A delicate description of wayward leaders might be to say they lost their way. However, when they run off the road breaking rules, holding them accountable can require detours compared to the straight and narrow the rest of society must follow. From presidents and prime ministers, to parliamentarians, powerful faux pas can take entire nations off track.
Errant Elected Executives
Despite dust clouds trailing a certain former US president for off-road excursions threatening multiple indictments, “The truth is that prosecuting powerful world leaders is something we see in democracies all the time… [where] many of these countries rank higher than the U.S. …[in] political rights and civil liberties. … because following the evidence of crimes and prosecuting leaders, when the evidence merits it, is the most powerful signal a democracy can send to its population that the law applies to everyone equally.”1
Examples include former French president Nicolas Sarkozy convicted for corruption and illegal use of campaign funds in 2021, imprisonment of the former Taiwan president for bribery in 2010, and for four of South Korea’s former presidents in a democracy ranked at par with that of the US.1
Yet others include corruption convictions and jailing of former prime ministers Sanadar in Croatia in 2020 and Olmert in Israel in 2015. Whereas such scandals led to resignations of leaders in Spain in 2018 and Austria in 2021.2
Legislative Lanes: Rules of the Road
When it comes to legislators, the US Constitution states: “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.”3
With its Bill of Rights about 100 years earlier, the Canadian House of Commons also enshrined powers to chastise “its own Members for misconduct and the power to punish anyone for interfering with the conduct of parliamentary business… [deemed] a breach of privilege or contempt” ? including censure, reprimand, summons, imprisonment and expulsion.4
Some 228 years later, the UK established recall procedures for members of parliament (MPs) following the “expenses scandal that occurred in the run up to the 2010 General Election.” These encompass: convictions resulting in imprisonment; suspension and sanction by the Standards Committee for 10 or more sitting days; or conviction under section 10 of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, including false or misleading allowances claims. If at least 10% of registered voters sign a recall petition in a 6-week period, the seat becomes vacant.5
Warnings and Tickets
Being “summoned to the Bar” in Canada is not about becoming a lawyer. It literally refers to a brass bar beyond which the public is excluded, whereupon an individual is accused of “an offence against the dignity or authority of Parliament, if the House adopts a motion to that effect.” With varying outcomes, censure and reprimand motions have held leaders and private citizens accountable for: behaviours during elections, bribery, breach of privileges, failure to produce documents – and allegations of fleeing from justice after a felony!4
In the US, Congress has censured a dozen members since 1832 for statements and “unparliamentary language” ? and nine others for a host of offenses, from physical assault to bribery, fraud, and selling military appointments. Reprimands, slightly lesser measures, also passed 12 times since 1976 for: misuse of funds and office, false information, and an outburst during President Obama’s 2009 speech to a joint session.6
Ditched in the Ditch
Reversing elections by expelling parliamentarians has been reserved for the most off-course offenses, despite not always leading to lost liberty. The US Congress has expelled just five representatives: three in 1861 for Confederate rebellion support, and one each in 1980 and 2002 for bribery.6
The Canadian House can expel a member “for offences committed outside his or her role… or committed outside a session of Parliament” and did so in 1874, 1875, 1891 and 1947 for: being an outlaw for a crime (twice); corrupt construction practices; and an Official Secrets Act violation for which the latter official was imprisoned. A fifth occasion regarding campaign funding resulted in a resignation that pre-empted expulsion in 2014.4
Whereas the relatively new UK recall powers took two MPs off the road in 2019 for “perverting the course of justice” – and offenses under the Parliamentary Standards Act. Petitions were issued and attracted enough signatures to vacate the seats. Two other suspensions, however, did not end in expulsion when the 2018 recall of Ian Paisley failed5 – and when Boris Johnson resigned, averting the risk of suspension last month.
Accountability in Anguilla
With so much talk on the road about what happened right here, these parliamentary paths to redemption would seem to offer a roadmap for members of our Honourable House.
Beyond that, we held those driving us toward GST accountable and sent them home with our votes. Elections were our democratic guardrails – until the British ripped them from the sharpest turns on a steep decline, veering to the edge after Irma and Covid – gaining speed, until they forced us over the cliff with GST. The British slowly loosened the wheels with every unsustainable budget, mountain of generational debt, and banking rockslide nearly cratering our path – caused largely by reckless taxation, sending bankrupt souls careening into their financial demise after being taxed out of their homes and savings.
Remember: a decisive election turned on the promise to avert GST in the canyons of Covid with our borders closed – when they forced betrayal and GST. They put every household on its back in a heap of despair – from lost civil rights, to ferrying food, tourists feeling “taken”, higher risks of crime, children humiliated by investors buying breakfast, businesses chased, audited, fined, forced to forgo our tradition of credit, and all of that – subject to exploitation. On any trip to the House, they can flood The Valley of our crushed culture with unspeakable increases and regulations, forcing us to pay for whatever vote-buying schemes they might inflict, taking our last dollar and tossing out welfare pennies as we drown.
Please. Director Candler, please help the Foreign Office find their way to the right side of history by humanely right-sizing our government, without GST – and put Anguilla on the road to prosperity.
Withdraw GST assent – and pass a balanced budget bill. Now!
This article reflects cultural and economic issues raised on July 5, 2021, at the House Select Committee on GST Public Hearing. 1https://time.com/6265508/world-leaders-accountable-us-donald-trump/; 2https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/20/trump-ny-indictment-foreign-countries/; 3https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-1/section-5/clause-2/; 4https://www.ourcommons.ca/procedure/procedure-and-practice-3/ch_03_7-e.html; 5https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05089/; 6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_representatives_expelled,_censured,_or_reprimanded.
