St Helena : Four Years of St Helena Council Celebrated
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Juanita Brock) 16.10.2009 (Article Archived on 30.10.2009)
I felt that it would be wholly appropriate to come together this evening to celebrate the four years' of this Council. In doing that, I will try to summarise the major achievements of this administration.
I felt that it would be wholly appropriate to come together this evening to celebrate the four years' of this Council. In doing that, I will try to summarise the major achievements of this administration. I use that term as I believe that the government must work as a team officers and Members in harmony for the benefit of the Island. All too often the work that politicians do is decried and even derided, but everyone here knows something of the complexity and the challenge of public life and has had to deal with both criticism and praise (sometimes deserved and sometimes unwarranted).
So in summarising what has been done, I hope to set down a marker for the next Council. There are foundations here on which to build, examples to follow, and there are the less satisfactory situations to avoid. I hope that what I have to say may serve as a guide to all candidates in our forthcoming election.
This Council first met on 14th November 2005, and had its last meeting on 24th August 2009.
During that time this administration had one byelection, a change of Speaker, two Governors (that change coming roughly in the middle of the four years), two substantive Chief Secretaries and of course Mrs. Ethel Yon, who acted as Chief Secretary for much of the period as well as acting as Governor on a number of occasions. Her recent award of the OBE and her 3 minutes with Her Majesty were richly deserved.
During the four years we have had two Clerks (and now a third), and have had the appointment of a Secretary to Elected Members as well as the allocation of a room in which Members could meet informally. This latter provision being still the cause of some difficulty as Members will be aware.
One of the most significant changes came in 2008 with the award of a substantial increase in salary to Councillors. This was not something that you voted for yourselves, indeed it did not come from our existing budgets; it was recognition by Her Majesty's Government, that being a Councillor in St.Helena is a serious undertaking and that it deserves a balanced reward for the time and skill expended. Of course there was also the thought that a sensible salary might encourage more candidates to offer their services at election time, as any loss of personal income might be compensated.
I have carried out an analysis of the motions debated in Legislative Council and the legislation that has been passed. There have been 20 sessions, some of which have required more than one meeting. The first year saw 6, the second 3, the third 8, and this last year 3. During that time 168 motions have been debated of which 135 were approved - just over 80%. Of those 58 were "government" motions proposed either by Officers or by Members of ExCo, so over one third of all business originated within the administration and was duly passed.
That of course leaves 110 motions that were proposed by LegCo only Councillors of which 81 were passed - 73.6%. The really interesting thing is to ask what happened to those successful motions. Did they lead to rapid response and activity on the part of the Civil Service in order to do what the motion asked? The answer to that is more complicated than a simple "no", some motions were actually not asking for anything at all to be done and many of the motions have been worded in such a manner that a response is neither specific nor measurable. I will provide you with two examples: one from 14th November 2005: "That consideration be given to curbing price rises, particularly foodstuffs;" and from 23rd January 2006: "That the Public Works and Services Department accept that they have a maintenance obligation to all roads designated Government Roads." Such motions have no measurable outcome and the mechanism of using the formulation "That consideration be given" is normally responded to by the officers informing ExCo that consideration has indeed been given and nothing at all will happen as a result.
I fully appreciate that many of these motions that may be seen as wasteful are actually put down simply to make a point, especially to the electorate, and I also appreciate that there has been considerable frustration within LegCo over the fact that when it comes to actually making decisions, most issues end up with the Governor in Council. However using Council time and public resource in this manner must be carefully weighed against the yardstick of efficiency. That of course was another such motion on 14th March 2008 "That we strive for efficiency in all departments". The Civil Service was able to respond with the robust answer that they already do so, and the issue died.
There were quite a few motions that related to the approaching airport decision and all the preparation for that. They too, in hindsight, were wasteful and pre-emptive, but of course were sensible at the time.
