Speaker of the Anguilla House of Assembly, the Hon. David Carty, delivered a statement on Monday, September 3, in which he informed members about a planned new and revised Rules of Procedure now being edited and to be circulated to them in draft form in due course.

He also spoke about a draft Bill for a new law requiring members to register their interests with the Speaker’s Office.

The full text of the statement is as follows:

Hon. David Carty

Members will recall that in February last year I attended a conference of OECS Speakers in St. Kitts. The conference, initiated by Speaker Marcella Liburd of St. Kitts and myself sought to find commonality of purpose for ways in which Speakers in the OECS could improve the conduct of business in our Parliaments and Assemblies. Consequently much discussion centered around a revision of rules and procedure in all the territories. We were able to encourage the then Secretary General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Hon. Dennis Marshall of New Zealand to attend that meeting and impressed on him the need for the CPA to render some technical support in assisting us in this effort. This he agreed to do.

After many months of somewhat frustrating delay, the CPA was able to identify a highly experienced team from the Parliament of Ontario to facilitate this process, and from the 17th to the 20th of June this year the Deputy Speaker the Hon. Keesha Webster and myself attended a workshop for this purpose in Antigua. The workshop was extremely stimulating and revealing. It highlighted the successes and failures of our respective Assemblies and provided the opportunity for Speakers to share concerns in the overall functioning of our Parliaments and to discuss possible solutions. The facilitators from Ontario channeled the sometimes vigorous debate towards common remedies and at no time attempted to impose solutions from Parliaments which did not share our region’s unique historical and cultural traditions.

We all found their approach refreshing and not typical of the usual external consultancies which attempt to impose external ideas and solutions. The new Secretary General of the CPA, Dr. William Shija of Tanzania also attended the conference indicating the continued support of the CPA’s Secretariat.

I am now happy to report the first draft of what I hope will become our new and revised Rules of Procedure has been received. As it is a generic draft which covers all the OECS including those territories which are bi-cameral and would therefore not be appropriate for Anguilla, the Deputy Speaker and I with some assistance from the Attorney General’s Chambers will be editing and preparing the draft for circulation to all members.

When that is done I would like to propose that the House elect a standing committee to study the draft and report back to the whole House at the appropriate time for the draft’s adoption and passage into law. I would further propose that that standing committee be comprised of a member of the Government, a member of the Opposition, The Hon. Attorney General, The Deputy Speaker and myself. The Deputy Speaker will introduce a motion to that effect at a subsequent meeting of The House for it’s consideration after I have circulated the draft to all members.

I would further like to report that a draft bill for a new law requiring members to register their interests with the Speaker’s Office as mandated by section 60A3 of Constitution is likewise ready for circulation to members and I trust will appear in the next publication of the Gazette.

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