The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

It is the Christmas season and my favourite time – new year– is approaching. It is a time of reflection and improvement. Some improve their home by repairs, painting and decorations. Some improve themselves by being generous and making new year resolutions. In this vein I suggest an improvement for the Bahamas’ political system which is a representative democracy.

The next level of democracy is direct. Democracy in which all people make the decisions as a group, without intermediate representatives.

The earliest known direct democracy is said to be the Athenian democracy in the 5th century BC, although it was not an inclusive democracy: women, foreigners, and slaves were excluded from it. It is a way to limit the influence of the rich and powerful who dominated most, if not all, representative democracy through campaign funding, lobbying and sometimes bribery. I suggest that all laws or constitutional change must be approved by the people by referendum. s1

After one year in office an elected representative could be recalled with a petition of 30% of the votes. This could be used to curb corruption by removing representatives found to be corrupt. It can be used to insure area representatives do a good job.

The present system has become ineffective in improving the life of Bahamian citizens and needs an upgrade. Examine the level of poverty and crime in the Bahamas. People are influenced by their environment and the political system creates the social and material environment in a country. s1

People need to keep engaged after an election. The present system encourages citizens to not be a part of the decision-making process and not to take ownership and responsibility for the development of the Bahamas. s1

This is an attempt to start the discussion and eventually implementation of direct democracy.

BRIAN PLUMMER

Nassau,

December 19, 2018.