By Jenique Belgrave
Adjustments to parliamentarians’ salaries and pensions should be determined by an independent body, says former minister Stephen Lashley.
“The time has come when these issues ought to be totally withdrawn from being decided by a government,” he said on Thursday night during the Parliamentary Reform Commission (PRC) town hall meeting at the Princess Margaret Secondary School at which he was a guest speaker.
“These matters should be de-politicised, and they should be vested in an independent body, an independent commission. If there is a need for pension reform, it should not be tweaked lightly. Salary increases should not be tweaked lightly, but they should be the subject of careful study and review by professionals who understand and who are aware of various global changes in parliamentary pension and pension rights and salaries.”
That was among the recommendations made to the PRC by the former Christ Church West Central MP who served under Democratic Labour Party administrations, as he joined former Barbados Labour Party minister Rudolph Cappy Greenidge in speaking on The Role of the MP.
The two, both lawyers, agreed with the need to change the role of the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
Earlier in the evening, Greenidge said there were drawbacks to being the House Speaker as that individual was not able to represent the people who elected them.
“I feel like the Speaker in our system is at a disadvantage. That Speaker has no opportunity to agitate on his constituents’ behalf to show his worth on the floor of Parliament, but remember that he has somebody who is running against him,” the former St Philip North MP said.
He suggested that Barbados must move to a stage where the Speaker of the House is not chosen from the group of elected parliamentarians.
Echoing this sentiment, Lashley went even further, recommending that adjustments should also be made to the deputy speaker and chairman of committees roles.
“We have to get to the point to recognise that Parliament is that organ of the state where members of parliament are engaged in the business of representing their constituents and the Speaker, in my view, cannot do so effectively from being in the chair.
“And I think that not only the Speaker, we have the Deputy Speaker, we also have the Chairman of Committees who has to be the chair from time to time. I believe that those positions should be appointed positions. I don’t believe that you should have an elected person being the Speaker of the House, an elected person being the Chairman of Committees or an elected person being the Deputy Speaker,” he said.
jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb
