With calls in recent time made by executive members of the PLP notably Clecton Phillip its General Secretary and Chairman Douglas Wattley for good governance, transparency and accountability in the Team Unity Government, Attorney General and Minister of Justice Vincent ‘Juicy’ Byron assured Team Unity Supporters at the recent Government town hall meeting in Cayon that the good governance legislatives agenda is ready to be operationalised. Speaking at the townhall carried live by ZIZ radio/tv Byron said
“We will this year very shortly, and I have to get my cabinet colleague the Prime Minister, whether it will be the next sitting or the one after that, but we will be making significant new legislation to deal with our good governance agenda. These will deal with how we behave as a people, how we behave as a government, how we behave as public servants. We will be looking at questions that have been around for a long time.”
Byron indicated that the Integrity in Public Life, the Freedom of Information Act, will be top priorities during the Team Unity’s 2017 legislative agenda.
“Integrity in public life, what does this mean, how do we conduct ourselves and as we look at that and as we look at freedom of information where ordinary citizens can get information from the government, but not for everything. There would be certain rules and parameters. So there are certain issues we have to establish before we go back to parliament to follow up on our first filing of the Freedom of Information Act, a bill in the parliament. We will be doing more town halls about this matter.”
In recent times Operation Rescue Dwyer Astaphan and Queen’s Counsel Charles Wilkin have taken the Team Unity Government to task for not implementing good governance measures outlined in its election manifesto and during the election campaign which the Team Unity Government promised to put in place in the first 100 days of a Team Unity Government. Critics of the Government have also cited the establishment of a private company by sitting Minister Ian ‘Patches” Liburd as a possible conflict of interest matter.
Meanwhile in a social media blog on Monday, former Press Secretary to Prime Minister Harris called on the Team Unity Government to “provide the evidence to support what you are saying, especially at a time when it appears that the majority of the people in St. Kitts-Nevis don’t trust the Team Unity members of cabinet”. Phillip called on the Team Unity Government to establish a functioning Public Accounts Committee (PAC).