The Constitution

I vaguely remember when the St Helena Constitution(actually THE CONSTITUTION OF ST. HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA) was first published. I think I flicked through put it away on the shelf and did not give it a further thought.

Now if not every day then at least once a week I dip into it. Usually to clarify something or just to become more familiar with it.

I have come across a few odd things:

That you can deprive someone of their liberty:  in the case of a person who is, or is reasonably suspected to be, of unsound mind, addicted to drugs or alcohol, or a vagrant, in order to care for or treat him or her or for the protection of the community.

This goes way beyond any mental health legislation that I know of as in the UK you cannot detain someone for alcohol or drug addiction.  As for detaining 'vagrants' it conjures up images of a dictatorships where before a visit from the dictator all of the homeless people are rounded up to clean the streets before the cavalcade arrives.

Of course the other one is the ridiculous 'secrecy oath'. We still have to get this removed.

I have become quite interested in constitutions generally.  There is a Google sponsored project on constitutions: 

www.constituteproject.org

They are publishing constitutions from countries around the world.  I sent them our one.  The last time I looked it was not on the site but they did say that they would consider publishing constitutions from territories as well.

I find the whole idea of constitutions very interesting. Attempting to write down how a society will function and trying to give an indication of its culture is always going to be difficult.

I am currently reading an introduction to the British Constitution.  To be honest I did not think that the UK had one but it is an 'unwritten' constitution.  A collection of documents, conventions and practices rather than a single document.  It has served the UK well but I would rather that they had a written constitution though it would be a mammoth task. They do not tend to be that long but not easy to write.

Of course any constitution can just be a piece of paper if it is not used and seen to be used.  I would not to emulate the American model where the constitution of the United States is treated with an almost religious reverence.  Change should not occur lightly but changing and reviewing the constitution should be conducted from time to time.  If we don't we will never get to remove the dreaded oath.

Above all the constitution must protect the people from overbearing governments and champion their individual liberties. That is why it is important that we all have some knowledge of its contents.  

We never know when we are going to need it to protect us.

Formal sitting of Legislative Council

It was our first formal Legislative Council today.  Have to say that I really enjoyed it.  A bit like going to church not being sure of the rituals but I hope we did ok and did not disgrace the office.  

Les Baldwin has been elected to ExCo as the new Chairman of the Social and Community Development Committee, a good choice I believe as he has passion and a solid financial background which could be a formidable combination.

Two laws were amended today. One to make all lawyers on St Helena Commissioners for Oaths was straightforward, and a reminder of the sometimes detailed but dull work of legislation. The other ordinance to be amended was the Welfare of Children Ordinance in relation to adoption.  More complex and as I have no knowledge of adoption it is daunting to be asked to make changes.  I am very grateful that through a colleague I was introduced to a UK lawyer and a UK social worker who were very helpful in explaining the adoption process to me.  It underlines the need at times for independent legal advice as I doubt that it will always be possible to draw on the goodwill of others

Questions were asked about roads, houses, economic development and streetlights.  The central issues that affect people's lives.

Motions allowed for a bit more freedom of expression and we discussed principles of open government, the health service, media and housing.  I think we started to get into our stride and it was more of a debate, not shouting and waving order papers as in Westminster but some differing of opinions expressed openly.

And we are back tomorrow. Not quite finished with the motions and still the adjournment debate.  

My response to the debate on open and transparent government is below.

I call it 

OPEN TO OPENNESS

The Ethics Survey that was conducted earlier this year placed Members of Legislative Council as the least trusted professional group on St Helena.

Only 9% trusted councillors, 60% did not trust councillors and 32% did not have an opinion.

These are truly disturbing statistics and though we are a new council from the one that was in office during this survey we would be ill advised to just assume that we are faring any better.

I sincerely hope that if a new survey was conducted today that this figure would rise, it could hardly fall.  I do not know why the figure was so low but from the public meetings prior to elections there were some indications

One of these was a perception of a lack of openness and transparency and a lack of accountability from the council

The local government association is a UK organisation that works with councils to support, promote and improve local government.  One of its programmes the ‘Local Transparency Programme’ specifically sets out an agenda to open up government and public services.

 

I quote from one of their publications:

Open data is not only about supporting local transparency and accountability but is also a driver to engage and empower citizens and communities, foster improvement and efficiencies and drive social and economic growth.

