posses the right qualifications or two random people elected from among the passengers in the cabin who may not have the required expertise? If you require surgery, would you rather a surgeon who has gone through medical school and has the proper qualifications or someone randomly elected from the people in the hospital waiting room? See my point now?
People tend to forget that running a country is a job which like any other job, requires the relevant expertise and qualifications. Why then do we insist that it is better to simply choose people for some of the most important jobs in our society by means of a glorified popularity contest? Minimum educational requirements will help ensure only suitably qualified individuals are allowed to run for office.
Age
Of course education isn't the only requirement that needs to put in place. Age is another factor. It is highly likely that the older a person gets, the less able they will be to perform their job. They become more susceptible to mental and physical illness and generally become slower in nature. Additionally they may be out of touch with the current issues facing the nation due to their age, affecting their judgement.This is why we have mandatory retirement ages. It is therefore rational that there should be age limits placed on officials who serve in public office after which they must retire, as with any other job. I would propose this be the same as the national retirement age of sixty years. Any person who would reach this age prior to the end of their term in office will not be allowed to run for election regardless of if they meet the other requirements.
Residency
Currently any person who runs for public office must be a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. Under my proposed new system, this will remain in place for all positions. Additionally, for the positions of member of parliament, alderman, and senator, the individuals would have had to reside in an administrative region for a certain amount of time before being eligible to represent that region. Ministers will have no such requirements as they will be selected based on expertise rather than residence.
Experience
This will apply only to the position of minister where field specific expertise is required. Any individual filling the post will have to demonstrate a certain amount of work experience in a relevant field before being allowed to apply for office. This will be in addition to having the relevant academic qualifications detailed below. Experience will help improve the proficiency of officials in the performance of their roles. Additionally, experience requirements will help prevent mismatches between ministers and their portfolios.
Proposed Structural ChangesUnder the present system, basically anyone can run for office, with no consideration given to their fitness for the post they are contesting . It is assumed under most democratic systems that the electorate is capable of making a rational choice and selecting the most suitably qualified candidate on their own, the so called, "wisdom of the masses". However, this has not always been the case in practise.
Suriname elected Desire "Desi" Bouterse, a convicted felon, drug trafficker and mass murderer to the post of president ("Suriname Profile-Leaders" 2017) (Wilkinson 2017). President Bourterse then proceeded to grant himself amnesty from his murder charges much to the chagrin of the opposition parties and Suriname's former colonial master the Netherlands ("Suriname Profile-Leaders" 2017). He has also used his position as head of state and its associated immunity to avoid prosecution in foreign courts ("Suriname Profile-Leaders" 2017).
Venezuela elected Hugo Chavez, a former military officer who had attempted a failed coup in the past ("Hugo Chávez" 2017). Mister Chavez then proceeded to destroy their country's economy by overspending on wasteful social programs, destroying private businesses and not saving enough money to cater for future economic uncertainty. He also appointed another unfit ruler, Nicholas Maduro, a former bus driver with no higher education as his successor. This has led to Venezuela becoming a political and economic basketcase rapidly approaching failed state status (The Guardian 2017).
The Philippines elected Rodrigo Duterte to office. Duterte has regularly voiced his support for vigilantism in the Philippines, condoning extra-judicial killings of criminals and has been criticized by the international community for his various abuses of human rights ("Rodrigo Duterte" 2017). Despite his misdeeds being public knowledge, he was still elected by popular vote into power.
And of course we can't forget about the most prominent example of the, "wisdom of the masses," the election of Donald Trump, a candidate so demonstrably unfit to hold the position of president it defied logic that he even won the primary elections. Since taking office in 2016, President Trump has generally acted inappropriately and has made a series of poor policy decisions such as the infamous, "Muslim ban," (Dalton 2017) reversing the US's policy towards Cuba (Mazzei, Torres and Whitefield 2017) and appointing unfit individuals to public office who serve his supposed political agenda (Diaz 2017) ("A Raw Deal From Betsy Devos" 2017) ("Opinion | Attorney General Jeff Sessions Doesn’t Recall" 2017). There were mountains of evidence of Trump's unsuitability for the post of president during his campaign yet somehow he managed to be elected into power.
