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Parliament: It Clearly Isn't Working
Ministers in Antigua and Barbuda are not accountable to Parliament. How could they be? The Cabinet (of ministers) and the Parliament are virtually the same body. How can a minister provide oversight of himself or herself? That's like hiring yourself to audit yourself.
Why it Doesn't Work: We have a parliamentary system adapted from Britain where there are hundreds of MPs. For them (the British) parliament is a massive body and the Cabinet (of ministers) is a tiny portion of those MPs. In Antigua and Barbuda we don’t have hundreds of MPs. We have 17. So the Cabinet is not a tiny portion of the 17, it's virtually always the majority of the 17.
It Has Never Worked: Regardless of which administration you look back to, the result is the same. Cabinet is virtually always the majority of Parliament. It's a structural problem representing the ineffective separation of executive and legislative powers and it has always been a flaw in our political system. And needless to say, no party - once in power - has ever changed it.
How it Should Work: Parliament is supposed to be a largely separate group of representatives who pass laws in the best interest of the people that voted them there. And they are supposed to review the work of the ministers and ministries to make sure the people are well served by the Cabinet. A Cabinet is supposed to come up with policy for the nation, then convince Parliament to pass that policy in the form of legislation.
This simply does not occur in Antigua and Barbuda. Here, the Cabinet arrives to Parliament and only has to convince itself (because they are the majority of MPs) to pass its own legislation. On this segment, we asked: If parliament were to be reformed, what would it take to turn it into a truly effective legislature? The host is Kieron Murdoch.
Our guests are
This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on March 7, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.
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By The Big Issues Production TeamMinisters in Antigua and Barbuda are not accountable to Parliament. How could they be? The Cabinet (of ministers) and the Parliament are virtually the same body. How can a minister provide oversight of himself or herself? That's like hiring yourself to audit yourself.
Why it Doesn't Work: We have a parliamentary system adapted from Britain where there are hundreds of MPs. For them (the British) parliament is a massive body and the Cabinet (of ministers) is a tiny portion of those MPs. In Antigua and Barbuda we don’t have hundreds of MPs. We have 17. So the Cabinet is not a tiny portion of the 17, it's virtually always the majority of the 17.
It Has Never Worked: Regardless of which administration you look back to, the result is the same. Cabinet is virtually always the majority of Parliament. It's a structural problem representing the ineffective separation of executive and legislative powers and it has always been a flaw in our political system. And needless to say, no party - once in power - has ever changed it.
How it Should Work: Parliament is supposed to be a largely separate group of representatives who pass laws in the best interest of the people that voted them there. And they are supposed to review the work of the ministers and ministries to make sure the people are well served by the Cabinet. A Cabinet is supposed to come up with policy for the nation, then convince Parliament to pass that policy in the form of legislation.
This simply does not occur in Antigua and Barbuda. Here, the Cabinet arrives to Parliament and only has to convince itself (because they are the majority of MPs) to pass its own legislation. On this segment, we asked: If parliament were to be reformed, what would it take to turn it into a truly effective legislature? The host is Kieron Murdoch.
Our guests are
This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on March 7, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.