James Critical of Religious Groups' Meeting

Details

Politics

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 02:30

By Colin Sampson

Antigua St John's - Deputy chairman of the Antigua & Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC) Nathaniel “Paddy” James has come out strongly against what he perceives as a grave procedural error by the Antigua Christian Council (ACC) and the United Evangelical Association (UEA).

James accused the ACC and UEA of trampling on the principle of consultation by meeting with Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer without Opposition Leader Lester Bird.

The longstanding commissioner appeared on Monday on the Colin Sampson Show. Visit the Caribarena.com Video Archive to hear the full 90-minute conversation.

Recent amendments to the Representation of the People Act (RPA) now require a selection of religious and private sector organisations to jointly nominate two members to serve on the Electoral Commission. ACC chair Reverend Calvin Greenaway recently said that the religious bodies met with Spencer to clarify issues surrounding the new requirement.

Coming out of that meeting, Rev Greenaway opined that the complexity of the task would almost certainly result in the religious organisations missing the one-month statutory deadline for submission of their nominee.

The ACC and UEA are mandated to nominate one of two NGO members to the re-constituted Electoral Commission. The other new member is to be jointly selected by the Antigua & Barbuda Chamber of Commerce (ABCC), the Antigua & Barbuda Employers Federation (ABEF), and the Antigua & Barbuda Trade Union Congress (TUC).

James reported that information received from the TUC indicated that a compromise had been reached between the three private sector organisations. The arrangement would see each of the three organisations taking turns to individually select the nominee to represent the entire private sector for a seven-year term on the Commission.

But the ABEC deputy chair said this proposal was a departure from the intent of the legislation, which clearly calls for the three organisations to jointly decide upon a nominee.

James noted that the suggested compromise might result in two of the organisations being represented by an objectionable nominee forced upon them by the independent decision of the third.

This situation, he said, illustrates the absurdity of the ruling party’s ill-advised tampering with the electoral process.

However, James levelled harsher criticism at the religious bodies for what he viewed as their poor judgment in consulting solely with the prime minister. He said the church organisations have, perhaps unwittingly, trampled upon the consultative aspect of the selection process. This, he said, does not bode well for the future effective functioning of the Electoral Commission.

James fears that the ruling party might be engaged in mere window-dressing, using the subterfuge of “broadened representation” on ABEC to pack the Commission with two more people who may be relied upon to support the United Progressive Party (UPP) agenda.

He charged that the UPP administration is morally and legally wrong to inject the private sector (and especially the religious bodies) into what is clearly designed to be a process involving the parliamentary political parties.

Pointing out that the religious and private sector bodies have no machinery to govern their involvement in political matters, James further observed that the amendments to the Act have failed to provide these organisations with such essential support services as a body of scrutineers to keep them au fait with developments on the ground.

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Since the Act ensures that the parliamentary parties are provided with such support services, it follows that the private sector and religious organisations should also be so equipped. Anything less would severely hamper their performance on the Electoral Commission. This omission, James said, clearly demonstrates the ruling party’s deceptive intentions in preparing the amendments.

James reserved his harshest criticism for the ruling party. He maintained that the UPP is attempting to inter-mingle the religious community in a secular process that is “laced with poisonous deception”. James challenged the religious authorities to guard against being used by secular leaders to cover their deeds, thus bringing the church into disrepute.

Warning that the entire process is “fraught with evil,” James concluded that clearly, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer lacks understanding of the political process.

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