There are sadly countless more examples of unfit, populist leaders being elected globally but we'll stop with these four.
The electorate of Trinidad and Tobago are no exception to this trend of electing unfit, populist leaders into power. We have consistently done this throughout our history and this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Our country has paid the price for our collectively poor decision making in the form of improper policy decisions, corruption, scandals and countless other, immeasurable ways. It is obvious that the electorate cannot always be trusted to elect a suitable candidate on their own and certain objective checks and balances need to be done prior to elections.
Education
One way we can help ensure competence of public officials is by setting certain minimum educational requirements for candidates running for office. "But Barindra, that's wrong, you shouldn't block someone from running for office because they aren't properly educated what's wrong with you?" some of you may exclaim. Well dear reader, why not? We do it for other jobs. The next time you're flying, who would you rather fly the plane, pilots who have gone through years of training and posses the right qualifications or two random people elected from among the passengers in the cabin who may not have the required expertise? If you require surgery, would you rather a surgeon who has gone through medical school and has the proper qualifications or someone randomly elected from the people in the hospital waiting room? See my point now?
People tend to forget that running a country is a job which like any other job, requires the relevant expertise and qualifications. Why then do we insist that it is better to simply choose people for some of the most important jobs in our society by means of a glorified popularity contest? Minimum educational requirements will help ensure only suitably qualified individuals are allowed to run for office.
Age
Of course education isn't the only requirement that needs to put in place. Age is another factor. It is highly likely that the older a person gets, the less able they will be to perform their job. They become more susceptible to mental and physical illness and generally become slower in nature. Additionally they may be out of touch with the current issues facing the nation due to their age, affecting their judgement.This is why we have mandatory retirement ages. It is therefore rational that there should be age limits placed on officials who serve in public office after which they must retire, as with any other job. I would propose this be the same as the national retirement age of sixty years. Any person who would reach this age prior to the end of their term in office will not be allowed to run for election regardless of if they meet the other requirements.
Residency
Currently any person who runs for public office must be a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. Under my proposed new system, this will remain in place for all positions. Additionally, for the positions of member of parliament, alderman, and senator, the individuals would have had to reside in an administrative region for a certain amount of time before being eligible to represent that region. Ministers will have no such requirements as they will be selected based on expertise rather than residence.
Experience
This will apply only to the position of minister where field specific expertise is required. Any individual filling the post will have to demonstrate a certain amount of work experience in a relevant field before being allowed to apply for office. This will be in addition to having the relevant academic qualifications detailed below. Experience will help improve the proficiency of officials in the performance of their roles. Additionally, experience requirements will help prevent mismatches between ministers and their portfolios.
The proposed changes to the political system in Trinidad and Tobago are aimed at simplifying the system to improve its efficiency, lowering costs and to make it more logical in nature. The proposed new structure of the government of Trinidad and Tobago is shown below (Fig. 2). Note that the judicial branch was not discussed as it will be done in a later post.
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| Figure 2:- Proposed New Structure of the Trinidad and Tobago Government |
Senate
Senators under the new system will occupy the highest position in the government, replacing the old senate and the roles of president and prime minister. There will also be no more senate president as all the members of the senate will have equal powers.
Requirements for Senators
Age
-Any candidate for the position of senator must not exceed the age of sixty years at the end of their term.
-Must be at least eighteen years of age.
Educational
-Must be computer literate.
-Must be able to fluently read,speak and write the English Language.
-Must possess at least a PhD.
Residency
-Must be a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.
-Must not possess citizenship of any other state.
-Must have resided for a period of at least ten years within the administrative region they represent.
Other
-Must never have been convicted of a serious crime.
Selection Process
Under the current system, senators are selected by either the prime minister, leader of opposition or president. As previously discussed, this can lead to unfit persons being appointed to the post to serve certain political agendas. To guard against this, the senate will be elected by the people under the proposed system with pre-electoral checks and balances in place. As previously discussed, each of the fifteen administrative regions will have to elect a senator to represent them in the senate. The candidates would also have to meet certain minimum requirements as discussed above. At each general election, a senator will be elected under a first past the post system similar to members of parliament under the current system. This system will also be double-blind to avoid irrational bias (discussed below).
