A Government is really a structure which has the power to make rules and laws and take decisions that affect a group of people. With that definition, you will find there to be church, civil, and many other types of governments. Apart from the purpose for which they govern, Governments differ fundamentally in the way by which their power and authority is achieved. If such power came about by virtue of one’s Monarch, then you would have a Monarchy form of government. In the case of Saint Lucia, its government receives power by the collective consent of its eligible citizens, thus making it a Democracy – a government by the people and for the people. Whether or not the government decisions are underpinned by the greater good of its entire people; is a matter for another discussion.
Additionally, The Government of Saint Lucia is organized and run similarly to the British Democratic System of government as opposed to the United States of America’s democratic system of Government. Democratic Governments that follow the British system of Government are called Parliamentary Democracies and those that follow the American system are called Presidential Systems of Government. That does not say however that every democracy must follow one of those two systems. Independent democracies can choose how they want their country governed which brings to mind the whole purpose of these ongoing Constitution Reform exercises. There is nothing preventing a country from employing a hybrid consisting of elements of both systems or create totally new systems!
Governments of Parliamentary Democracies like ours are usually divided into three theoretically distinct sub units or branches namely; the Parliament, Cabinet and the Judiciary. They function together as the government. On General Elections day, the people of our country vote for someone from a list of people offering themselves to represent the 17 constituencies or electoral districts on the island. There are five constituencies in the city of Castries namely: Castries North, Castries Central, Castries East, Castries South and Castries South East. The villages of Canaries and Anse La Raye are combined to form one Constituency called ‘Anse La Raye/Canaries’. The persons or candidates winning the elections at those constituencies will form the Lower House of Parliament, while the Senate or Upper House of Parliament is chosen by members of the Lower House and the Governor General. Together those two houses form the Parliament of the country. The Parliament is responsible for making laws and approving money bills, the Cabinet handles the day to day operations of the departments of Government while the Judiciary interprets and adjudicates on laws passed by Parliament.
Although the three sub units constitute the Government of Saint Lucia , it is the Prime Minister of and his/her cabinet of ministers who are generally called the ‘government’, or ‘goo-ved-mant’ in the vernacular. But this is not at all without meaningful context. After all, they are the people who were elected into parliament by the people who have taken on cabinet positions for themselves. This tradition creates a fusion of the Cabinet and Parliament in our system of government. In the USA, those two branches of government are completely separate. Someone serving in the Parliament (Congress) can't serve in the Cabinet. In our system, the Parliament is the only sub unit of Government that is directly elected by the people through the ballot box making Parliament truly the custodian of the people’s power in our democracies. The other two units or arms of Government; Cabinet and the Judiciary, are appointed by Parliament (the Prime Minister).
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