Roles, Rights and Responsibilities
Date: 26 Jul 2005
Speaker: Secretary-General Don McKinnon
Location: Workshop on Government and Opposition: Roles, Rights and Responsibilities, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Mr. Chairman, Ministers, Members of Parliament, Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by underlining the thanks expressed on my behalf yesterday by Matthew Neuhaus - to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for facilitating our presence here, and to the Citizens' Agenda Network, without whose help it would not have been possible for us to meet today; - to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, with which we have worked on this workshop together and most of all, to all of you- the participants and observers.
To all of you, and our friends from Trinidad and Tobago in particular, I say 'thank you'.
And good luck for your discussions today and tomorrow.
Over the last weekend I made an official visit to the Channel Islands. These are a handful of islands off the coast of France. They were never colonised but are Crown Dependencies. France tried to retrieve them in 1781 and Germany tried to hold them in 1944. They used to be joined to France some 10,000 years ago. The islands have always had their own government headed by a bailiff because they are bailiwicks. The bailiff has been there not just since the 18th or 15th century but even earlier. There is a large plaque in Guernsey commemorating the first bailiff, who was there in 1066. Since then there have been about 60 or 70. Most of them have been there for 15 to 20 years. Yet this year a new form of ministerial government is being developed. Even after a thousand years the form of governance is still changing, responding to the people. The point I am making here is that democracy is a process. It is a practice and not a theoretical destination.
You have already had the opportunity to hear a range of speakers and with a wealth of experience and there are more to come from leaders with wisdom and experience, about election machinery, political parties, how to improve elections, civil society and gender factors.
My topic is Roles, Rights and Responsibilities. I have had a lot of experience as a political practioner with 21 years of experience, on the back bench as a whip (both opposition and government), as a leader of the House and a Deputy Prime Minister and acting Prime Minister. Therefore I know from a practical viewpoint that this is a subject that has enormous interest to people around the world and a great effect on their lives.
Mr. Chairman, you will have seen that the material that was sent out prior to this conference makes a great deal of how it should result not in theory but in practical outcomes.
I share that enthusiasm. Our advocacy of the democratic principle is all very well. But it means little if it does not result in a better life for our people - food, health, education, jobs, the 'life-chances' that are necessary so that we can make the best of ourselves and lead fulfilling lives.
In short, democracy must deliver. And it must deliver in circumstances where freedom flourishes, human rights are upheld, gender equity is secured and where there is a culture of integrity.
If democracy does not deliver, as we all know from so many examples - look for instance at what happened in western Europe just 70 years ago - it will be in dire danger.
Those forces that thrive on greed amongst the powerful and fear amongst the weak are ever-present and waiting for us, the democrats, to fail. So the stakes are high.
But if the issue is easy to state, we all know that it is less easy to tackle. That is why we are holding this workshop - so that we can work together to find ways to build up our ability to make our democracies work effectively for the peoples of our countries.
The structure of the agenda for our workshop itself suggests some of the ways forward.
Part of the answer lies with Government, as you agreed yesterday. We know that as a matter of principle the attitude of 'winner takes all', the failure to distinguish between the ruling party and the State and the abuse of incumbency for party purposes, are not the way. There is not a government party in the world which does not or cannot totally avoid the benefits of incumbency.
We also know that Government will simply not be effective in getting democracy to deliver unless it finds ways of working constructively together with the opposition parties and civil society and being open with the people.
Similarly, we know that Opposition parties must act as constructive partners in the development of the democratic process. Again, you discussed this yesterday.
Being in opposition is a painful place to be. No one stands for parliament wanting to be in opposition. Everyone wants to be in government and to be able to do things and to create changes.
You can tell you have been in government too long when the opposition is in front of you and the enemy is behind you.
In opposition it is sometime hard to be constructive. You want to attack, expose or humiliate the government. But you must do all this within your rules. All countries have different rules and the best rules are those that are written and also achieved by consensus.
The role of the opposition is to probe weaknesses in the government, to make it sweat blood at times. Sometimes the opposition are playing a permanent roles as the devil's advocate.
So whether you are in parliament, assembly, house or senate there is a major place for the opposition, speaking up and speaking out. It's your chamber, make the most of it. Walking out is a weapon and should not be a regular event. If it is used too often then its time to look at rules, your standing orders.
So from the people you always hear about politicians "Why are they always arguing?" The point is that parliamentarians do not argue on what they agree upon and 80 per cent of government business is generally agreed upon by all. Parliamentarians argue on chosen points. If you believe what government is doing what is the point in demanding that they do better?
I have been in opposition and I know that it is difficult for any government to introduce a general sales tax or value added tax of 10 per cent. The introduction of value added tax is part of the tax evolution that happens around the world and who wants to vote for taxes. It is easy to oppose the introduction of taxes. Even if you really need the tax introduced. But it is easy to ask for exemptions for children's clothes, medicines, education and old people. The role of the opposition is to make government sweat to defend its policies.
The opposition must constantly challenge the government, monitor its actions and demand honesty and transparency from it.
Within the Commonwealth there are many different democratic structures. The Westminster system is not the only one. Some systems have matured over three to four hundred years, others have taken between fifty and one hundred years to evolve while some systems have been developed over the last thirty years.
In some new Commonwealth states, the opposition is still seen as the enemy. Sometimes this is due to independence issues or religious or racial divides. It's not easy often to get genuine understandings on moving forward when different groups are still fighting for the soul of the nation. It will take time just to work to give people confidence.
Our leaders in Abuja said a legislature or assembly must be broadly representative of the people all the time or all of the people some of the time.
That brings me to another area endorsed by Commonwealth leaders, - the Latimer House Principles. These relate to duties and responsibilities of parliament, the executive and the judiciary. It's no secret that Executives have become stronger - after all they have the money and the authority. Accept a constant jostling or elbowing for advantage but you don't wish to see a diminished legislature or undermine the influence of the judiciary.
What more can our parties do to be genuinely in touch; demonstrate relevance of politics to people's lives; show that ideas and principles matter; enrich the ' national conversation'; strengthen the integrity and health of the democratic process and perhaps most of all improve the culture of democracy within their own organisations?
The agenda for our workshop sets all this against the challenge of how we collectively ensure respect for gender equality and human rights, assure the effective participation of young people in the political process and ensure an appropriate relationship between the media, civil society and all the other actors on the democratic stage.
Ever present, in all of this, are the issues of limiting the distorting influence of money and of being open and transparent in our governance. And we end, crucially, with a session on practical action to help make all our prescriptions a reality.
It is a challenging agenda. But we are democrats and democrats are invariably optimists. As the list of participants shows so well, at this workshop we have people with the experience to tackle these questions. I know we have the ideas and I know we can develop the resolve that will be needed.
A very wise man, the film maker Samuel Goldwyn, once said, 'never predict anything, especially the future.'
Mr. Chairman, I am not going to take his advice. I do have a prediction, and it is that in common with what there has been of this workshop so far the rest will be both fascinating and practical.
Our talk must be of neither sheep nor dogs, but of practical steps which take us forward, so that democracy really will deliver for our people.
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
26 July 2005
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