Revised Powers
As discussed in a previous post, the top tiers of the executive and legislative branches of our government consist of the president and prime minister and the senate. This is meant to provide separation of powers. In practise however, the current system is unnecessarily top-heavy, and some of the roles (such as that of the president) can be considered redundant and symbolic in nature. This is an additional cost to the taxpayers and adds unneeded complexity and inefficiency to the government.
My proposed solution for this will be to eliminate the positions of prime minister and president and merge their powers with the senate. This would mean the highest position in government will be occupied by a group of individuals each with equal powers and who would have to come to a consensus on decisions before they are taken. So while the new senate will have more powers than its predecessor did, it will also have greater checks and balances than the prime minister and president do under the current system.
Senators will have the powers of the president in being the head of state and head of the defence forces, additionally they will be responsible for selecting ministers and the chief justice. Senators will also be solely responsible for passing legislation and will vote to decide the passage of legislation and recommend amendments to bills before they are signed into law. However the cannot propose new legislation or amend existing legislation, these powers lie with the ministers.
Because they are elected under the proposed system, they will now be representative of the voice of their constituents, something which is accomplished by the MP's under the current system. This is why MP's will no longer be required to vote on legislation, because the senate would be sufficiently representative of the population.
Another benefit of this change, will be a reduction in the risk to the government. By having a group acting as head of state instead of an individual, you ensure that there will be continuity of government should something renders one individual to complete their duties such as an assassination or illness.
For international events like meetings of the United Nations, a representative will be selected from the senate at random to act in the role of symbolic head of state. This senator will have no additional powers and will simply serve a symbolic function.
House of Representatives
Under the proposed system the house of representatives will be a bit of a misnomer as members of parliament will actually be based in their individual administrative regions as opposed to the parliament. They will also no longer be required to vote on legislation, with that power lying solely with the senate. Instead, they will assume the position previously held by the mayor or chairman of regional corporations and be responsible for oversight of the administrative regions they represent.
Requirements for Members of Parliament
Age
-Any candidate for the position of member of parliament must not exceed the age of sixty years at the end of their term.
-Must be at least eighteen years of age.
Educational
-Must be computer literate.
-Must be able to fluently read,speak and write the English Language.
-Must possess at least an undergraduate degree.
Residency
-Must be a natural-born citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.
-Must not possess citizenship in any other state.
-Must have resided for a period of at least ten years within the administrative region they represent.
Other
-Must never have been convicted of a serious crime.
Just like the senators, members of parliament will be elected by a first past the post system in the same general election as the senators. Having a single election will save time and money for the taxpayers and minimise the disruption to the country that elections tend to cause.
Revised Powers
There is no logical reason to maintain two separate, independent systems for local and central government in a country as small as Trinidad and Tobago. It is required in larger nations like the United States or the UK, but it is simply not necessary to have it for such a small nation. It leads to inefficiency and can slow decision making. Instead the systems should be integrated with local level government having a greater say in national policy making and the central government more involved with local level decision making.
To this end the local government system would be significantly restructured under the proposed system. The major changes will include the removal of the position of councillors and mayors or chairmen. The new position of member of parliament will combine the powers of the councillors and member of parliament and chairman or mayor under the old system. The main role of members of parliament under this system will be to oversee the affairs of the administrative region they represent and will be in charge of the regional corporations that governs the region.They will also have to listen to hear any grievances their constituents may have.
The MP's will also serve as the bridge between the local and national governments and will advise their respective senators on the opinions and issues affecting their administrative region so they could factor in to their decision-making process in the senate. Unlike the current system, they will not be able to vote on legislation, with the citizens' interests instead being represented by their senator.
Aldermen
Each member of parliament will be required to select aldermen to assist them with their duties much the same way councillors did.
