What exactly is stopping us from adopting a new constitution that would allow us the ability to have more voting rights? I would say it is the will of the politicians to do the right thing. Regardless of political party affiliation, I think it is fair to say that the current voting system is not working for us as a nation.

I strongly believe we need to have elections for the leader of the nation, and separate elections for the members of Parliament (MP). Why must we continue to vote for an MP and have that vote be counted as a vote for who should be the prime minister? We will never stem the tide of corruption if we continue to vote the way we do now.

I urge a look at the following proposals:

All positions would have a new type of voting restriction concerning term limit.

President: The president would be the nation's chief administrator who is in control of the Government. We must change the Constitution to elect a president that would have such power. This would mean no more Queen, and no more governor general representing her. It would also mean a step in the right direction to making Jamaica the type of nation that our forefathers envisioned when they penned our pledge and our national anthem.

County governors ( one per county): We have three counties so there would be three governors that would be in charge of certain things within his or her county. Those duties would cover things like, water, road, sewerage, etc. It would cover things that are primarily shared by more than one parish. It would be cheaper to be expedited by the county governor than individual parish councillors or MPs.

Members of Parliament (two per parish): Members of Parliament would be in charge of making economic policies and petitions on behalf of their respective parishes. There would be a maximum of two members per parish.

Senators (two per parish): The senators would continue to be the nation's higher lawmakers. Policies approved by Parliament would also have to be approved by the senators. There would be a maximum of two per parish.

Mayors (one per parish): Instead of having three or more MPs running the day-to-day affairs of a parish, it is much easier to have the mayors in charge of the entire parish instead of just the capital. This would eliminate a lot of neglect that takes place in some communities simply because they didn't vote for a particular party.

Jamaica is also too small to be divided into so many constituencies. This is just to facilitate the greed for power. We need to give the voters more power and not our politicians.

Parish attorneys (one per parish): The parish attorney would be responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption that involves politicians and public officials.

Community advocate/parish councillor: This position would have a role change that would make the position more of an advocate than an administrator. The person serving in this position would take the concern of the people to the respective elected officials. Those officials are the senators, mayors, and members of Parliament.

I am, etc.,

BRIAN LYNCH

headonwriter2006@yahoo.com