Constitutional reform brought changes to the governance of a Caribbean island which had been focusing on its volcano-generated economic issues; but the United Kingdom overseas territory’s most experienced constitutional expert questions whether Montserrat got the constitutional change it wanted or needed.
Prof. Sir Howard Fergus, KBE, PhD,
in Brades. Sir Howard was the Speaker of the Legislative Council for 26 years from 1975. An award-winning author, he is also a published poet and a noted historian. He has been the de facto Deputy Governor, and has been Acting Governor on several occasions. He is the Extra-Mural Resident Tutor in Montserrat for the University of the West Indies, a post he has held since 1974.
The process of constitutional modernization started in Montserrat in 2010 when the government established a constitutional committee. It was tasked with making recommendations based on wide consultations. The extent to which it has been
modernized is open to debate and opposition politicians are still critical of what has been achieved. The process and the product will be examined in this article. The initiative came from the
United Kingdom government with the publication of a 1999 White Paper Partnership for Progress and Prosperity: Britain and the Overseas Territories. A Montserrat Constitutional Commission of 1996 did recommend constitutional reform; but there has really been no local agitation for
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constitutional advancement. The issue of independence has arisen and preparatory activities in the form of national symbols undertaken; but there has been no direct call for constitutional upgrading. If anything, the economic
setback caused by a sustained volcanic eruption discouraged any move towards change. There is a tendency to see a correlation between economic prosperity and political aspiration; and the eruption seriously eroded the island’s economic base. The 1999 White Paper came
therefore as a benevolent action of the imperial United Kingdom government, at least ostensibly. It however gave no idea of how progressive, radical or locally rooted these modern constitutions of its overseas territories were
Prof. Sir Howard Fergus
supposed to be; and the White Paper merely promised that the U.K. government would carefully consider the proposals. Everything was open-ended and deliberately so, as it turned out.
The status quo The Montserrat Constitutional Order 1989 vested executive