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Big guns join reform debate
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Between them, the three statesmen served 13 Senatorial terms and must therefore be credited not only with considerable political nous but also the qualities necessary to have secured consistently high levels of electoral support.
Unfortunately, present-day political figures whose credentials pale into insignificance with those of the three former Senators have, not in their wisdom but in inexplicable defiance of basic democratic principles, decided to impose an unacceptable cap on the extent to which the views of the Island as a whole are represented.
In a nutshell, the Members who voted for the removal of four Senators shifted power in the direction of the Deputies and Constables, some of whom are elected on tiny numbers of votes or, in some cases, no votes at all. In doing so, they appear to have had in mind their own interests and ambitions rather than the welfare of the Island or the rights of its electorate.
To the man in the street all this might seem like abstruse political theory, but the truth is that it undermines the Island’s claim to be a fully fledged modern democracy and significantly reduces the say that ordinary Islanders have in the affairs of their community.
Two of the former Senators, Mr Jeune and Mr Horsfall, have chosen to become the first signatories of Lyndon Farnham’s petition calling for the reversal of the decision to cut the number of Senators. They lend credibility to an initiative which deserves the widest possible support – even if cynics may be inclined to dismiss it as a ploy, given that Mr Farnham could well be a candidate in this year’s election.
Meanwhile, the third former Senator, Dick Shenton, is encouraging individuals of the right calibre to contest seats in the autumn. Quite rightly, he has drawn attention to the lack of respect that the States Assembly now commands. He also regrets, again quite rightly, a peculiar and regrettable tendency that has emerged in Island politics – the propensity for certain Members to run down the community that they serve at every opportunity.
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