Political reform has progressed little in 40 years and if you listen you'll understand why. We hear from the ABLP's Samantha Marshall, the UPP's "Chaku" Symister and the DNA's Louis Rivera about their interest, and their parties' interest in parliamentary reform. Chaku says it's a must. Samantha says we need a survey before we can conclude that it's necessary. Louis believes comprehensive reform is vital. This episode is a part two of sorts, of a discussion on parliamentary reform we aired one week before.
The reason we ask if it is a "dead" discussion in our title, is because discussions about parliamentary reform are actually common. In fact, there is a wholly volunteer organisation - ABCRE - dedicated to raising awareness about the need for constitutional reform, and parliamentary reform is part of their focus. But we still haven't enacted serious parliamentary reform. Why? Because it actually needs to be on a government's political agenda, and neither the ABLP nor the UPP has ever done it. It's as simple as that.
So, this segment gets stuck on that question - whether parties even support parliamentary reform. If they don't, why not? If they do, why have they not enacted it? Or why didn't they enact it when they were in power? Or why if they argue "the people" must show a desire for it, have they not surveyed the population to gauge support for it? You should really hear their responses.
Our discussion on parliamentary reform is largely about making the executive accountable to the legislature. Our executive is the Cabinet and our legislature is the Parliament. The Cabinet is not accountable to the Parliament in Antigua and Barbuda. Only the most strenuous mental gymnastics could lead someone to think otherwise. The basic roles of a Parliament have been established for centuries.
Here, we have a system where cabinet ministers must come from parliament. So, there is going to be overlap in the membership of executive and legislature. This is normal. It happens in many countries. What is obscenely ridiculous is that here, because the lower house is so small, the majority of the members of Parliament are virtually always also members of Cabinet. A vital role of any legislature (Parliament) is to scrutinize the work of the executive (Cabinet). How is that possible if the majority of parliament is the Cabinet???
The host is Kieron Murdoch. The guests are:
This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FMon March 14, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.
