Letter: Don't amend THA to give it two independents

A Newsday article named "AMEND THA ACT", reports the newly-returned House of Assembly Chief Secretary, Orville London, as calling "for an amendment to the THA Act in order to give the President the power to appoint two independent councillors within the Assembly. 

Such councillors, he said, would form an independent voice, in place of a Minority Leader."

I cannot support his call. 

My reason is that the concept of "Independent voices" is an anachronism: it has outlived its relevance. "Independent voices" have no place in democratic societies, they belong to the bygone era of royal or autocratic rule, where titles and lofty positions were inherited, or distributed based on personal favours, not by the people's will. 

Within our own experience, in those days society was divided into blue blood and commoner, the gentry and the serf. The blue-blooded and the gentry were referred to as having "vested interest" in the commoners and serfs' business, property, lives.

Now! If Mr London is serious about his unanimous THA being given some semblance of balance....wheel! 

In fact, this conversation needs to be more broad-based. If anyone is serious about giving proper balance to any elected body (such as the THA, our municipal and regional councils and our Parliament), proportional representation is the way to go. 

In the case of the present "dilemma" Mr London's THA faces, proportional representation would have addressed and put to rest all the concerns reasonable citizens have about how the THA shall operate over the next four years, seeing how the members of the newly-elected THA conducted their campaign. 

In his column "Commentary: Can the THA function legally without a minority leader?", Mr Jai Parasram has expressed a similar view, so it does seem I'm not the only reasonable person out there.

I think I shall write the Honourable Prime Minister and the Honourable Attorney General directly on this matter, since it's a serious issue that has been hanging fire for too long. It's time to put it to rest once and for all.

Ayodele Chieng | Irving Street, in Petit Bourg.