Speaker of the House of Assembly Halson Moultrie, who chairs the Constituencies Commission, charged yesterday that the government members on the commission are frustrating the process of completing a report.
However, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Michael Pintard strongly rejected that claim, adding that Moultrie is “at odds with the majority” of the commission’s members.
In addition to Moultrie and Pintard, commission members are Minister of Health Renward Wells, who is leader of government business in the House, Progressive Liberal Party Deputy Leader Chester Cooper and Supreme Court Justice Deborah Fraser, who serves as vice chair.
The commission has been working on its final report for the last few months.
When called for an update yesterday, Moultrie said it seems as though Pintard and Wells “are trying to get the type of report that is favorable or to frustrate the process so that there is no report before the prime minister dissolves the House”.
“But it is my intention to have a report to the governor general by the end of next week … by next week Friday, even with the pushback,” he said.
“If I have to sign the report all by myself, the governor general will get a report.”
Article 68 of the constitution mandates the review of constituency boundaries at intervals of not more than five years. The last report is dated February 2017.
The prime minister is constitutionally mandated to lay before the House of Assembly for its approval a draft of an order by the governor general for giving effect, whether with or without modifications, to the recommendations contained in the commission’s report.
But the prime minister could legally call an election in the absence of the commission reporting, if he calls the election prior to February 2022.
Pintard called Moultrie’s assertion that he will sign the report by himself if he has to “unfortunately pure grandstanding for public relations purposes which will ring hallow to the public”.
He said every commission member intends to sign the report.
Pintard described Moultrie’s claim that he and Wells attempted to frustrate the process as “patently untrue”.
“In terms of frustrate, the chairman has been at odds with the majority of the commission,” he told The Nassau Guardian.
“The majority of the members of the commission have indicated to the chairman that they have difficulty with the fact that he is litigating matters that are just now before the commission, have not been fully discussed or agreed upon, but his statements give the impression that some conclusions have been arrived at which were not yet arrived at.
“Every member, without exception, inclusive of the government ministers, in the majority of those meetings where issues were taken with what the speaker was doing, which was seen as blindsiding other members of the commission, the justice and myself, and on some occasions the member from the PLP would have been present. So Minister Wells was not present at that time, but certainly became aware of it.
“So for him to attempt to isolate the government ministers is most unfortunate.”
Pintard said the commission agreed that a statement should be drafted to make it clear to the public that Moultrie does not speak on behalf of it and that the commission is doing its work.
He said when Moultrie makes statements publicly, he puts all members “on the defense”.
“We are now asked in the public sphere to clarify what the speaker has said,” Pintard said.
“For us to engage in that discussion would be doing the equivalent of what he has done and that would be to speak out of turn on what work that was being still discussed.”
He said commission members believe that Moultrie ought to discuss with them what information is being released to the public or to give them a heads up.
Earlier this year, Moultrie told The Nassau Guardian that the commission expects to add more seats.
Yesterday, he said, “The initial challenge really was that the member for Marco City (Pintard) felt that I should not engage the public on any aspect of the business that was before the commission.
“I was of the view that the commission should be functioning in the best interest of the public and engaging the public with respect to giving the latest statistics and some of the positions that members would take on the commission would only serve to deepen our democracy.”
Moultrie also claimed that Wells and Pintard have been missing commission meetings.
But Pintard said that all members, including the chairman, have missed meetings.
“The reality is the majority of the discussions that would’ve taken place with the speaker, we were not at odds in terms of the work of the commission,” Pintard added.
“In fact, we went back and forth as a group in the more recent meeting to craft a report that was the basis of consensus. The speaker certainly has views that are different than all other members and wishes for those views to be expressed even though it is not the majority view or is it a view that reflects one of consensus.
“He reserves the right in the public domain or otherwise to proceed in expressing those views but no one on the commission has been uncooperative in engaging in the discussions that have come before us.”
Premature
Early last year at a political event, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis declared that there will be no changes to boundaries.
Moultrie yesterday described that statement as “premature and prejudicial”.
“I felt that those two ministers — being bound by the collective decision-making of Cabinet — were motivated by that statement to make certain that we get exactly what the prime minister wanted,” he said.
Pintard dismissed the claim that he and Wells are attempting to ensure that the commission’s report is favorable to the prime minister.
“The speaker knows personally and he knows from his observation in the House of Assembly that I have been very candid, and while I am bound by a collective responsibility, I have also expressed some independent views that I hold and views that are matters of conscience that I am prepared, if necessary, to part ways on,” he said.
“So his attempt to give the impression that I would simply rubber stamp a view that has been passed down is laughable … No one will take the chairman seriously in that kind of accusation.”
The post Moultrie: I’ll sign boundaries report by myself if I have to appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/moultrie-ill-sign-boundaries-report-by-myself-if-i-have-to/
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