ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC—The newly registered Citizens for Constitution Reform (CCR) says its main objective will be to educate Grenadians about reforming the country’s constitution.
The CCR has already developed draft legislation and has submitted it to the government and the main opposition party for their assessment and consideration.
Former attorney general Dr. Francis Alexis said that the group’s goal includes attorneys Ruggles Ferguson, Anande Trotman, Jerry Edwin, Ewart Layne, and educator Dr Wendy Grenade. Is to change Grenada’s “Oath of Allegiance” from swearing allegiance to the King of England to the State of Grenada.
“There should no longer be allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III, his heirs, and successors but instead to the land of our birth, our citizenship in which we are domicile – Grenada,” said Alexis, who previously chaired a constitution reform committee for the 2016 and 2018 referendum.
None of the seven bills in the 2016 constitution referendum or the single bill for the 2018 exercise received the required two-thirds majority to affect the change.
Alexis argues that changing the Oath of Allegiance does not require a referendum vote but an act approved by both the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament.
Currently, the Oath Act requires all persons, including the Governor General, the prime minister, cabinet ministers, and members of parliament, to swear that they will faithfully bear true allegiance to the British monarch.
“It is quite normal for a Caribbean independent state to alter the constitution to change allegiance from the UK monarch to such a Caribbean state while the constitution continues to vest the state’s executive authority in the UK Monarch,” Alexis said.
“The constitution caters for allegiance being given to the state while the executive authority of the state is vested in the UK Monarch,” he said, noting that the constitution as written gives referendum-entrenchment status to the provision vesting the executive authority of the state in the UK Monarch.
Ferguson, who supported Alexis, told reporters that he believes Grenada’s constitution is overdue for a change after 50 years of independence.
“We have had many changes since 1974, but not one amendment has been able to crip into the constitution to reflect any of those changes.
“From independence to this period, we have experienced many changes, political changes, economic changes, social changes, and the debate will always go on as to whether we have achieved enough or whether we are truly independent, notwithstanding those changes,” said Ferguson, who served as a member of the 2016 and 2018 constitution reform committees.
“The constitution is a living, breathing document that is supposed to reflect the evolution of society, evolving changes as they take place in our society,” said Anande Trotman, who was instrumental in developing Guyana’s revised constitution.
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