The recent legislation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines allowing public servants to run for elections without losing their employment or benefits marks a significant shift in political participation. Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves emphasized that this change has been in consideration since the country’s independence in 1979.
Historically, there were calls to enable individuals in various public sectors, such as education, law enforcement, and healthcare, to engage in the electoral process without the fear of jeopardizing their jobs. The bipartisan support for this amendment reflects a broader commitment to enhance democratic participation and encourage more individuals to contribute to governance.
Gonsalves, who is also the Minister of National Security, said it was clear that no one “who is clothed with authority in respect of security” should be allowed to contest elections.
Among these, he mentioned police officers, Maritime Administration staff or offices “where you can use your authority to do something with an individual’s liberty or with their property”.
He told legislators that the “narrow group” of public servants to be barred from contesting elections also includes legal officers and people in senior positions in the government, such as permanent secretaries and heads of departments.
Despite the change in the law, magistrates, registrars, legal officers, the deputy director of audits, deputy accountant general, deputy controller of customs and exercise, the deputy comptroller of inland revenue, the deputy supervisor of elections and the director of Maritime Administration are barred from contesting national elections without resigning their posts.
Diplomats, assistant directors of public prosecution, the chief agricultural officer, the chief engineer, the chief education officer and other senior positions “all the way down to Supervisor of Elections” also cannot contest national elections without resigning their posts.
A public servant who wishes to contest an election must be absent on leave during the election. To do so, they can take accrued leave or leave without pay.
Gonsalves said that with the change in the law, a qualifying public sector worker who takes leave to contest a general election and is elected to office would be taken to have retired from the public office.
He said the pension laws will be amended to take account of the years of service that the person had provided before being elected to Parliament.
“So the law itself is saying you’ll get the benefits,” Gonsalves said, adding “If you’re not elected, you go back to your job if you want to go back.”
But he said some people might decide not to return to the public service post, depending on the number of years they had served.
The bill had been sent to a select committee of Parliament and Gonsalves said lawmakers had tried “to give the widest and most purposive legal clothing to the principles which were just outlined”.
He noted that none of the previous governments had changed the law to allow public servants to contest elections.
“So, we are breaking new ground in St Vincent and Grenadines, and we are enlarging the pool of persons from whom to be drawn as possible candidates,” Gonsalves said, adding that lawmakers may have to amend the law in the future, depending on the circumstances.
“We may have to come back here at some time in the future to see whether the categories we have are too large, as experience teaches, or too narrow,” he said, noting that Cabinet cannot make such changes by executive action.
“And I believe that most persons would say we have had a balance in this legislation.”
Prime Minister Gonsalves said he was disappointed that neither the Public Service Union nor the St Vincent the Grenadines Teachers Union had commented on the legislation, adding that it had been published in the newspapers and online.
He said the unions did not even ask to attend the select committee.
“It may well be because they agreed with it, they said, ‘Well, there’s no need.’ I assume that’s a default situation. But a matter of this importance, it would have been pleasing to have a memo saying, ‘We agree with this principle or the principles behind the bill, and they may have some differences, here and there, and they would like to come.’
“But that didn’t come to the select committee. But that did not happen. But here we are,” Gonsalves said, listing public servants dating back to 1972, when Alfonso Dennie, then a principal, lost all his benefits after contesting national elections.
He said Girlyn Miguel, a former educator quit her job as a principal and became deputy prime minister after being elected to Parliament, and the current deputy prime minister, Montgomery Daniel under his Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration.
“… Fortuitously, in each of these cases, they served long enough time in Parliament to get a parliamentarians pension,” he said.
The prime minister noted that former educators, Terrance Ollivierre, the MP for the Southern Grenadines and Roland “Patel” Matthews, a former MP for North Leeward, both of the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP), also lost all their benefits when they quit their jobs and became election candidates.
Gonsalves, however, noted the case of the ‘Three NDP Teachers’ — the late Elvis Daniel, Kenroy Johnson and Addision “Bash” Thomas, who were forced to resign to contest the 2010 general elections for the opposition party.
The teachers had sought to rely on a collective bargaining agreement that Gonsalves’ ULP administration, which the prime minister had witnessed, had signed with the Teachers’ Union in 2005.
The agreement provided for teachers to take six months’ unpaid election leave and to resume their positions if they lost the election.
However, when they sought election leave under that agreement, the Public Service Commission pointed them to the section of the Constitution that bars public officers from contesting general elections unless exempted by Parliament.
Gonsalves then said that the election leave provision was “aspirational” and the union knew that when it signed it. However, the union took the government to court and won.
“So, early in our administration, there was an aspirational clause in an agreement with the teachers union and that aspirational clause was not affected in law, because the Constitution provides that what we are doing today could have been done,” Gonsalves told legislators.
“Well, we have come to it now. And I believe that everyone in this house supports the propositions behind this legislation. There may be cribbles here and there, as to whether this position should have been included or excluded,” he added.
