Submission 64

Sent: Friday, August 26, 2022
To: ConstitutionalReform
Subject: Suggested amendments to Constitution

Good afternoon
My suggestions re constitutional amendments 2022: Absolute right to life

-this is nothing to do with abortion rights. It goes further than that. I am referring to the death penalty. A person kills another-deliberately preplanned. He gets sentenced to be maintained by the State in relative comfort, paid for by relatives of the deceased victim, among others. After some years he is released, and he kills again. Does he have an absolute right to go on living-if so, why?
Doesn’t the ‘State’ not then become responsible for any further loss of life by his hand?
It should be considered that several studies have purported to show that declining to apply the death penalty encourages a minimum of three more murders.
On our local scene we must have heard the statement-‘I would kill you and go and spend some time.’
Bajans never agreed en masse to suspend the death penalty. It concerns all of us.

Obligation of elected persons to answer questions

There are and have been questions surrounding some national issues about which we the public have been unable to get our politicians to comment.
Politicians are put there by the people and they should be constitutionally obliged to answer the people’s questions. Not just any old question, because some of the questions posed don’t need to be asked. But the process could be structured along the lines of the question time period which I understand exists in the English parliamentary system. They should not be allowed to just ignore legitimate questions legitimately asked.

Need for discipline

I have no idea how this can be addressed via the constitution, but it needs to be urgently addressed. Our representatives keep telling us that we are oh so talented and creative and special. They never point out how indisciplined we are as a people, and becoming more so every day. We urinate alongside the road, we throw litter on the streets, we swear with uncouthly loud voices in public. We tell our public vehicle drivers not to play loud and sometimes obscene music in their vehicles, but they do it anyhow.

And then we compare ourselves to Singapore, which is one of the silliest comparisons that you can want. We are both small countries, but the comparison ends there. As I wrote above, I can’t see exactly how the Constitution can address this, but maybe some of our politicians can start by being truthful and not just saying things calculated to get them re-elected.

Thank you