Proposed amendments to the Constitution of Guyana

Dear Editor,
Please publish my suggestions for the reformation of our constitution. For brevity, I have not elaborated on why I think these changes are necessary. I hope that these suggestions will serve to inform the commission looking into this and initiate conversations at the street corner level on what it means to be a citizen of Guyana.
Colonialism and the politics that it birthed have inculcated within our society an attitude of “learned helplessness”, we need to undo this. As Marley said only “ourselves can free our minds”.
Proposed amendments to the Constitution of Guyana
1. Sanctity of the human body: the body of a citizen is sacred and no procedure can be mandated there-onto by any authority, religious or governmental. These procedures are defined as but not limited to branding, chipping, and medical procedures.
2. State of Emergency; a State of Emergency within the boundaries of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana can only be declared by the Executive President of Guyana. The Executive President of Guyana after declaring a State of Emergency must place before Parliament a bill to vote into law this State of Emergency within eight days. This bill must have a sunset clause and must receive the votes required to change the Constitution to be enacted. Should this bill fail to be enacted in the legislature, the Executive President of Guyana within 30 days of proclaiming this State of Emergency shall use a referendum of the citizens wherein a simple majority will keep this State of Emergency with its sunset clause.
3. Citizen legislation; any citizen or group thereof can petition the High Court to change and/or enact a piece of legislation when they have convinced more than two-thirds of the number of electors that elected the current government to support this petition, for this court to direct the Elections Commission to put this petition to a referendum wherein a simple majority will be sufficient for the success thereof. An annual referendum of accumulated qualified petitions can be held for convenience.
4. Representatives of the Citizens; citizens must be able to elect to the legislature a representative of their choice without that representative having to belong to a group, political party, or being part of any list. These representatives are to be elected every four years and will form the legislature of Guyana. The Executive will be elected every five years and will form the Government of Guyana.

Sincerely,
Mohamed F Khan