Gov’t members clueless about HOA bills — Walwyn
Sixth District Representative Myron Walwyn recently criticised government members in the House of Assembly (HOA), accusing them of not understanding the legislation they bring forward for debate.
During an Opposition press conference held recently, Walwyn expressed frustration, claiming that many government members were uninformed about the content of the bills tabled in the House. “The Premier himself, when he brings his bills to the House, has no idea what is entailed in those bills, and many of his members are rather worse,” Walwyn stated.
Walwyn’s comments followed a contentious HOA sitting, during which Opposition members failed to get a no-confidence motion against the Premier on the agenda. According to Walwyn, several bills were introduced during the sitting with little to no consultation or understanding by the ministers responsible.
He added, “One female who spoke today… she doesn’t read any bills. She knows nothing of what is going on.”
The Sixth District Representative also claimed that the Opposition has had to assist in getting legislation passed. He pointed out that without the Opposition’s involvement, many bills would not have moved forward despite the government being responsible for presenting them.
“It is this Opposition that has assisted and helped the government to pass all those pieces of legislation,” he argued while criticising the Premier for suggesting that the current administration had “cleaned up” legislative issues from past governments.
He also accused Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley of being ungrateful. Walwyn said Premier Wheatley thanked others for moving things along but was not decent enough to thank the Opposition for the work that they have done to move matters forward.
Over the past few months, there have been several complaints from Opposition members of rushed bills, lack of public consultation, and confusion among members during debates.
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Not surprising. What exactly are they clueful about?
The House of Assembly(HoA) is the legislative arm of the governing process. Residents and visitors must adhere to and live by the laws passed by HoA. Consequently, any agenda items coming to the HoA must be effectively and robustly vetted, discussed, debated and decided. If the Hon Walwyn assertions are correct, and members are coming to the HoA unprepared, members are failing in their responsibilities to the territory/nation, people, constituents, etc. If members, viz, Government ,,Opposition, are not willing to diligently do the people’s work, they are dissing the people and it is time to step aside and resign now. Our HoA is not a place to dress and to come to rest.
Moreover, the country’s interest, the people interest, etc, must supersede personal interests, party interests. Collective responsibility is part and parcel of party politics but it must take second place to the national interest. The bottom line is if you don’t want to do the people’s work, just marking time and killing time, looking for a place to reside, it is time to cart your lazy, parasitic r@@$.
The political process is broken . Where has the committed, dedicated, putting people’s interests first talented class gone? The current group, class seem to lack the experience. Experience cannot be bought or earned through osmosis, it must be earned and comes with time. Did the talented class fail to mentor the current class? By the way, education is not a substitute for experience, strong and effective leadership and management. The iconic national heroes H. L Stoutt, Noel Lloyd, Dolph Faulkner, etc, proves this.