Ask and you shall receive.
So it goes in the House of Assembly, where the opposition has been peppering government ministers with many well-considered questions in recent months.
The effort has paid off: It has helped to hold the government accountable while obtaining important information for the public.
The task is not easy, though, especially given that the two-member opposition is effectively short-staffed. Nevertheless, Opposition Leader Andrew Fahie (R-D1) and his colleague Julian Fraser (R-D3) have been staying abreast of various complex topics in order to make timely and effective queries.
Of course, this is their job. But there is also a temptation for elected officials to use the HOA question-and-answer sessions for political gamesmanship, and their questions have often tended to avoid this trap.
Instead, their inquiries have ranged widely, from requests for specific updates on capital projects to broader queries about governance and other weighty matters. They also have broken new ground by requesting lists of information in more detail than has hitherto been requested in the HOA in recent memory.
Additionally, they have put to good use their right to ask follow-up questions on the spot.
Such tenacity should be the new standard for any opposition.
For their part, government ministers have done a fairly good job of responding. Except for a few instances when they have sidestepped questions by making flimsy excuses, ministers have generally provided thorough answers, including the requested lists.
The HOA itself has been helpful as well. After a few struggles in early 2015, the office has reliably provided the public with documents that ministers have passed across the table even if they are not read aloud in an HOA meeting.
Moving forward, the opposition should keep asking tough questions, and the government should answer completely without sidestepping or dissembling.
In a territory that lacks freedom-of-information legislation, the community is too often kept in the dark about public business. The opposition’s questions have been shedding a much-needed ray of light and thereby strengthening this democracy.
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