Requirements for Aldermen
Age
-Any candidate for the position of alderman must not exceed the age of sixty years at the end of their term.
-Must be at least eighteen years of age.
Educational
-Must be computer literate.
-Must be able to fluently read,speak and write the English Language.
-Must possess at least three Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) passes at grade two or above or equivalent.
Residency
-Must be a natural-born citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.
-Must not possess citizenship in any other state.
-Must have resided for a period of at least five years within the administrative region they represent.
Other
-Must never have been convicted of a serious crime.
Selection Process
Aldermen will be selected by the member of parliament for the area during the selection phase of the new electoral process (see below). The member of parliament for the area will be allowed to appoint a maximum of five aldermen to assist them with the execution of their duties. They will be required to present their choices to the EBC for verification of their qualifications and once approved, they will be appointed to their posts.
Revised Powers
Aldermen are simply there to assist the member of parliament in managing the administrative region which they are in-charge of. They will perform such tasks as engage with the people of the area, conduct polls among residents, data analysis and other similar functions which are deemed fit by their MP.
Ministers
Ministers roles will be similar to their roles under the current system, being responsible for overseeing a particular ministry. The main change will be the selection process for ministerial candidates.
Requirements for Ministers
Age
-Any candidate for the position of minister must not exceed the age of sixty years at the end of their term.
-Must be at least eighteen years of age.
Educational
-Must be computer literate.
-Must be able to fluently read,speak and write the English Language.
-Must possess at least an postgraduate degree in a field relevant to their portfolio.
Work Experience
-Must possess at least ten years work experience in a relevant field.
Residency
-Must be a natural-born citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.
-Must not possess citizenship in any other state.
Other
-Must never have been convicted of a serious crime.
Selection Process
Ministers will be selected by the senate using a double-blind, first past the post voting system. Senators will only be given the candidates' qualifications and experience and will have a maximum of one month to decide who they will be voting for. As with the general election, personal details such as age, sex, religion, race etc. will not be revealed thus ensuring that the selection process is not irrationally biased.There will be no collusion or discussion allowed among senators in this process, each senator would have to come to their decision on their own and cast a secret ballot. Once the vote is cast, the candidate with the majority of votes wins the post of minister.
Should a tie arise, the candidates who have tied will be summoned to the senate for an interview and then the senate will vote again. Should no consensus be arrived at after this point, the EBC will simply randomly select an individual to fill the post. The fact that they have passed so many levels of screening means that all the candidates are suitable for the post at this point and the choice will not really matter.
Revised Powers
Ministers will be the head of the various ministries and will be responsible for managing their affairs, with their role being analogous to the CEO of a company. They will have the power to organise ministries as they see fit, appoint and terminate staff and initiate projects. They will also be responsible for budgetary management.
In addition to their ministerial duties, ministers will be responsible for providing an expert voice in the process of policy-making and executing policy decisions related to their assigned ministry. Under my proposed system, they are the only individuals who can propose (but not implement) new or amended legislation for the senate to pass. The rationale behind this is that they are the ones managing most of the country's affairs and are appointed solely based on their qualifications being experts in their respective fields. Thus, they will be in the best position to propose new legislation.
Revised Electoral Process
The proposed electoral process is shown below (Fig. 3).
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| Figure 3:-Proposed Electoral Process |
Note that there are three main phases of the process, shown by the colours in the diagram.
Screening Phase (Green)
Instead of parties selecting and screening candidates, the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) will be required to review the applications of candidates to see if they meet the requirements to hold office discussed above. Note that this screening will be mandatory for both the elected officials (senators and members of parliament) and non-elected officials (NEO's) (ministers and aldermen). Once they have met the requirements, they must be allowed to run in the elections. The EBC will have no legal right to stop a candidate unless he or she doesn't meet the educational or age requirements to run for office. This phase is expected to last six months and will begin one year prior to the date of elections.
