Ex DP calls for full consultation on controversial bills

(CNS): The former deputy premier, André Ebanks MP (WBS) is calling on government to make sure that the public are given the full 28 day consultation period on two specific and controversial bills that the UPM has indicated they want to bring to parliament before it is prorogued. Ebanks has said introducing the proposed referendum bill and amendments to the National Conservation Act to the meeting of Parliament scheduled to commence on 9 December would fall foul of the constitution and fail to give the public the time to consider them.

At the time of publication there was still no sign of either pieces of legislation on the government gazette.

But if accepted by the Speaker of Parliament between now and 9 December, the government has the option to bring the bills despite the lack of consultation, as it can waive the 28 day requirement for public consultation, under certain circumstances relating to national importance, provided it is supported by a majority in parliament.

At the moment the minority UPM administration is being supported by the opposition to enable it to hold on to the trappings of power until the election, set for 30 April. This long wait for the general election despite the effective fall of this current government is to enable all those eligible to vote to register and take part due largely to of the exceptionally long period provided under the election law for officials to verify and the public to make any changes or challenges to the register. In order to make the register for election day the deadline is now 15 January. Calling elections earlier could potentially disenfranchise the several thousand people that are eligible but have yet to register.

In the meantime, the official PPM opposition has agreed to support the lame duck government’s need for a quorum to hold parliamentary meetings and to ensure the passage of certain important pieces of legislation. At this stage the Progressives have not stated publicly whether they intend to support the referendum bill or not. Hew recently told CNS that they would also need time to look at the legislation before making a decision.

They had however, previously indicated that they would not be inclined to support an amendment bill relating to the conservation act given the indisputable controversies surrounding it despite their own long held political position of also wanting to amend that legislation. Last week the current deputy premier and tourism minister Kenneth Bryan who is spearheading the proposed referendum made it clear during several public appearances in person, on radio and on social media that he still wishes to bring that legislation to the House as well as the changes to the conservation amendment act as he sees them both as issues of national importance.

What is not clear yet is if the UPM is hoping to bring them and gain support to waive the consultation period and then steer the bills through with the support of the PPM next month or whether they propose to publish the bills in the near future and set another meeting early next year to deal with them again in the hope that the PPM will partner with the UPM and enable the controversial bills to get through.

Reflecting on Bryan’s public comments Ebanks has said he and his three colleagues who all recently resigned from government, not least in part because of the way that the amendments to the conservation bill have been handled, don’t believe this bills justify waiving the consultation period.

“We would not consider a proposed referendum bill or a National Conservation Amendment Bill to be so urgent as to justify varying the constitutionally mandated due process by waiving the 28-day notice and foregoing the complete 28-day public consultation in order for the two proposed bills to be debated at the next meeting of Parliament,” he stated in a release, Thursday.

Ebanks and his colleagues as well as the official opposition have all agreed that the already published financial services bills are necessary and urgent to assist the government in generating revenue to meet its planned 2025 expenditures. Of the 21 Bills, 13 are from the Ministry of Financial Services and four are from the Ministry of Social Development.

Ebanks said that the 13 financial services Bills had “the benefit of months of informal industry consultation” and the three main social development Bills, namely the Older Persons, Adoption and Children are necessary because they provide overdue safeguards and enhancements for some of the most vulnerable in our community. “The social development bills have had the benefit of two years of policy development, multiple focus groups and broad stakeholder consultations, and meet the constitutional requirements for public consultation,” Ebanks added.

During the wanning days of this now beleaguered administration the ministers have indicated their hopes of bringing even more controversial legislation including changes to the immigration law relating to the length of time it takes and the overall process of applying to become a permanent resident and to obtain Caymanian Status. However, there is also no sign of this proposed legislation on the government gazette.

See the legislation that is expected to be dealt with on the Government Gazettes site here.