COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE Colombo, Sri Lanka
58th Workshop C - 12 September 2012
THE POLITICS OF CONSTITUTION- MAKING: THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS IN RELATION TO THE PEOPLE
Moderator: Hon. Dr Pambos Papageorgiou, MP, Cyprus
Discussion Leaders: Hon. Request Muntanga, MP, Zambia Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, President of the Senate, Nigeria Hon. Prof. Dr. G.L. Peiris, MP, Minister of External Affairs, Sri Lanka Hon. David Musila, MP, Assistant Minister for Defence, Kenya
Meaningful consultation with the people is crucial to building a constitution’s legitimacy so, as the body elected to represent the people, it is the responsibility of Parliament to ensure that the constitution reflects the views of the people, agreed workshop participants. Discussing a number of measures
that are important to the process of constitution-making, participants also agreed that constitutions may need to be updated or revisited to keep pace with social development. Many Commonwealth countries in particular may face this issue as their original constitutions were drafted at the time of independence from the colonial power. Some participants argued for
the benefits of including social and economic rights (such as the right to education or employment) in constitutions, while others expressed concern about how such rights could be enforced and instead took the view that they should be expressed as aspirational goals.
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Given the role to be played by Parliaments in constitution-making, participants debated the merits of different electoral systems in ensuring that Parliaments mirror the society they are elected to represent, including the benefits and disadvantages of having upper and lower Houses of Parliament and instituting quotas for women’s representation in Parliaments.
Constitution making Parliamentarians sought to deepen democracy in every part of the Commonwealth. The workshop discussed the ways by which the constitution becomes active, energized and empowered within the political sphere. Further, the constitution should become an increasing vibrant force of governance, working to strengthen democratic institutions while creating more just and equitable societies. It was noted at the very outset that a constitution is the supreme law and
a social contract for the country. Thus every other law within a policy derives its powers from the constitution and is legal to the extent that it is consistent with the constitution. In essence, therefore,
the constitution is the single most important document in a democracy, hence nations are said to be as strong as their constitution and their adherence to the provisions of same. The provisions of the constitution
include protecting the rights of the people, promoting constitutional values of equality and social justice and ensuring the integrity and the accountability of the government. There was an agreement that constitution-making, therefore, presents moments of great opportunity to create a common vision of the future of a state and the results of which can have profound and lasting impacts on the social, economic and cultural stability of a state.