Of the 110 LegCo only sponsored motions I will now give you the league table of how many were proposed by each Councillor. I will start from the bottom and work upwards to the top:
· 7. equal - John Reid and Victor Lines.....1
· 5. Tony Green...
.. 2
· 4. equal - Stedson George and Lionel Williams
· ........
..............3
· 2. equal - Mervyn Yon and Tony Leo
....21
· Bobby Robertson
.........58
So the Father of the House - Bobby Robertson actually proposed 52.7% of all LegCo Councillor motions. My only observation is that at the spread of motion proposing activity has been painfully wide. The comment from one Member that "I only say something when I have something to say" can be interpreted in at least two ways and I leave the matter there.
If we look at the actual major law that has been enacted over the four years, and leaving out the annual budget and appropriations, the late Council has passed the following:
The Land Acquisition Ordinance
The Airport Development Ordinance
The Economic Development Ordinance
The Mutual Organisations Ordinance
The Education Ordinance
The Immigration Control Ordinance
The Financial Services Ordinance
The Money Laundering Ordinance
The Welfare of Children Bill
The Election Ordinance
This list does not include the many amendments and repeals that have also taken place. The whole list is long and healthy and denotes a robust and dedicated legislature that has had to do great deal of study and ask many questions before agreement has been reached. It also shows that the Attorney General and all who work in his Chambers have produced a prolific amount of detailed documentation of a very high standard, and I know that Members are very respectful and appreciative of such support.
Of course one of the most pivotal events was the tie and thus failure of the motion on the revised Constitution which meant that the issue ran in to the unsatisfactory situation of not having been approved or disapproved by those present at that meeting. Personally I am grateful that the Minister in the U.K. ended up taking the advice of ALL Councillors, as that must be the truly democratic resolution. On the day the debate was keenly fought and I believe that every one of you deserves praise for the quality and nature of that discussion.
Naturally some will disagree with what I have just said. I welcome that as I regard that ability to disagree as a real strength in our system. We must encourage an open atmosphere that allows the airing of different views, and I have been encouraged by the fact that for most of the life of this Council there has been a respect for each others' perspective on controversial issues.
However, when I arrived in the middle of the four years we are considering, it was starkly obvious at my very first informal meeting with the 12 Members, that a significant rift existed between ExCo and the 7 Members who were LegCo only. The argument, which incidentally had been put by Councillor Yon at the LegCo on 27th March 2006, was that all Councillors are equally elected by the people and therefore it was inequitable that LegCo Councillors were not in the very least consulted on the business that was passed through Executive Council. This adversarial situation has been endemic on this Island for quite a few years now and in my desire to encourage a more collegiate approach and engender team work between Members I agreed to distribute all ExCo papers to all Members.
Although that move got off to a shaky start, I think it is fair to say that it is now working well. Indeed I would complement all Councillors on the fact that they have made it work and I am sure that the quality of debate and decision making has been enhanced as a result.
All those present will be aware that our new revised Constitution contains quite a few changes and a great deal more flexibility than the old one. It de-couples the link between ExCo membership and the chairmanship of Committees. Indeed it enables us to have more than the customary 5 committees. That should mean that with time, that stark division of responsibility that has existed between ExCo and LegCo will begin to dissolve. I am sure it will not happen straight away, but it will be up to the new Council to pace that change as they see fit. Indeed there are so many challenges facing our new Council. This outgoing Council knows full well that the new one will spend far more time debating where savings can be made than where money can be allocated. How many candidates' manifestos will speak of improvements in so many areas that are simply not possible? Government in St.Helena at present is all about the management of a very scarce resource. We don't always have to agree with what comes to us from Westminster, but we do have to act responsibly and in the interests of the whole of this community.
It only remains for me to thank you all for your comradeship and work. I feel that I can claim that these last 4 years have seen this government become more open, more efficient, and more effective. They are worthwhile achievements and I know that we all wish the new administration well as they pick up the responsibility.
Andrew Gurr
Governor
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