He observed that the issue of interaction in town hall meetings, radio and TV call-in programmes had all been thrown in (at the workshop) as areas which great involvement of the broad based populace could be achieved and he noted that in Nevis they had sought through the town hall meetings to strengthen the governments involvement of the populace.

"I think it is a very important process, and one which will continue and we intend to begin a number of such town hall meetings in a couple of weeks, to carry out our own interaction with the people of Nevis to ensure that they have a greater understanding and they have their say,"

commented the Premier.

"I trust that people will participate more fully in these exercises because they are an important part of development of the democratic process, and I feel that the peoples views must be heard and not just at election time when they vote, but that they must be properly educated."

In his intervention at the workshop, which opened on Monday at the Red House (Parliament) in Port of Spain and continued, until Wednesday, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Premier Amory contended that a greater awareness and education, and the roles of the people and the government must be projected to the people.

He also pointed out to the fact that polarization in the views of governments and oppositions sometimes send the wrong message to the general populace and advised "we ought to be careful that we do not have signs of inconsistency: That is when one is in opposition, one says one thing and when one is in government, one becomes diametrically opposed to ones position in the initial statement."

The workshop was attended by delegates from countries in the Caribbean that are Commonwealth members, among them Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St.

Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. Representing St. Kitts and Nevis were the Hon Dr Timothy Harris (representing the St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party), the Hon Mr Shawn Richards (representing the Peoples Action Movement) and Premier Amory.

Premier Amory, who attended sessions on all the three days,

commented: "The areas of our exchange have been how governments ought to govern, how opposition ought to oppose, and how to strengthen the democratic process and how the national issues should take precedence and what should happen in the case of national issues.

"I do believe that the experience has been quite useful. What it rolls up is fact that even where there is difference of opinion, difference of ideologies and difference of philosophies, the overarching goal remains, and must be, how to provide a better quality of life for the

people of the countries which we serve."

During the opening of the workshop at the Red House, Trinidad and Tobagos Prime Minister, the Hon Mr Patrick Manning, noted that the classic models associated with Westminster could not be applicable in his country and in other small societies, adding that Trinidad would have to examine its own approaches to the matter since the classic systems of Westminster "do not work here."

The workshop was also addressed by the Commonwealth Secretary General, HE Rt Hon Don McKinnon. It was facilitated by Ms Cynthia Barrow-Giles (Head, Department of Government, University of the West Indies), Mr Steven Griner (Co-ordinator, Inter-American Forum on Political Parties, Department of Democratic and Political Affairs, Organisation of American States), Professor Selwyn Rayn (Director, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute and Economic Studies, UWI), Judge Emile Short (International Tribunal for Rwanda, Arusha, Tanzania) and Ms Linnette Vassell (Community development and gender and Chairperson of the Womens Resource & Outreach Centre, Jamiaca).

Two notable absentees were Leader of the Opposition in Trinidad and Tobago, the Hon Mr Basdeo Panday and the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Hon Dr Ralph Gonsalves. Incidentally both were reported (separately) to be having problems with their voices.