St Lucia PM says term limits for heads of govt should be decided by the people

CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) — Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony says he believes term limits for government leaders should be decided by the people.

“I believe that’s a matter for the people to decide, and I share the view that the people of the country will decide whether they are tired of you or not,” Anthony said.

Anthony, a former law lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), was speaking against the decision of the coalition People’s Partnership government in Trinidad and Tobago to introduce legislation to amend the country’s constitution providing for two-term limit for prime ministers and the right to recall legislators.

The amendment will also allow for voters in the twin-island republic to participate in a run0off vote, if the winner of a seat in the general election does not command 50 per cent of the votes cast.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar described the proposals as a bold step that would breathe new life into the democratic process, but the opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) said the move was a strategy to divert attention from the ongoing ills confronting the country.

Debate on the proposed amendment to the constitution will begin in the Trinidad parliament on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony said the issues raised by his Trinidad and Tobago counterpart were now new.

“These are issues that have been championed throughout the Caribbean, and in the first St Lucia Labour Party manifesto there was provision for legislation to have term limits,” Anthony said, adding that the same issues are addressed in the report of the Constitutional Review Commission that will be debated in parliament here soon.

“I have no difficulty with term limits for members of parliament if they commit serious infractions,” Anthony said, adding that he believes in cases where a parliamentarian “crosses the floor”, that legislator ought to resign “for the very simple reason that people were persuaded to vote for them on the basis of loyalty to a particular party”.