Time for Powersharing - Part 3 -
I insist that the powersharing formula appropriate to Trinidad and Tobago does not reside in any one brain or party of brains. It resides, as I suggested last week, 'in the wisdom of the population, especially that part of it that is not enslaved by the constipated thinking of the parties.' But the population, unorganised as it is for efficient lobbying, cannot bring itself together to forge out the wisdom it has. And so, the political leaders of our three main ethnic groupings must, preferably jointly, act to bring us together, and when they do, all ideas will contend.
A Federal Republic of Trinbago?
Already, we have a good sense of the direction in which the communal exchange and interchange will go. Rejection of the winner-takes-all ethnic monopoly. Some form of proportional representation that gives political parties in Trinidad (currently and forseeably ethnically-based) a share in the executive machinery based on the number of votes/seats each gets in an election (the choice to be decided). Greater circumscription, or closer definition, of prime ministerial and presidential power (choices to be decided). Minority-group guarantees for Tobago. A federal government of two states - Tobago and Trinidad.
Let's talk a bit about the last notion, a federal government. Federal governments exist all over the world and operate with different degrees of success, but perhaps the most successful arrangement - certainly the most visible and famous - is the United States of America. Basically, a federal arrangement is one in which at least two states with equal independent structures of governance fall under the authority of an overall federal government. Tobago has had some experience of this kind of government in colonial times, before the time of every living West Indian, in the Grenada Government, which was a federation of the colonies of Grenada, the Grenadines, St. Vincent, Tobago, and Dominica. And in the postcolonial period, the West Indies came close to a federation, with unresolved territorial ambitions, in particular those relating to the siting of the federal capital, killing the project.
In a column of May 26, 2000, entitled The concept of dual federalism, I set out the perspective of the Tobago Liberation Organisation (TLO) on new governmental arrangements for Tobago vis-à-vis Trinidad (and Tobago). According to the TLO, Tobago and Trinidad should be two equal partner-States under a federal government in a system of 'dual federalism'. There should be a 'distinct demarcation of the authority of each State', with power being distributed 'in such a way as to prevent any interference of one Island State in the affairs of the other without prior consent and consultation'.
This kind of arrangement is considered necessary because, generally, the current system of unitary statehood 'reduces Tobago to a colony of Trinidad with all the concomitant evils of neo-colonialism' and, specifically, because of ongoing denial by centralised Trinidad-dominated cabinets of Tobago's natural right to determine its own path to liberty, happiness, and justice; (continuing) Trinidadian domination and exploitation of Tobago as a result of this; and emasculation of the present Tobago House of Assembly.
The TLO also proposes the following outline of the organisational structure and the powers and duties of both the Federal Government and the State of Tobago. There should be two houses of parliament, one of representatives elected on the basis of population, the other of 'elected' senators the number of whom would be equally divided between the two States. Before any bill could become law, senate approval would be necessary. Bills of federal importance would require approval by 3/5 of the senators, but the latter would first have to have the nod from their 'constituents' through consultation.
The federal government should have the power to, among other things: mint money; conduct foreign policy; establish embassies and consulates, but with an Interest Section for Tobago; regulate international and interstate trade and commerce; tax imports and exports; and make treaties.
Where Tobago is concerned, there should be a House of Assembly composed of 'delegates' who would make laws for the governance of the island that would be binding on nationals of both States as well as foreigners, but which should not be in conflict with federal laws. Delegates could come from political parties, but 'the sovereignty of the party shall not gain paramountcy over the people under any circumstances.'
The TLO specifies the following powers and duties, inter alia, for Tobago: conduct of all elections to the Assembly and the two federal houses; establishment of local district assemblies; regulation of all local forms of commerce; protection of public health, safety and morals in the island; ratification of amendments of federal constitutions; control of all lands, natural resources (including gas and petroleum) 'within and around Tobago and its territorial waters'; retention of all local taxes; establishment of trade missions abroad 'to protect the interests of Tobagonians'; acceptance of grants, gifts, and scholarships from 'friendly foreign governments'; borrowing of money with federal guarantees; making and enforcement of local laws; and establishment of local courts.
The federal government should be called something like the United Republic of Trinbago.
When the formal national conversation on the present ethnic impasse is called, this proposal of dual federalism is sure to be one of the contending matters, and I doubt the siting of a capital will be problem. I raise it here, not as a definitive solution, but as a stimulus for the kind of powersharing arrangement that the significant groups in Tobago might want for the island.
The final solution is out there waiting to be forged, especially as the PNM's recent (and unavoidably temporary) retaking of Tobago may haved lulled Orville London and his troops into behaving as if Tobago's ethnic aspirations are to be realised as part of a monolithic (rather than a variegated, island-differentiated) PNM agenda.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
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