JunorGareth Manning, Gleaner Writer
Former Government Minister and Member of Parliament for Central Manchester, John Junor, is throwing his support behind calls for a fixed election date and term limits for Government to be included in the Constitution.
Junor, who announced that he would be leaving active politics shortly after the People's National Party's presidential election in February last year, said people should not be left in the dark about when an election is due.
"I support term limits I find it difficult that we sit in this House and pass legislation which says judges can't serve beyond a certain time and that teachers must retire at a certain age and we have people in this House who are way over that," continued Mr. Junor.
He added: "What makes a teacher less fit to teach than anybody who is over 60?"
Political football
Junor further criticised the House for using the constitutional reform debate as a "political football". He said it was a shame that after almost 18 years of discussion, politicians on both sides of the House still cannot agree on changes that are to be made to the Constitution.
"I fear that we will never have full constitutional reform for each time it comes forward - certainly in the last 18 years - it is a game of cat and mouse, and we play cat and mouse with our governance system and our future at our peril," he said.
He added that it was disgraceful that after nearly 45 years of Independence, Jamaica had the Queen of England as its Head of State. But moving quickly to end his contribution to the 2006-2007 sectoral debate, Mr. Junor also batted for salary increases for parliamentarians, noting that members and executives of the House have been waiting for an increase for six years.
"There are those outside who don't think we should get paid at all, but give them one week as an MP to deal with what we have to deal with," he said.
gareth.manning@gleanerjm.com
