The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MAKING his case in support of the proposed constituency increases, former Progressive Liberal Party Cabinet minister George Smith yesterday suggested limiting Cabinet appointments to 16 portfolios or less to manage the cost for salaries of members of Parliament.

Mr Smith said Cabinet members should only represent a third of the lower House, pointing out that having a full backbench increases the accountability of the government.

“I fully expect the (Constituencies) Commission to do their job fairly,” he said.

“[Having more seats] it’s not as costly as having an oversized Cabinet. Bahamian people want better representation and Parliament should be at least sufficient that a Cabinet drawn from it shouldn’t be more than 15 or 16, that should only make up a third so that government is answerable to Parliament.”

Cabinet ministers currently take home $66,000 annually while state ministers receive $60,000. Members of Parliament make $28,000 a year.

Constituencies Commission Chair and House Speaker Dr Kendal Major confirmed to The Tribune earlier this week that the PLP-led government has made clear its intention to create additional seats. Dr Major explained that the commission was using data from the 2010 census that had been extrapolated in a 2016 report prepared by the Department of Statistics.

“[Cabinet ministers] should be answerable to a Parliament,” Mr Smith added. “In the House of Assembly, there should be at least two thirds made up of government back benchers and opposition so that they could hold the government’s feet to the fire.

“Not just the opposition but the backbenchers of the government, who will from time to time when they take on the government on a particular issue, the voters will know that not only the members of Opposition but there are government members holding the government accountable. This is why there is the term backbenchers, but if you don’t have any of them then it can’t be effective.”

Mr Smith pointed to Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller as an example of an outspoken PLP backbencher.

“As a backbencher, [Leslie Miller] is one of the few today on the governing side that has developed a constituency out there who like what he says because he’s trying to get his party in government to do the things they said they would do on the campaign trail.

“That certainly was the case during all the periods when Sir Lynden held the PLP government. There were always backbenchers who would take on the government. Sometimes the fellow performs so well as a backbencher the PM would take note and say he want that fellow around the table.”

Mr Smith, a Pindling-era Cabinet minister who has expressed interest in reviving his political career, has said previously that while the five-member commission boasts the “wherewithal” to make needed changes to constituency boundaries, the electorate should be “adequately consulted” in the interim.

In August, Mr Smith officially requested to be the PLP candidate for a proposed North Exuma seat, expressing his interest in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Perry Christie, who also serves as the chairman of the PLP’s Candidates Committee.

Speaking with The Tribune yesterday, Mr Smith suggested that inner-city residents did not have the same representation needs as the mega-rich living in the outlying areas of New Providence, and as such, should not be “lumped together.”

“On an island like New Providence, the outlying areas where affluent people live, they need a representative less than condensed areas between Village Road and Nassau Street and all those areas, like Bain Town and Grants Town where the ordinary folks live.

“They need an MP more, so in order to maintain the kind of contact envisioned by the Constitution, those inner-cities should have less voters than where the more affluent people live, the more mobile, the people who are better off, they need an MP less and their needs are different.

“Those people don’t have the same needs or the same requirements so they shouldn’t be lumped together,” Mr Smith added.