๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ง๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ: ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ฏ๐๐, ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ What confronts us is not merely a revised document but a deliberate performance of constitutional theatre. The Technical Committeeโs draft reads cleaner than the original Bill 7, yet its foundation remains soaked in the illegality already pronounced by the Constitutional Court. Even improved content cannot cure a corrupt process.
You cannot baptise a flawed beginning with attractive clauses. Echoes of past constitutional reports appear, but even familiar wisdom cannot repair the absence of integrity at the origin of this amendment scheme. The exercise resembles a Gumbo soup fragrant on the surface, yet hiding repulsive meats beneath.
Non-contentious provisions have been mixed with explosive delimitation proposals, all justified by an unseen technical study shielded from public examination. The frantic speed of this project reveals an arrogance that undermines national consultation. A Constitution is a covenant, not an emergency statutory instrument.
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Rushing such work is the surest path to weakening the Republicโs spine. More troubling are the expanding appointing powers subtly grafted onto presidential authority. What emerges is a President who stands as chief employer, paymaster, tender master, custodian of loyalties, and dispenser of political rewards.
No democracy thrives under such gravitational power. Proportional representation, as presented, is a cosmetic display flowery, seductive, yet empty. It repairs no constitutional deficit.
It solves no real governance problem. It rests on no proven link between representation formulas and national development outcomes. The belief that increasing numbers of youth and women through closed-list PR will trigger transformation is naive.
Without constituency accountability, these seats risk becoming controlled appendages of party leadership rather than genuine voices of citizens. The financial burden of expanding parliamentary and council seats is ignored. Infrastructure, logistics, allowances, and operational costs will stretch a Treasury already under strain.
Before preaching proportional representation, political parties must first reform their internal cultures. A nation cannot harvest democratic balance when its parties refuse to cultivate internal democracy, transparency, and accountability. Nothing prevents government today from reflecting proportional balance through appointments, boards, commissions, and delegations. Real transformation requires political courage, not constitutional gymnastics staged for electoral convenience.
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