If Raffique Shah is upto date with his American politics(and I know he is a fan of Uncle sam especially under his capitalist rebirth) he would know that it has been demonstrated time and time again that only about 28% of the American population are actually equipped to make political decision . That is they are knowledgeable enough to analyze the issues and the parties and subsequently vote. What this means is that American presidents including the popular Clinton and both Bush's were really representatives of the American unqualified. I raise this is the context of Raffique Shah's article today about changing our minds before we talk about constitutional reform.
My point is that in the broad society, the popular thing is not necessarily the right thing and if they donot know what constitutional reform is and they care to espouse it, it is no big deal. What matters is that the rest of the populace who are able to distinguish themselves through their experiences, education abd other qualification are the ones who must act as gatekeepers of justice. This is what governance is about, it must not necessarily come from the people but from their represenative, who by some fortunate or sometimes unfortunate twist of fate are pushed into positions to make decision for the masses. They(the masses) do not have to change, they could, continue to drink rum and gramozone for that matter, wine to calyspo and chutney while Ganga and Lara bat, whatever, it is the chosen few who have the responsibilty to be the guardians of the society.
So even if Basdeo Panday does not know what he wants by constitutional reform enough of us must know that what happened with 18-18 and the awarding of elections to Manning must not happen again unless it is written into the constitution. Even some of the questionable decisions that Robinson attempted to take a- la losers as Senators, or, even the way Robinson's elevation to the presidency as orchestrated by Panday are just some of the things that need to be addressed. But this is not what should be changed, strengthened or added it is simply about the right to do it. It must not necessarily come from Panday, the masses or the PNM, but from those equipped with the skills to do so. This is why some kind of national referendum on what should be addressed must be done. We could start with Lloyd Best and his Maaco, only because they have a right to espouse it which they have already done. In the end we may have changes outside of Panday, Best and Manning domain and that would only be a plus for the society. Even if we never reformed our minds and ways.