ST JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC):

A prominent Caribbean jurist has called for constitutional change that would give the region's people more say in who governs them, thereby reducing the power of prime ministers, according to a report on www.cananews.net.

Dame Bernice Lake believes the current system under which the prime minister is the only one who chooses Cabinet members gives the holder of that office and their political party too much power.

In an interview with a local radio station, she recommended that there should be two distinct general elections under a system that ensures Cabinet members cannot be lawmakers and lawmakers cannot sit in Cabinet.

"We should look at a structure of government in which the executive authority for the administration of the affairs of the nation is directly elected by the people for that purpose, and not vicariously through the legislature," Dame Bernice said.

"You come before the people for a post to sit in and to comprise the Cabinet and you show your slate, you show what you are capable of for that part in the executive authority, so that you are directly elected and not vicariously, because you've got a seat and you comprise this amorphous body called the legislature out of which the executive is derived."