Senator assures transparency in Constitutional Reform Loop Barbados

Black Immigrant Daily News

The Constitutional Reform Commission has given the assurance that all of its processes will be transparent.

This confirmation came from Senator Gregory Nicholls on Sunday, October 16 while speaking at the first Constitutional Reform Commission Public Meeting at the St Michael School.

While flanked by Commission chair Justice Christopher Blackman, former attorney general Adriel Braithwaite, Reverend John Rogers and Suleiman Bulbuia, Senator Nicholls was responding to comments made by political scientist Devraon Bruce about the transparency of the consultation process.

“We’re living in a period where transparency is almost of utmost importance. If, for instance, I presented a paper to the Commission, I have no idea what the process of review is like. Do you have select areas of interest that are more likely to be submitted in the final report than not? Is there going to be a majority vote on my submission? I think those are considerations you’re going to have to think about so the public knows what is happening,” Bruce remarked on Sunday.

The political scientist asserted that with the public playing a critical role in the constitutional reform process, they should be updated on every aspect as well.

“It can’t be a situation where you come and say the committee has recommended or the committee has decided upon but we don’t know how and we don’t know who voted on what, who supported what.

“If it was a Parliament I would know who supported something as opposed to it being behind closed doors.

“So transparency, I think is extremely important to the process and I think you have to in essence, allow the public to know what you are doing in order to really instill confidence that this is an organic and real activity,” Bruce maintained.

In response, Senator Nicholls revealed that the Commission will be hiring research assistants to carefully track submissions made by citizens during the consultation process. Interviews are scheduled to commence from this week.

“One of the things we have decided is to ask research assistants to help us track the different submissions and put them into various categories in terms of what parts of the Constitution Barbadians are saying they want addressed in the reform of the Constitution.

“We will carefully consider all of the submissions. We have decided amongst ourselves that business will go forward on a majority. Hopefully we can build consensus but where we can’t there will be an opportunity for persons who are the minority.

“It is not a situation where our deliberations will be in secret. The report will be written in a way that the public can understand this is the bulk of submissions, this is what we consider worthwhile and this is what we did not consider should be addressed,” Senator Nicholls explained.

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