Focus is needed on reforming our parliamentary process... The legislature is one of three branches of government... Let’s start with a simple thing: schedule questions to the prime minister

Prime Minister's Questions needed in Parliament

thenassauguardian editorial



The phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom involving the now closed tabloid News of the World (NoW) has dominated world news the past few weeks. It’s really the perfect scandal. It involves money, power, the media and politics. The only thing missing is sex. And who knows, as fast as this scandal is evolving, that may come too, soon.

The actions of NoW have led to police investigations, criminal charges and parliamentary inquires. British Prime Minister David Cameron has been under fire because he hired a former NoW editor, Andy Coulson, to be his director of communications. Coulson has stepped down from this post because of questions about his role regarding the scandal while at NoW.

The opposition Labour Party has questioned Cameron’s judgment in hiring Coulson. Opposition Leader Ed Milliband has challenged Cameron for weeks in the House of Commons on the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions.

The weekly question period is a delight, and an important part of the democratic process. Every Wednesday the prime minister answers questions from the dispatch box beginning with questions from the opposition leader. These are wars during which the PM takes heat from his constitutional rival, giving the same back in return.

The questions are usually topical and the PM is pressed to answer even when he prefers not to. After the leader of the opposition is finished other MPs ask their questions. The question period lasts for about 30 minutes.

In the Westminster system PMs are the country’s CEO. As chairman of the cabinet, he is charged with ultimate responsibility for the actions of the government. Therefore, via Questions to the Prime Minister the government is held in the dock to account in Parliament for decisions made every week Parliament meets.

Alas, there is no system of questions to the prime minister in our parliament. There is almost no question system at all in practice. Opposition day is supposed to be every second Wednesday in the month when the House of Assembly meets.

On this occasion, the opposition is supposed to be able to pose questions. However, clever governing sides simply do not meet on this day and if the opposition does not push, there could be no opposition day for a long time.

It is sad that many of our politicians are so Third World in their mentality that a governing side would attempt not to have to answer questions and an opposition would be so pathetic that it would let its rights be violated.

Rules need to be adopted in Parliament to ensure that the PM has to take questions on a weekly basis as is done in the UK. If that is too much for our politicians then we could adopt a hybrid system through which questions are posed to the government in general on a weekly basis. The member most capable could answer those questions.

For this to work, though, both sides would have to respect the sacrosanctity of Parliament, its rules and conventions. Leaders should want to answer questions. Why? Well, because it proves that they are tough enough, smart enough and in charge enough to withstand any assault from rivals.

Conversely, the opposition should want to ask questions to prove it is better able to run the affairs of state and to weaken the position of the governing side.

The contrast of these two positions should create beautiful intellectual wars in the legislature. It is still a joy to watch old clips from Margaret Thatcher at the dispatch box taking questions from her rivals.

When independence was granted by the British to its colonies, there was a fear that many were not ready for self-governance. The concern was that an elite segment of some of these native societies simply wanted to be in charge knowing little of, and having even less respect for, the traditions and conventions of Westminster governance.

Our parliamentary process needs improvement. We simply touch on one thing that needs reform in this piece. Other problems include the non-existent committee system; members reading from texts they did not write rather than debating issues they studied; and the slow process of relevant legislation coming forward.

We condemn in the strongest terms the myopia of all of the majority rule and post-independence governments for not building a new parliament. The inadequate buildings currently being used are more than 200 years old. We need not explain again why they are inadequate. One needs only to visit to see why.

Focus is needed on reforming our parliamentary process. The legislature is one of three branches of government. Let’s start with a simple thing: schedule questions to the prime minister. If they can’t figure out how to do it, our politicians should just go online and print out a copy of the British process. It’s been going on for quite a while.

Jul 21, 2011

thenassauguardian editorial

Caribbean Blog International

Bahamian Taxpayers Urged to Meet Their Tax Obligations

The monies raised from taxes in The Bahamas are required to meet essential expenditures which are also approved by the Bahamian legislature 

PM Pleads To Taxpayers

 

By Macushla N. Pinder

Nassau, The Bahamas

Journal Staff Writer

05/27/04

 

 

 

In an impassioned plea, Prime Minister Perry Christie on Wednesday begged Bahamian taxpayers to meet their tax obligations in a timely manner.

“The taxes levied in The Bahamas are in accordance with the laws passed by this legislature, “ Mr. Christie pointed out, while making his Budget Communication to Parliament.

