Speaker: LA got ‘slap in face’

Speaker of the House Mary Lawrence
slammed Cayman’s three-member Constitutional Commission on Thursday, stating publicly
that members of the commission had given the Legislative Assembly a “slap in
the face”.

Mrs. Lawrence’s comments were made
in relation to a recent report from the commission that stated lawmakers were
acting unconstitutionally in rushing bills through the LA process.

The commission has recommended that
the LA Standing Orders be rewritten as soon as possible to reflect provisions
in the Constitution which state that a bill must be published at least 21 days
before the start of the meeting at which the draft law is due to be introduced.

That has not happened with a number
of bills presented to the House over the past year.

Those changes are now being
drafted, according to LA members. George Town MLA Alden McLaughlin filed a
private members’ motion asking the government to do that last week. 

Mrs. Lawrence said it was her
understanding that Mr. McLaughlin’s motion was brought because of the report
issued by the Constitutional Commission.

“To date, this parliament has not
been paid the courtesy of having this report presented to it,” she said, adding
that it was a “slap in the face to this parliament” when a report like the one
released by the commission is done outside the legislature’s doors.

Mrs. Lawrence’s comments aside, it
is legal under Cayman’s Constitution for the commission to release its reports
to the general public without formally making them available in the Legislative
Assembly.

According to section 118(3)(b) of
the Constitution, the Constitutional Commission is required to publish reports.
To whom those reports should be given is not specified.

The section reads: “The functions
of the Constitutional Commission shall be…to publish reports, discussion
papers, information papers and other documents on constitutional matters
affecting the Cayman Islands.”

Section 118(4) states: “In the
exercise of its functions, the Constitutional Commission and its members shall
not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.”

Commission staff noted that a copy
of the body’s first report was presented as a courtesy to Premier McKeeva Bush,
Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks and Governor Duncan Taylor.

Some other independent commissions
created under Cayman’s 2009 Constitution are legally required to report to the
Legislative Assembly. The Commission of Standards in Public Life and the Human
Rights Commission are both mandated to present reports in the LA, and in doing
so make them public. The Human Rights Commission must do so once a year; the
public standards commission once every six months. 

The Constitution also allows the
Human Rights Commission to issue other reports “on its own initiative”.