Vicissitudes in Trinidad and Tobago

• Pages: 157-177

CHAPTER 9

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

Trinidad

In his foreword to a book published on the occasion of the independence of Trinidad and

Tobago in 1962, the late Dr Eric Williams – an outstanding historian in his own right –

gave a lucid account of the constitutional history of both islands.1In respect of Trinidad,

he made mention of the means by which the Spaniards decimated the Amerindians, the

original settlers of the island;2of the problems of labour which the island encountered

after the emancipation of slaves in 1833;3of the island being a model slave colony;4of the

influence of the metropolitan powers – Spain and France – on the colony up to the time

that the awakening dawned for independence;5of the vicissitudes that befell those who

were bold enough, between 1921 and 1956, to urge that the island should be granted self-

government, notably Andrew Cipriani;6and of the last stages of the journey to

independence, via the 1956 general elections which was won by his party (the People’s

National Movement (PNM)) and the federal experiment (which lasted from 1958–62).7Of

Tobago, Dr Williams also had a great deal to say, both of its chequered history and of the

neglect the island had suffered throughout its colonial past. He also reviewed at great

length how the union between Trinidad and Tobago eventually came about in 1898.8

In the course of his exposition, Dr Williams outlined the very many Royal

Commissions of Enquiry that had been ‘sent out’ from London to investigate various

aspects of the colony’s affairs in the 19th and 20th centuries.9To this formidable list must

157

VICISSITUDES IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

1 Williams, 1961.

2Ibid, Chapters 1, 2, 3.

3 Ibid, Chapter 8.

4 Ibid, Chapter 7.

5 Ibid, Chapter 5.

6 Ibid, Chapter 15.

7 Ibid, Chapter 16.

8 Ibid, Chapters 10, 11.

9 Ibid, see Dr Williams’ references to the following Royal Commissions:

(a) Commission on the Administration of Civil and Criminal Justice, p 74;

(b) the West Indian Royal Commission of 1897, pp 113–14, 149–50, 157, 161–63, 165–66, 228, 251;

(c) the Royal Franchise Commission of 1888, pp 115–16, 170, 173, 193–94, 218;

(d) the Royal Commission of Public Revenues of 1882, pp 136–38, 252;

(e) the Water Riots Commission of 1903, pp 182–86;

(f) the Hosea Riots Commission of 1884, pp 188–96;

(g) the Major Wood Commission of 1921, pp 217–20, 251–54;

(h) the Sugar Commission of 1929, pp 227–30;

(i) the Trinidad Disturbances Commission of 1937, pp 220–34; and

(j) the Closer Union Commission of 1932, p 252.

be added those commissions which visited the area in connection with the federal

exercise of 1958–62.10 It is however very fair to say that those many commissions did not

have significant effect in ridding the country of the colonial yoke, and it is the advent of

the PNM – led by Dr Eric Williams and a number of other dedicated Trinidad and Tobago

nationals – that cast new light on constitutional reform in the country when it took office

in 1956.

In Freedom in the Caribbean, the author has set out in some detail the part played by the

PNM in bringing Trinidad and Tobago from colonial status to internal self-government

and, finally, in 1962 to independence shortly after the collapse of the Federal Government

of the West Indies.11 In that work, too, the author referred to the political upheavals that

set in towards the late 1960s, culminating in the Black Power Revolution of 1970 when the

Government of Trinidad and Tobago came within an ace of being overthrown.12 As a

result of these disturbances, the newly independent State set up a high powered

Commission under the chairmanship of a distinguished local jurist, Sir Hugh Wooding,

the object of which was to review the existing Constitution to meet the changing and

turbulent times the country was then experiencing. Subsequent to the submission of the

report,13 there was promulgated the 1976 Republican Constitution,14 the main features of

which may be summarised in the following two paragraphs.

A republican form of government replaced the previous monarchical regime. Under

the new arrangements the President became the Head of State15 while the Prime Minister

remained Head of Government and Chairman of the Cabinet,16 but with certain reduced

powers.

Provision is also made under the Constitution for the following innovations:

(i) the President is to be appointed by an Electoral College consisting of all members of

the House of Assembly and the Senate assembled together;17

(ii) the post of Ombudsman is created;18

(iii) the post of Director of Public Prosecutions is also created;19

(iv) provision is made for an Integrity Commission;20

(v) even though the country adopted a republican status, appeals to the Judicial

Committee of the Privy Council are retained;21

(vi) for the first time in the history of the country the President in his capacity as Head of

State could make such appointments as the Chairman and members of the Electoral

Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutional Law

158

10 See Phillips, 1977, pp 28, 30, 33.

11 Ibid, pp 15–16. See, also, Selwyn, 1972.

12 Ibid, p 191.

13 Ibid. See a summary of these recommendations, pp 617–29, App VI of Phillips 1985.

14 Ibid. See the text of this constitution, pp 649–730, App XIV.

15 The Schedule to the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Act 1976 (No 4 of 1976), s 74.

16 Ibid, s 75.

17 Ibid, ss 28 and 29.

18 Ibid, s 91(1).

19 Ibid, s 90.

20 Ibid, s 138.

21 Ibid, s 109.