BRADES, Montserrat, CMC – Reuben Theodore Meade was sworn in as the first ever Premier of this Caribbean island as it adopted a new constitution that the head of government acknowledged is not a perfect document.
“We must continue the work of improving the document over time. We must, however, not lose sight of the focus on development issues while at the same time honouring the provisions of the constitution,” Meade told a ceremony at the Cultural Center soon after he was sworn into office.
The new Opposition Leader Donaldson Romeo and his opposition colleague, former chief minister Dr Lowell Lewis, have campaigned against the new constitution and have called for various changes to the document.
However, the island’s British governor, Adrian Davis, said officials in London were not considering any amendments at this time.
Davis said Montserrat was ushering in a “modern constitution for a modern country” after the “culmination of a long process of work and negotiation”.
Meade told the ceremony that the process of revising the constitution started in 1999 with the advent of the so called White Paper on the Overseas Territories.
But he said that in 2002 a two member team that also included him, the task of commencing the process on behalf of the Legislative Council after the Chief Minister, John A Osbourne intimated that this constitution must not be seen as partisan “but must include us all in its development”.
Osborne died earlier this year and Meade traced the various levels of consultations involving Montserratians both here and abroad in shaping the new document. (CMC)
