Wilkin wants political division to be mended

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LEADING attorney Charles Wilkin, QC, has called on Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas to resolve the “abnormally divisive” politics prevailing in the Federation following the 2010 Federal Elections.

In a commentary sent to SKNVibes, Wilkin said a new political culture was crucial for the nation to achieve its fullest potential. He highlighted the Constitution, with its “peculiar” federal system and the electoral process as two issues in urgent need of reform.
He also made a case for replacing the traditional First Past the Post system with Proportional Representation.

“[Our electoral system] brought continuous voter registration which was a good thing, but it also brought the overseas vote without carefully incorporating that phenomenon into the constituency system. A free-for-all was the result which was not fully corrected in 2006 and haunts us to this day.

“It will continue to haunt us unless and until we take the logical step of doing away with constituencies and moving to proportional representation...it would make redundant the Electoral Boundaries Commission which was misconceived in having a preponderance of elected representatives, irrefutably a recipe for gerrymandering.”

Campaign financing legislation is another initiative that Wilkin would support, due to the “massive amounts” of money regularly spent on election campaigns.

“This is not healthy because such funding often comes with strings attached or with a cost. The politicians do not pay that cost, often the country does. Hence, its citizens should have the right to know who is providing the money.”

 The lawyer also warned against creating a culture of political subservience, stating that persons should save their worship for God and begin holding politicians accountable.

“We must guard against the development of a culture of worship of our politicians. It is in the nature of politics, and the political spin is intended to create the image that a politician is infallible. Likewise, demonisation of opponents is too prevalent and dangerous. Speech is free but it should not be irresponsible,” Wilkin declared.

He noted that while many persons outside the nation admire its progress, they could not understand how so many of its people hate each another over politics. He stressed that persons should not wait until the next election to commit to advancing and improving their democratic governance and practices.