The screening phase will begin when applicants for the various positions in the government submit their resumes, manifestos and documentary proof of qualifications, citizenship and residence as required by the position (see previous section). The EBC will then screen these applications and verify the information stated on them to be true to ensure that applicants meet the requirements for the post.The screening process to be conducted by the EBC is shown in greater detail below (Fig.4)
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| Figure 4:-Details of the Screening Process |
Applications Submitted
Applicants wishing to contest the election for members of parliament or senators or who wish to be considered for a ministerial or alderman post, would have to submit a resume and an application form. Additionally, they would have to provide documents to prove that they meet the requirements of the particular post to the EBC for review.
Background Check
A thorough background check will be carried out on individuals by the EBC and protective services to ensure that they have not been convicted of any serious crimes or have ties to any know criminal organisations. If any evidence of a criminal history or intent is found, the applicant will be debarred from the current as well as future elections for life.
Review of Resumes
The resumes of applicants would be reviewed to determine if they meet the educational and where applicable work experience requirements. Any applicant who is found to be unfit will be debarred from contesting the current election but may re-apply for future elections if they have obtained the lacking requirements at that time.
Data Input
Once background checks and resume reviews have been completed, the successful applicants' manifestos (for elected positions) and resumes (for non-elected positions) will be fed into the proposed software application for randomisation. The resumes or manifestos will not have any personal details or any details which may induce irrational bias in the electoral or selection process. These include but are not limited to:
-Names which can be indicative of gender or ethnic background and as such can lead to bias.
-Age to guard against ageism.
-Race to guard against racism.
-Gender to guard against sexism.
-Sexual Orientation to guard against homophobia.
-Religion to guard against religious discrimination.
-Place of birth to guard against geographic or social prejudices.
-Names of schools attended to guard against bias towards particular educational institutions based solely on reputation.
App. Randomised
The manifestos will be fed into a software application which will randomise them before they are released to the public. No one, even the EBC officials, will be able to match candidates to their manifestos as the application will randomise them and assign them single letter codes such as, "Candidate A."
Released to Public
The manifestos will be released to the public for their consideration. A sample of what the final product will look line is shown below (Fig. 5). For non-elected officials, their resumes will be randomised by the same process and sent to the senate for selection.Applicants wishing to contest the election for members of parliament or senators or who wish to be considered for a ministerial or alderman post, would have to submit a resume and an application form. Additionally, they would have to provide documents to prove that they meet the requirements of the particular post to the EBC for review.
Background Check
A thorough background check will be carried out on individuals by the EBC and protective services to ensure that they have not been convicted of any serious crimes or have ties to any know criminal organisations. If any evidence of a criminal history or intent is found, the applicant will be debarred from the current as well as future elections for life.
Review of Resumes
The resumes of applicants would be reviewed to determine if they meet the educational and where applicable work experience requirements. Any applicant who is found to be unfit will be debarred from contesting the current election but may re-apply for future elections if they have obtained the lacking requirements at that time.
Data Input
Once background checks and resume reviews have been completed, the successful applicants' manifestos (for elected positions) and resumes (for non-elected positions) will be fed into the proposed software application for randomisation. The resumes or manifestos will not have any personal details or any details which may induce irrational bias in the electoral or selection process. These include but are not limited to:
-Names which can be indicative of gender or ethnic background and as such can lead to bias.
-Age to guard against ageism.
-Race to guard against racism.
-Gender to guard against sexism.
-Sexual Orientation to guard against homophobia.
-Religion to guard against religious discrimination.
-Place of birth to guard against geographic or social prejudices.
-Names of schools attended to guard against bias towards particular educational institutions based solely on reputation.
App. Randomised
The manifestos will be fed into a software application which will randomise them before they are released to the public. No one, even the EBC officials, will be able to match candidates to their manifestos as the application will randomise them and assign them single letter codes such as, "Candidate A."
Released to Public
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| Figure 5:-Sample Manifesto |
Electoral Phase (Yellow)
The electoral phase of the election is the second phase and is where the electorate actually votes for their desired candidates. Each voter will have to select a candidate from their administrative region to represent them in the senate and a member of parliament to run their administrative region. Like the current system, candidates would be elected via a first past the post system. However, there are some key differences which are detailed below.
