22. As explained elsewhere in this document, the government’s decision to postpone its response on the Commission’s recommendations in this regard, renders their acceptance of other recommendations, that bestow the President with executive authority, a very dangerous development.

We register our deep concern that if the powers of the President are increased, whilst the Prime Minister retains his absolute discretion on deciding who gets to be President, we risk witnessing further deterioration in the already precarious constitutional balance we have today.

We have no doubt that at no point did the Commission intend to make proposals that would have the effect of increasing, rather than curtailing, the unrestricted powers of the Prime Minister.

We reiterate that if the President is given additional powers, this must be accompanied by provisions providing checks and balances to mitigate that additional authority.