IN ONE of my first speeches to a political audience over 20 years ago, I employed the then popular expression "respec' due" as a refrain to drive home the message that a Michael Manley-led PNP administration would give the Jamaican people the respect that was their due and that would lay the foundation for them to be successful in their own country.

Over 20 years and four prime ministers later, based on the evidence of Armadale, our national security minister's casual dismissal of victims of police excesses as "collateral damage" and countless other atrocities suffered by Jamaicans at the hands of the state, we are further away from fulfilling that promise than we ever were. Respect for the people is about the recognition and honouring of their rights and infusing them with the confidence that in their country their interests are supreme and they can therefore achieve anything of which they are capable.

The distinguishing quality between the most successful societies judged in terms of both economic development and quality of life, and those that are least successful is the degree to which the primacy of individual freedom is upheld. The obvious contrast between the Scandinavian countries, where individual rights are secure, and countries like Zimbabwe and Myanmar, where rights are routinely trampled, is glaring evidence of this distinction.

Social evolution

Centuries of social evolution have led to the recognition of the rights of individuals, first codified in the Magna Carta. Since then, the purpose of constitutional government has progressed to promote, protect and preserve the liberty of the people over all other interests. Where government is not informed by this purpose and constrained by its limitations, the foundation on which social organisation rests collapses and social and economic progress is retarded.

Jamaicans have always yearned for opportunity and the development of our country and have been frustrated by our failure to achieve either. But we fail to make the connection between our failure to progress and our own disregard for our people, particularly the powerless among us. We are concerned about abuse of power only when it either affects us personally or comes so close to us that we dare not pretend it does not exist. So many of us take comfort in the false belief that our rights are more secure when those same rights are denied to those we hold to be less worthy. We are oblivious to the incontrovertible lesson of history and empiricism: that our rights are best secured by constitutional arrangements which guarantee the rights of all.

Life from courts

Even with its undeniable imperfections, the Jamaican Constitution does provide valuable protection against the infringement of individual rights and freedoms. But a constitution is an inert document and is only given life and meaning through its interpretation by the courts and its application by the organs of state. And the institutions which must give form and substance to the protection of these rights can only be effective if they command the confidence and trust of the people. It is, therefore, essential that those who lead these institutions be chosen through a process that involves the broadest possible participation by and support of the people.

The most important of these offices is the judiciary. By their decisions, the justices of the Supreme and Appellate courts create the body of legal precedents that gives enforceable meaning to the intent of our Constitution. It is their decisions which will take us closer to the ideal of a free and just society.

Judicial power

As the final interpreter of the Constitution (which in our system of government is supreme), the judiciary is invested with far greater power to secure the rights of our citizens than the Cabinet and Parliament combined. It is the judiciary which is empowered to protect the weak from the abuse of the powerful and act as gatekeepers between the rights of the citizen and the might of government. It provides each of us with the right to a place in our society and the space to pursue our life's purpose. An independent judiciary is all that stands between a people's freedom and tyranny.

So important is the independence of the judiciary to our freedom that rather than the prime minister having the final say on the appointment of its members, their appointment should require ratification by two-thirds of the members of both chambers of Parliament after an opportunity for the public to express its opinion. This would greatly discourage attempts at politically based appointments and win the people's confidence in the decisions of our courts.

Jamaica can be heartened that our courts' rulings in the recent dual-citizenship cases appear to reflect a strong commitment to the primacy of the rights of the people embodied in our Constitution. In spite of what appeared to have been substantial technical bases on which they might have determined the issues in a manner that conflicted with the people's decision in the elections, the courts have upheld the principle that nothing, not even the courts, should supersede the constitutionally inviolable right of the people to choose their government; and that democratic elections are not about the rights of political parties or their candidates but the rights of the people. In this regard, our courts displayed far superior wisdom and deference to their highest duty of safeguarding the people's rights than did the US Supreme Court in its handling of the Bush v Gore election issue.

Jamaica is fortunate to have maintained a judiciary which has, in the main, so far demonstrated an impressive legal acuity and judicial ethic. This provides some assurance that it can be relied on as a bastion against abuse of the power of the Government. But to be assured that we can continue to enjoy the benefits of this judicial strength, we must cement the judiciary's separation and independence from the executive government and ensure that its independence is not compromised in the future.

Giving power to the people

The legislative arm of government must also be made more responsive to the citizens of the country. We practise our democracy as if we have ceded our right to 'government by the people'. It was never intended that representational government be anything more than a temporary delegation of the people's authority and not a permanent surrender of their right to govern themselves. Wherever it is practicable, the people should be involved in the important decisions affecting their lives. But our Parliament has surrendered much of the people's power to the Cabinet, acting as its echo chamber rather than a restraint on executive excesses. This has further isolated the people from the decisions of the Government. Effective democratic government requires the constant engagement of the people with their government and it is therefore necessary that Parliament repatriate its power and give the people a real opportunity to influence the decisions that affect their lives.

One way in which this could be done is by expanding the use and elevating the status of the committees of Parliament. Committees should be created to oversee clusters of ministerial portfolios and should never be chaired by a member of the executive of Government. All bills should require the approval of the relevant committee before they can be voted on by the full house. Chairmen of committees should enjoy the rank and income of ministers of State. The leading member on the opposition side of each committee should have the rank and income of a parliamentary secretary. By providing an alternative career path other than the Cabinet for members of parliament and a constructive role for backbenchers, this structure would cause parliamentarians to focus on policy and legislation and be more accountable to their constituents instead of acting as rubber stamps for the Cabinet, usurpers of the role of local government representatives and dispensers of scarce benefits as they presently do.

Citizens' rights

For Jamaica's quest for development to be successful, we must begin with the recognition and acceptance that every citizen is valuable and is entitled to the rights accorded every other person. We need a national leadership that starts with the guiding philosophy that Jamaicans are the equal of any other people on Earth and are capable of achieving anything of which any other society is capable. Our government must be committed to the view that if it creates conditions which can bring out the best in every Jamaican, our country will perform as well as any other country on Earth in all areas of human endeavour: not only in music and sports. Real development will not come through grand projects or even with the benefit of sound economic plans, but through the uplifting and empowering knowledge of our people that they are valued and their rights respected.

Our government can be made to work for us. But to do so, it must be organised to respect and include the people. This will be the trigger to release our full productive potential and launch Jamaica on the road to success in all fields of human endeavour, as we have so impressively demonstrated we are capable of in the fields of music and sports. Respect is not only due, it is long and painfully overdue.

Claude Clarke is a former trade minister and manufacturer. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.