Fixed Dates for Elections
Presently there are no fixed dates for general or local government elections. They are constitutionally due every five or three years respectively, but no fixed dates have been set, with the exact electoral date left up to the discretion of the prime minister. As you could probably guess, this creates issues as a prime minister can delay the date of an election in order to extend their party's term.
By setting fixed dates, this rather unscrupulous practise will become impossible. Ideally, I would recommend that the dates be set during the eight-week July-August school vacation. Reason being, during election-time schools are often used as polling stations and are thus closed for the election day, disrupting their schedules. By placing the election during this period, this disruption would be eliminated.
Merging Local and General Electoral Terms and Dates
Under structural changes, I discussed how the local and central government systems would be merged to improve efficiency. Once this merger is complete, it would be possible to elect local and central government officials on the same day. So instead of holding two separate elections, there will only be a single general election in which voters choose a senator and a member of parliament to represent their administrative region.
As mentioned previously, political parties are a major source of division in the country and contribute to the tribal nature of Trinidadian politics. Moreover, they can stifle innovation by forcing their members to, "tow the party line," when voting on policy decisions rather than vote in line with their true personal beliefs.
So in order to get rid of this toxic element in our political system, parties would be outlawed under the new system. Only independent candidates would be allowed to run for office. This would free candidates to run for office and vote based on their own ideas and no the agenda of a wider political party.
Outlawing Political Campaigns
Political Campaigns are an expensive waste of money, resources and time. Moreover, they actually do very little to convince voters due to the tribal nature of the electorate as discussed in the previous post. Furthermore, they have become a tremendous public nuisance. Every election you are confronted with candidates walking through your community (often accompanied by loud music trucks) harassing you to vote for them, noisy political rallies (which are just a means of bribing the population), traffic obstructions from political motorcades, litter from political fliers posted all over the country and much more. This can become quite tedious and annoying especially if you don't like any of the candidates and would rather be left alone.
More importantly, political campaigns provide an avenue for the electoral process to be corrupted by vested interests. Rich individuals can (and often do) finance politicians' campaigns in order to attempt to influence policy in their favour. This is not a political problem unique to Trinidad and Tobago of course as it does occur in other countries.
By removing political campaigns, candidates no longer need finance and as such do not need to beg for campaign contributions. This blocks vested interests from corrupting the political process via this avenue. Moreover, it will remove many of the annoyances associated with political campaigns.
I know that you're probably thinking, "But Barindra, without political campaigns how would voters get to know their political candidates in order to make an informed decision at the polls?" Well dear reader, this is addressed later on, so keep reading.
Controlling for Voter Bias Through A Double-Blind Voting System
As discussed in previous posts, the electorate of this country are highly-susceptible to prejudice when selecting their candidates. Many vote on the basis of age, race, sex, party loyalty, religion etc. and do not critically examine a candidate's manifesto. This is highly irrational but is sadly not unique to Trinidad and Tobago.
To rectify this, I propose that we introduce a double-blind voting system. As mentioned before, each candidate will have to submit a copy of their manifesto with their resume and application at least one year prior to the election to the EBC. The EBC will then feed all the candidates' manifestos into a centralized database with a software application which randomizes them before publishing them online.
No one will be able to tell which candidate has submitted which manifesto. Details such as age, name, sex, educational background, schools attended, race, sexual orientation, religion etc. which may lead to bias will be left out. Voters will instead be able to access the database through a public portal on the EBC's website, download a copy of the manifesto in PDF format and be forced to make a decision at the polls based solely on information they read on the manifesto and nothing more.
To avoid candidates corrupting the system by accessing the website themselves, reading through the manifestos until they find their own, and then telling voters which one they are, access to the portal will be controlled by password. Candidates would be forbidden from distributing their manifesto themselves or even telling anyone they are an applicant. Any candidate found breaking the law will be barred for life from contesting elections.
Lengthened Terms of Office
A major issue with the current system is that terms of office tend to not allow enough time for long-term policy decisions given their short five year length. It has spawned a saying that politicians only think five years ahead at a time. Such an attitude is not conducive to the long-term, strategic policy making required in contemporary society and as such the terms of office should be lengthened to eight years. The lengthened terms will allow proper policy decisions to be taken without the risk of a regime change derailing them.
