Thompson: Nothing but total contempt
OPPOSITION LEADER DAVID THOMPSON has accused Government of demonstrating “total contempt” for Parliament by trying to use the institution to rubber-stamp Cabinet decisions on constitutional changes.
He launched the broadside yesterday during debate on the Financial Management Audit Bill and a proposed amendment to the Constitution, complaining that the Opposition had been given mere days to study the changes.
“I’m not staying that the Constitution must not and cannot be amended,” he said. “It can, Sir, but these decisions were made by the Cabinet and are now foisted on this Parliament, Sir, in almost hours leading up to the Estimates Debate . . . . Rubber-stamp
“And I’m saying that is unsatisfactory. It marginalises this Parliament; it is an assault on parliamentary democracy, and what we are being required to do is essentially rubber-stamp decisions that are being taken elsewhere . . . .”
After the short notification, the House was “being pushed and pilloried” to pass the bills, according to Thompson.
“People will wonder what kind of Parliament is this . . . . What kind of banana republic approach, Sir, is this, that an important amendment to the Constitution can be circulated four or five days before it’s debated,” he added. Piecemeal approach
Thompson said that despite the Administration’s promises to the contrary, it was adopting a “piecemeal” approach to amending the Constitution.
“(Over the years) we have had several constitutional amendments . . . and the way in which the Government is going about these constitutional amendments shows total contempt for this Parliament and marginalisation of the parliamentary system of government that we have,” he charged.
In a point rejected by the Government side, Thompson said the changes being debated by Parliament had legal implications for the Estimates Debate.
“We are going to start a debate on the Estimates next Monday,” he noted. “The Estimates that will be laid before this Parliament, as I understand it . . . will be laid on the basis of the new arrangements contemplated by this legislation.
“Unless the changes are passed by both Houses of Parliament, we will be debating Estimates constructed on a basis that is not currently part of the laws of Barbados,” he warned.
Despite the criticisms, Thompson said his party supported the bills which he said were aimed at improving the system of accounting in Government and upgrading and strengthening the role of the Auditor-General. (TY)
3 Comments
March 14, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I sincerely hope that Mr Thopmson will repulse this move with all his might this is a backward step.
Please do not give Owing an avenue for escape from his mismanagement of the peoples funds he needs to be held accountable for at least one of his actions let it be this disaster of financial management, that was supposed to have been his strong point.
Remember he was hailed as an economic guru well let me see what he is made of now…
March 16, 2007 at 12:04 pm
[...] DLP have put up a piece called Nothing But Contempt. It looks like it was scooped from one of the newspaper websites, but there is no attribution or [...]
March 16, 2007 at 1:47 pm
The Barbados Free Press seems to be bent on getting it all wrong on the support of the Opposition party for the change in the accounting method to be used by the Government, the enhanced functions of the Auditor General and the oversight functions of the Public Accounts Committee. In a few days we will engage the Barbados Free Press on this issue, hopefully to bring some sanity to the discussion. We respect the views of individuals, but views which are founded on the wrong premises should be recanted.