The newly established Citizens for Constitution Reform (CCR) in Grenada has drafted legislation and presented it to both the government and the primary opposition party. Their aim is to amend Grenada’s ‘Oath of Allegiance.’
The group, comprising attorneys Ruggles Ferguson, Anande Trotman, Jerry Edwin, Ewart Layne, and educator Dr Wendy Grenade, seeks to educate Grenadians about the need for constitutional reform.
Their initial objective is to revise the oath, shifting allegiance from 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 Former attorney general, Dr Francis Alexis, who previously chaired a constitution reform committee for the 2016 and 2018 referendum.
None of the seven bills in that constitution referendum of 2016 and the single bill for the 2018 exercise received the required two third majority to affect the change.
Alexis is arguing 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, the Governor General, the prime minister, cabinet ministers and members of parliament, to swear that he or she 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 in the UK Monarch the executive authority of the state,” 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 in supporting Alexis, told reporters that he believes that after 50 years of independence, Grenada’s constitution is overdue for a change.
“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 experience 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 Trotman who was instrumental in developing Guyana’s revised constitution.