Of course the short terms also served as a check and balance by making sure that incompetent leaders could be limited in the amount of damage they do. However, with the abolition of political parties and improved pre-electoral checks and balances, it should be safe to lengthen the terms of office as the likelihood of electing incompetent individuals to power will be greatly reduced.
A further benefit of this is it would reduce the disruption to national life that elections tend to cause because they will occur less frequently.
Blocking Candidates from Voting
Candidates contesting the election will not be allowed to vote under the present system. It might seem like something minor but basic common-sense should tell you that a candidate is likely (though not always) going to vote for themselves. However minute the possibility, it is possible that this may affect the results of the election and can be seen as a conflict of interest. So to guard against this, candidates who are running in the election will not be allowed to cast a ballot as well.
Selection Phase (Purple)
The final phase of the revised electoral process will be the selection phase. This is where the senate selects ministers and the chief justice and members of parliament select aldermen. As discussed above, The selection process will differ for each position. Once the selection phase is completed, it would signal the end of the electoral process.
Changes to the Legislative Process
The legislative process refers to the process a piece of draft legislation must go through before it becomes law. Under the present system, legislation must be passed by both the senate and house of representatives before it becomes law, usually after lengthy (and often tedious) debate. The revised process for passing legislation is detailed in the diagram below (Fig. 6).
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| Figure 6:-Proposed Legislative Process. |
This is the initial stage of the legislative process. New or amended legislation will be drafted by the ministers and sent to the senate to be ratified into law. Under the current system, there are no real requirements for legislation, however, under the proposed system, ministers will have to provide sufficient scientific evidence to support the draft legislation in the form of peer reviewed scientific research papers and/or primary research carried out by their ministry or other evidence that there is a genuine, rational basis for any proposed legislative changes.
Senate Vote
This stage is self-explanatory in nature, the senate must vote to decide if legislation is passed into law. Note that there will be no debate under the first round of voting. The senators will instead review the legislation and the research provided by the ministers who drafted the bill. The review process will be no longer than one week in length. Once they have reviewed the legislation, they will be required to cast their votes. Should the proposed legislation gain more than a fifty percent vote (except in cases where a special majority is required in which case more than seventy-five percent of the vote would be required), it will be passed into law. Should it fail, the senate will then enter into debate.
Senate Debate
Parliamentary debates under the current system can be very adversarial in nature and can be long and drawn out, often coming to a less than optimal solution for the country. They are partially responsible for slowing down the legislative process. To reduce this inefficiency, debates would only be occur if legislation is defeated by the senate in the first round of voting.
Amendments Suggested
The purpose of the debate will be to recommend amendments to the proposed legislation. Senators will propose amendments and, after debate, should more than fifty-percent of the senate support them, they will be added to the bill. There will be a time limit of one-week for any amendments to be added to the proposed legislation before it is re-drafted.
Should no amendments be suggested after the debate, the bill will go straight to a second vote. If this vote is a failure, then the proposed legislation will be considered defeated and it will no longer be eligible for submission in parliament.
Legislation Re-drafted
After the debate, legislation will be sent to the ministers to be re-drafted with the amendments recommended by the senators. This re-drafting process will be no longer than one week. Following this the bill will be re-introduced into the senate for a second vote. If it passes it becomes law, if it fails again, the legislation will be considered defeated.
So these are my proposed changes to the Trinidad and Tobago political system. They are aimed at improving the selection processes to ensure competent, trustworthy individuals are placed into office, streamlining the government to improve efficiency and reducing the cost to the Trinidad and Tobago taxpayers. I will be the first to admit that the proposed system is not perfect and it is untested so its actual performance cannot be known. However these are just my suggestions to help fix some of the issues with the current system. Of course it is unlikely that things will ever improve anytime soon, a depressing fact which must be made clear. But it is my hope that someday we will see some change in this nation.
Thanks for reading,
Barindra
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