THE CONSTITUTION IS YOUR PROTECTOR
Nov 03, 2017 , https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...n-is-your-protector/
The following extract is taken from the movie, “A Man for all Seasons” which won an Oscar. It relays the remarkable story, life and death of Sir Thomas More, the former Lord Chancellor of England.
William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ‘round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!
The people of Guyana must not allow themselves to be fooled into believing that what is at issue in the instance of the appointment of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission is whether the person appointed is fit and proper. That is merely incidental to the real issue at stake: which is the liberty of citizens.
If the highest law of the land requires a prescribed process to select a Chairperson of GECOM, the failure to have such a process represents a violation of the Constitution. If you flaunt the Constitution, you do so to your own danger, because it is the very Constitution which protects you and your rights.
If politicians can trample on the Constitution, then they can trample on your rights. And one of the most important rights that citizens have is their freedom. That right can be taken away if politicians feel that there is no law to prevent them doing what they are doing.
There are persons in our society who are seeing this controversy over the appointment of the Chairman of GECOM as pitting the PPPC against the government. This issue, however, is not a partisan contest. It is about whether the law is being cut down. To paraphrase Thomas More, if you cut down the law, then what is going to be left to protect you when the devil turns on you?
The Constitution is our protector and our guardian. If the Constitution is reduced to rubble, then it cannot protect citizens from tyranny.
A year ago, a big quarrel broke out over a decision by the government to compulsorily acquire land. If there was not a Constitution to fall back on, then imagine what would have happened. A situation could have arisen in which some tyrant can pass by your house and like it, and decide to take it from you without compensation. It is the Constitution’s protection of property which prevents this from happening.
It is the Constitution which protects your freedom of movement. If the Constitution becomes worthless, then some tyrant can order you off the road, and can prevent your movement.
Right now, there are restrictions on persons freely leaving Guyana for all manner of reasons. Persons risk being turned back at the airport if they are bonded by the government; if they owe UG and do not have permission to travel. Public servants can risk being dismissed if they spend their approved leave overseas without permission. These restrictions violate a person’s right to freedom of movement. But no one is challenging these restrictions. There is no good reason, if you are a public servant, why you should have to obtain permission to spend your leave overseas.
The Constitution protects your right to free speech. Without the protection of the Constitution, you can be silenced.
The Constitution prevents you from being arbitrarily arrested or imprisoned. Without the protection of the Constitution, the government will be free to throw you in jail at their whim.
Fortunately, there are laws which protect citizens. The most powerful of these laws is the Constitution. This is why the issue of the appointment of the Chairman of GECOM should not be turned into a political football or a slugging match between APNU+AFC and the PPPC. This issue is about the Constitution, the document that ensures that the liberty of citizens is upheld.
Guyana must remain a country planted thick with laws. No one man must believe that he is above the law or for that matter the Constitution.
If that happens, all of us are in danger.
