Administering to the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) a taste of the medicine it repeatedly gave while in office, the Free National Movement (FNM) administration has flagrantly refused to allow Opposition Day in Parliament this term, belying the Minnis administration’s claim that it is different than its predecessors with regard to accountability and respect for those who elected the FNM to office in 2017.
The FNM is no better than the PLP in its disgraceful actions in this regard.
We have previously made the point that the basic functions of Parliament sometimes appear to be lost on politicians, many of whom arrogantly ignore their obligation to fully account to the Bahamian people and respect the constitutional role of the opposition in ensuring good governance.
Under our constitution, Parliament has two roles: primarily, it makes laws; it is also mandated to hold the executive accountable.
One of the important ways that is done is through the questioning of ministers in Parliament.
But that has long become a thing of the past.
Under House rules, the Parliament is mandated to hold Opposition Day — a day the opposition should use to make the government more accountable.
House Rule 59(1) states, “Question Time shall be held on the second Wednesday of each month provided the House is sitting during that month and shall be for a duration of not more than 30 minutes.”
Rule 59(5) states, “A minister may decline to answer a question and, if he does so, shall state his reasons which shall not be open to further question or debate.”
The rules also allow MPs to vote to bypass question time, which is exactly what the government shamelessly used its super majority in Parliament to do last week, as it has done in the past.
That same day, the prime minister tabled several bills he said are intended to modernize public finance management and deliver on his government’s promise of transparency and accountability.
It is clear, however, that the current administration has only a half-hearted commitment to these core democratic principles.
Leader of Government Business Renward Wells has repeatedly moved and had passed a resolution for the House to ignore Opposition Day and instead resume its normal agenda.
Last September, after Leader of Opposition Business Picewell Forbes urged the government of the need to be merciful when powerful, Wells declared that the Minnis administration will treat the opposition party the same way the Christie administration treated the Free National Movement (FNM) when it was in opposition.
After Forbes pressed him on when Opposition Day will be held, Wells declared, “We will take his request under advisement and the government will get back as to what it will do in regards to questions.
“As he rightfully knows, the previous administration has done and the administration before that has done, and the administration before that has done. We will answer, Mr. Speaker, in the manner the previous administrations in this House have set.”
In other words, the current administration has absolutely no plans to entertain questions from opposition members and backbenchers — a direct insult, not just to those members, but to the Bahamian people.
We never believed that Wells’ claim that the government will take Forbes’ request “under advisement” would amount to anything.
It is always disappointing, but, we admit, not surprising to witness how politicians in power handle the affairs of the people while acting as if the Parliament is their personal domain and not that of the citizens.
As the previous administration did, the Minnis administration continues to show disdain for the electorate.
The Christie administration left office with more than 200 unanswered questions on the agenda. The Minnis administration clearly has no plan to entertain the opposition’s questions either.
St. Anne’s MP Brent Symonette believes this is unfortunate.
“The government should embrace the opportunity for Question Time to allow its ministers to demonstrate their full capability and mastery of their ministry,” Symonette told National Review yesterday.
“A good minister can take any of these questions and answer them and look very good.”
A good minister could also have his permanent secretary prepare answers for him to read in Parliament, but there is no will to do so.
Questions
Last week, Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Deputy Leader Chester Cooper gave notice of 16 questions.
All his questions deserve to be answered by the government, so the Bahamian people have the facts on these important national issues.
Cooper, for instance, wants the minister of finance (who is now the prime minister) to detail how much money has been spent to date on paying out separated staff of Grand Lucayan in Freeport, maintaining the property, as well as all other costs associated with the government’s purchase of the shuttered resort.
He also called upon the minister of tourism and aviation to explain the status of the sale to Royal Caribbean International and ITM, nearly a year after a heads of agreement was signed.
Speaking to a Nassau Guardian reporter on Monday, Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar acknowledged that the government will suffer a loss, although he did not detail the likely loss. D’Aguilar said this was due to matters beyond the government’s control, including Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19.
Cooper called on the prime minister or minister of tourism to update the House on the status of the bid by Royal Caribbean to be granted or leased Crown land on Paradise Island.
He also called on the minister of foreign affairs to detail how many companies have applied for and been given approvals under rules of the Commercial Enterprises Act.
Additionally, Cooper wants the minister of tourism and aviation to detail the companies and/or firms the government is considering entering into a public-private partnership with for the airport on Exuma.
He also wants the minister of finance to advise when the mid-year budget will be brought to Parliament.
He wants to know which projects have been expedited by the National Economic Council.
Cooper’s 16 questions were clearly well thought out. We won’t hold out any hope that answers will be forthcoming.
Political games
When he spoke with us yesterday, Symonette noted that Question Time is enshrined in the Westminster system.
He added, “This whole thing of not tabling agreements I never understood. Table the agreements; it’s the people’s business.”
Symonette said the PLP has no moral ground to stand on on this issue given its own record.
He said when he was a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Christie administration blocked the committee’s work.
Years later, in 2015, Dr. Kendal Major, while speaker, issued a ruling, essentially stifling the work of the PAC, the most powerful committee of the House.
Symonette called PLPs “hypocrites to the first degree”.
In one of his first acts as an “independent” speaker, Halson Moultrie last week finally reversed that decision.
When we previously asked him why he would not overturn the 2015 ruling, Moultrie told us that the opposition would need to make a case for that to happen.
It was thus curious to see him hand down his ruling in the absence of any such petition from the opposition.
Watching the political games our leaders play and their disingenuous actions, it is easy to see why so many Bahamians are so cynical and so jaded.
Some see all politicians on both sides of the political divide as untrustworthy and undeserving of support.
This week, a media colleague told us that he intends to sit the next election out because he cannot vote to put Hubert Minnis or Philip Brave Davis in office. We reminded him that one will eventually emerge as prime minister, but that did not seem to impact his thinking.
Many Bahamians have a very hard time determining who to believe.
In opposition, Minnis and the FNM railed against the Christie administration’s general lack of accountability and embarrassing handling of the people’s affairs. In office, the FNM has failed to demonstrate it is much better.
We suspect that Davis, the former deputy prime minister, and now leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), expects us to have amnesia as it regards his role in the last administration.
Who could forget Davis’ use of public funds seemingly to discredit the auditor general’s report into the questionable Urban Renewal Small Homes Repair Programme?
And the Christie administration’s support of Kendal Major’s decision to set the Parliament back 200 years by castrating the Public Accounts Committee?
We can now expect Davis to present himself and the “new” PLP as being totally committed to cherished democratic principles.
Such is the state of affairs of our national politics.
With such dismal options before us, we see no real hope for better governance no matter who gets in.
Voters will be left to take their pick of two incredibly bad options.
The post Growing disdain for democratic principles appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/growing-disdain-for-democratic-principles/
No comments:
Post a Comment