Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley appears to be getting ahead of himself in his haste to lure opposition members to the government bench.
He should slow down.
When announcing recently that At-large Representative Lorna Smith would rejoin his government, Mr. Wheatley said he aims to appoint her to one of two proposed “minister of state” positions.
These roles, he hopes, will replace the two existing junior minister positions — only with heightened powers — and will be complemented with at least two new “parliamentary under-secretaries of state.”
We agree that the junior minister positions, which were added in 2015 following a constitutional amendment, should be reviewed.
But Mr. Wheatley’s proposal isn’t the way forward.
Indeed, it smacks of a knee-jerk reaction designed to shore up his government by bringing back Ms. Smith, who he fired from her previous ministerial position last October. If Ms. Smith was his goal, it worked: She crossed over and is serving as junior minister for now.
But the premier’s proposal, which would require United Kingdom approval and a constitutional amendment, seems unlikely to ever come to fruition. Nor should it.
The proposed arrangement would mirror the set-up in the United Kingdom Parliament, as Mr. Wheatley has noted. But there’s a problem with this thinking: The UK House of Commons includes 650 members; the VI’s House of Assembly includes 13.
This distinction is a rather big deal.2022 2023 Constitutional Review Commission Report
Instead of pushing ahead with his proposal, the premier would do well to consult the report published last year by the Constitutional Review Commission. That report was designed to reflect the will of the people, and it was written by a committee following in-depth public consultations around the territory.
On the topic of junior ministers, the commission’s report brings up a very important point.
“If properly executed, the office of a junior minister is a good thing,” the report states. “The challenge in small legislatures is that the appointment of junior ministers reduces, and in some cases completely removes, the presence of a government backbench to act as a check and balance on government.”
To help address this issue, the commission recommends adding a sixth full minister and abolishing both junior minister positions. Failing the addition of a sixth minister, it recommends leaving the two junior minister positions in place — but not adding to them — and clarifying their roles.
This advice seems much more reasonable than Mr. Wheatley’s plan.
With constitutional negotiations expected to start soon, VI and UK leaders alike should keep in mind the commission’s report — and, by extension, the will of the people.
