The Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and the Member of Parliament for Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador spoke in the House of Assembly on the Parliamentary Services Bill on Wednesday.
The Hon. Philip Davis told Parliamentarians, “the more independent and productive the parliament becomes, the more efficiently the government’s legislative agenda can be achieved. The ultimate beneficiaries of these improvements will be the Bahamian people, the ones to whom we are accountable for all that we do and the laws that we pass.”
Davis went further stating, “under this bill there is very specific criteria indicating that the offices and staff of the parliamentary service will be independent, apolitical and non partisan. That every member of the Senate and the House of Assembly shall respect and honour the apolitical nature of the parliamentary service and not seek to influence the employees of the service in the discharge of their duties. It is critical the we preserve the independence of parliament and this bill speaks to the obligation of all parties involved to work in accordance with that objective and not to seek to undermine what we are setting out to achieve.”
The Parliamentary Services Bill seeks to establish a parliamentary service outside of the public service, establish an autonomous commission independent of the executive branch and generate revenue and receive grants for the management of both houses of parliament.
