BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Opposition leader Mia Mottley has called for parliamentary reform throughout the region, as members of the Caribbean, Americas and the Atlantic region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association opened their 39th regional conference here Monday.
Mottley told the gathering there is need for change, as the same topics are being discussed at successive conferences.
“It begs the question, how did we get here? How do those who have responsibility for the passage of laws, for the governance of the country… find themselves in a situation where the same things are said year after year after year,” she said.
Mottley said unless parliamentarians recognize the need for urgent reform “particularly in the Caribbean Commonwealth departments, and treat it as a regional project, we will meet five years hence, ten years hence, and be saying the same thing yet again.”
She added that while parliamentarians create the forum for debate and shared perspectives, the majority of the population does not understand or think about what laws are passed until months after when the laws impact them.
“And therefore those of us who sit in parliament sometimes believe that silence is consent until the impact hits the population as we have seen recently here,” she said, referring to recent protests against the newly implemented controversial Municipal Solid Waste Tax.
The former attorney general called for more engagement of the public, stating that “the interest in the business of legislatures has declined substantially.”
“And it’s largely because we live in a world that is driven by the ease of access to information particularly through technology, and which is no longer governed by broadcasting but indeed by narrowcasting.”
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