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Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. – File photo by Angelo Marcelle
The Prime Minister says the PNM has a right to ask its party members and delegates to comment on the report of the National Advisory Committee on Constitutional Reform.
Speaking at the post-cabinet media briefing at Whitehall on Wednesday, Rowley said no-one was excluded from the consultation process.
“It was made clear that when the consultation process was completed, a document would be prepared and that document would be advanced to a national conference of delegates on the matters that have found their way to the attention to this document.
“We are taking the whole country to this conference, we distilled and created an agenda by speaking to people before and issues arose, some large and some minor, but we will call this conference to speak to these issues and see whether we found it possible to identify the issues that had the requisite support and to make the necessary changes required, including those needing the attention of the Parliament.”
He said he did not understand why someone would have a problem with the PNM addressing the issues raised by finding out the views of its members and getting their authority to go forward with PNM positions.
“The fact that other organisations can’t, or will not, call their members together to engage the issue and go forward in an orderly manner with their party position, authorised by their membership and supporters, is not the PNM’s fault.
“When PNM delegates go to that conference, they will take a PNM position confidently, knowing they have the authority of their membership, because we had a delegate convention that authorised spokespersons to go to that conference and support or object to any matter that comes up there.”
He said if the PNM did not turn up to a consultation on the Constitution, it would be disturbing as it was the majority political party in the country.
He criticised the Opposition for not contributing to the national conversation on the Constitution. He said they took the position they would not take part in the process from the start. He said they wouldn’t take part in the process but had the time to castigate the committee and the document.