He said, “The monies raised are required to meet essential expenditures which are also approved by this legislature.  We have an open and transparent budgetary system and the purposes of taxation are known.”

The 2004/2005 budget projects total expenditure of $1.324 billion and total revenue of $1.063 billion.

Mr. Christie – in an unprecedented move – departed from the custom of lengthy and involved reports on budgetary allocations, giving a brief overview of his government’s spending plan.

It was the shortest Budget Communication in the post-Independence Bahamas.

About an hour and 20 minutes after he started his much-anticipated communication, Mr. Christie, who is also Minster of Finance, ended by declaring that, “The 2004/2005 budget and the economic prospects on which it is based, represent yet another landmark in my government’s commitment to the interests of the Bahamian people.”

As expected, the country’s social sector – education and training, health, housing, social services and youth development – will receive a huge chunk of the government’s $954 million 2004/2005 recurrent expenditure, a figure totaling $428 million or 45 percent.

Mr. Christie further revealed that almost 20 percent of the recurrent expenditure would be spent on national security, including the police and defence forces, judicial and legal affairs.

Some $65 million, he said, will go towards infrastructure like works and transport.

Another $100 million will be spent on economic services, including tourism, trade and agriculture and fisheries; while $173 million has been allocated to administrative services like foreign affairs, public service, finance and local government.

According to Mr. Christie, another $500,000 has been earmarked for consultancy services for, amongst other things, planning the development of Clifton Cay National Park.

“The consultancy will provide an outline of how the Park should be developed and laid out so as to maximize public benefit from it,” he said.  “In this regard, it is envisaged that the Park would provide a facility which would be of enjoyment to Bahamians as well as an attractive enhancement to the cultural experience of our visitors.”

There is also provision of $1 million for interest payment on the bonds that will be issued for the purchase of the Park.

“I am sure that the Bahamian public appreciates that while each priority is of equal weight, an appropriate balance must be maintained in allocating the increasing flows of resources between them in the coming years,” he said.

“This will involve some degree of patience because not everything can be achieved or accomplished in one single year.  The overarching consideration, however, is that all of these priorities be steadily and concurrently addressed as the flow of budgetary resources intensifies, not from increases in taxation, but rather from the strengthening of the economy arising form this government’s policies and from firmer and more efficient revenue administration.”

During his address, the Prime Minister also unveiled a package of measures that are sure to cause certain sectors of the Bahamian population to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Among these are the removal of customs duties and stamp duties on imports from building materials used by private schools.

According to the Prime Minister, the new fiscal plan positions The Bahamas to take advantage of the country’s “imminent surge in economic performance” like that provided by Kerzner International’s Phase III $1 billion project.

He said it is this economic stability allied with political maturity that will make the country’s economy a magnet for investments.

Mr. Christie added that while geopolitical uncertainties like the continued surge in oil prices could result in early increases in interest rates, these uncertainties would have “diminishing implications as (economic) growth becomes firmly entrenched.”

“There is one factor working strongly to our advantage, and that is, the sizeable depreciation in the value of the United States dollar that has occurred since 2002 as a result of the expanding record-level Federal budget deficit and shortfalls on the US trade account,” Mr. Christie said.

“As these imbalances persist, the dollar is expected to remain weak in the year ahead, making dollar priced vacation destinations such as The Bahamas more affordable for people from North America, Europe and Asia.”

While on his feet, the nation’s chief also reiterated that the over-riding priorities for the economy, fiscal and non-fiscal, are to generate enough quality employment opportunities for all Bahamians.

“Our goals are clear-cut and unambiguous…” he said.

“Simply stated, they are to maximize the job creation potential of the Bahamian economy by strengthening the key sectors and encouraging the highest possible levels of employment-generating investment; accelerate the social advancement and inclusion of all members of society; ensure that every major settlement in The Bahamas participates in national prosperity and advancement and raise standards of delivery of public services so as to get the best possible value for the taxpayers’ dollar.”

As is customary, many Bahamians were drawn to the House of Assembly’s gallery to hear the budget communication first hand.

Among them were a key fiscal architect, Minister of State for Finance, Senator James Smith; former PLP Cabinet Minister Paul Adderley; government advisor Sean McWeeney; PLP Chairman Raynard Rigby; various FNM senators, including Tanya McCartney and Desmond Bannister, and other citizens.