MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falkland Islands Constitution review process continues.
On 9th November, the Falkland Islands Legislature's Select Committee on the Constitution published a paper outlining its activities since its establishment in April 2000.
The formation of the Committee followed the suggestion in the 1999 UK White Paper on the Overseas Territories that all British Overseas Territories - a list that includes Gibraltar, St.Helena, and the Falkland Islands amongst others, mainly in the Caribbean ? should examine their constitutions and constitutional relationships with the UK to ensure that they were appropriate to their present day circumstances.
On Tuesday, on the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station's ?One-to-One' programme, Chairman of the Select Committee on the Constitution, Councillor Mike Summers, offered further clarification of what it was all about to Corina Goss.
Councillor Summers began by listing a number of issues, which had been considered and resolved by the Committee since its formation. In some cases this had led to changes in governmental procedure, but without requiring a change in the Constitution.
The consequences of the Committee's decisions included the abandonment of a proposal for a single constituency and a revised voting system, after a referendum had shown the majority of voters to be against it. (Currently the electorate of the Falklands is divided into two constituencies: Stanley and The Camp)
Changes had been made to the Standing Rules and Orders of Legislative Council in an attempt to encourage greater debate and the post of Speaker had been created to chair the proceedings of Legislative Council, a function previously exercised by the Governor. The Select Committee had also agreed unanimously that the Commander of British Forces should remain as a member of both Legislative and Executive Councils.
Changes had also been made in the way that the Falkland Islands Civil Service operates with the introduction of a new management code, which has the effect of making the old Colonial Regulations largely redundant.
The theme of moving on from a colonial situation was evident in suggestions regarding changes to Chapter 1 of the Constitution, which deals with the fundamental rights and freedoms of people. Along with changes designed to bring the Falkland Islands into line with the European Convention on Human Rights, the Committee had decided to recommend moving the reference to the right of the Falkland Islands to self determination, which is currently contained in the preamble to the Constitution. As Councillor Summers put it, "I think the population would agree with us that the right to self determination should be included in the body of the constitution and not the preamble to it." That, he said, "was a proposal that would go forward."
Changes in the Constitution of the Falkland Islands, Councillor Summers explained, were subject to agreement by the UK government's Privy Council which body formally delivers the constitutions of all British Overseas Territories on the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Select Committee, after consultation in all areas, puts its findings and conclusions to the Foreign and Commonwealth for discussion and comment.
Asked what sources of information and experience were available to the Select Committee, Mr.Summers told FIBS that formal and informal meetings at events attended by councillors such as the Overseas Territories Consultative Council and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Small Countries Conferences were very useful in this regard. However, he went on to say that due to its "consensus type of government" the Falklands was "different from just about every other overseas territory".
The reason for this difference is that most overseas territories employ a ministerial type system of government with an official opposition. According to Councillor Summers, a lot of small territories complain that having an opposition is unproductive and a waste of peoples' time. In the Falklands, he said, there was no appetite for that type of government. "People don't want that confrontational type of style here and it's not really necessary" he concluded.
Internal self-government and the structure of the Government were both touched upon in the Select Committee's paper on the constitutional review process. For the radio audience, Councillor Summers explained that in the view of the Falkland Islands Government, efficient internal self-government to the maximum extent possible was fundamental to the concept of self determination. "We believe" he said, "there is a requirement to examine and clarify the Constitution in this light."
Councillor Summers said that all members of the Committee were agreed that Executive Council should be the supreme body in the government of the Falkland Islands and would seek to confine its debate to strategic and policy issues. It was further proposed that all councillors should be members of Executive Council and involved in the decision-making process. The challenge, he said, was to obtain and maintain a balance between continuing with part-time, non-ministerial councillors and making sure that "those people elected are more responsible" while at the same time having effective and transparent methods of internal self-scrutiny. The Constitution as it currently stands, he opined, allows the possibility of councillors ?sloping their shoulders' over their responsibilities when things go wrong.
John Fowler (MP) Stanley
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