Discussion leader Hon. Request Muntanga, MP, of Zambia, speaking at the Workshop. Beside Mr Muntanga (from left to right) are: Dr Pam- bos Papageorgiou, MP, of Cyprus, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu of Nigeria and Hon. David Musila, MP, of Kenya.
The role of Parliaments and people Workshop participants noted that Parliament has a major role to play in making a constitution from the beginning of the process to the end and beyond. The first principle is the fact that
the democratically elected Parliament represents the people while the constitution is about people, their fears, needs, interests, aspirations, their future and indeed, their way of life.
This was discussed among the
delegates with their own examples in the Commonwealth countries. They agreed to a great extent that the making of many constitutions has resulted in a stalemate when no competing group is able to win an
outright victory, which in most cases is as a result of lack of adequate consultation with the people or their representatives. Hence, it was envisaged that a Parliament should be a mirror to constitution making. The concepts of popular and parliamentary sovereignty emphasize that the people are the ultimate crafters, expositors and guardians of the constitution. This is so because the most distinguishing factor between other forms of government and democracy is that sovereignty belongs to the people. This sovereignty is, however, transferred by the people to their elected representatives by a free, fair, and credible electoral process. At this juncture, Hon. Prof. G.L. Peiris, MP, Sri Lanka’s Minister of
External Affairs and a constitutional expert, highlighted the merits and demerits of the first-past-the-post electoral system and the subsequent evolution of the proportional representative (PR) system adopted in Sri Lanka and some other Commonwealth nations. However, it behoves Parliament
to ensure that the politics and process are healthy and command far-reaching involvement and inputs by the general population. The strength of a constitution depends on the quality of the process by which it was made, including the people’s involvement in the process. Hence, the delegates explored how to relate the role of the Parliament to the role of the people in the constitution-making process.
By the people Speakers noted that a democratic constitution is no longer simply one that establishes democratic governance. The reputation and effectiveness of a modern constitution depend upon democracy in its process as well as its outcome. The people, therefore, have
a moral claim to inclusivity and participation, according to the norms of democracy. A claim of necessity for participation is based on the belief that, without a general sense of “ownership” that comes from sharing authorship, today’s public will not understand, respect, support and live within the constraints of constitutional government. A national Parliament must make it happen.