It sounds rather like our sustainable development plan

And it all seems rather obvious, that we should inform the public of what is happening.  By not doing so all we do is foster distrust. Let us take the example of the asphalt machine.

At almost every meeting we held prior to the election the asphalt machine was brought up as an example of incompetence.  Everyone knew that the machine was purchased; they knew that it did not work and if they happened to drive up to Donkey Plain they could watch it slowly rust away. As this was all the public knew they resorted to having to make the rest of it up; how much it cost, what was going to happen to it next and who was responsible for the original mistake.  So as my Honourable friend Lawson Henry so eloquently phrased it: this open wound was allowed to fester.

What was surprising, to those of us who had been told that the administration liked to keep secrets, was that when we asked for the information to be published it was done so.  Now that the information is in the public domain the public do not have to resort to rumour.  Sadly it does not alter the fact that money spent on the plant cannot be recovered and that our roads division have to continue to ‘chip and tar’ to seal our roads

It took too long for the information to be placed in the public domain.  There was a delay due to some legal proceedings but once these were completed the information should have been made public

Not only does openness allow the public to access information it also, as the Local Government Association states, lead to efficiencies and it does support development.  A government that tries to hide information is one that breeds complacency as people will not be held to account.  If you know that even if you make a mistake you are not going to be questioned then you are more likely to make poor decisions.  In the UK they call it the Daily Mail test.  If you would not want to read about what you did in tomorrow’s Daily Mail then don’t do it.  I guess hear we could call it the Sentinel and Independent test.

This is the reason that I am proposing this motion.  To ensure that there is a process by which information is released in a timely manner. 

It is about improving practices and changing the mind set of government, both elected members and the administration. 

We are already achieving some of this

The public relations department of government routinely issue the following information:

·         Press Releases

·         Newsletters  e.g St Helena Ambassador

·         Directorate Training Reports 

·         Statistical News Bulletins

·         Government Gazettes – Ordinary and Extraordinary

·         Exco Reports

·         Order Papers for Legislative Council

·         Public Consultation Documents

·         SHG Performance Reports

·         Job advertisements

·         Governor’s blog

·         Directorate/Services Fees and charges

·         Land Development Control Meeting Minutes

·         Governor’s Speech

·         Ordinances

Exco now operates under a presumption of openness and has agreed a process by which the agenda is decided.  As all items are assumed to be open unless otherwise stated it is incumbent upon Exco to provide an explanation as to why items are closed.  However having an item on the closed agenda does not preclude it from being mentioned in the Exco report.

Committees likewise have a similar agenda structure

So we have made a start but I feel that it is important that we have a public commitment from the council to continue this process.

From my short time in council and previously working in the public service one of the main constraints is the capacity of the public service.  With reduced headcount and the pressures on budgets we must ensure that staff time and money spent on open data represents best value for money.  This is not to provide an excuse to restrict openness but it is an acknowledgement that we must be creative in our approach. 

As councillors it is up to us to lead the way and be proactive.  For those who are unaware there is a councillor’s page on the SHG website where you can find information on individual councillors.  I note that my Honourable Colleague Mr Lawson Henry has already posted a summary of the Economic Development Committee for October the 3^rd.  I must apologise that as the Chair of the Health Committee I have not posted a report but I will do so this week and I encourage other chairs do likewise.  As I am fond of quoting the late US Senator Paul Wellstone “Never separate the life you lead from the words you speak”

In terms of process the public relations department of SHG have agreed to be the point of contact for all queries about SHG that cannot be answered by openly available information. This makes sense as the alternative would be to have a designated person in each directorate but that would place an additional burden on staff and often a query requires information from more than one directorate.  I would also suggest that those elected members who have given a commitment to be ‘open to openness’ would be willing to assist in any way they can.

As stated in the motion it is not the intention that everything is published and certain areas particularly in relation to personal information will not be made publicly available.

Those who have been following this debate closely will have noticed that the motion does not include freedom of information. This is deliberate.  It is not that freedom of information has dropped off the agenda but that in discussions with many people it is generally agreed that we work towards this iteratively.  That is we start with the principle of openness, build policies and procedures around this and then see what is required for freedom of information. 

Far better I would suggest to test the waters and adjust accordingly rather than go straight for legislation. 

From my interactions with those who have expressed interest in this field the one concern is that being more open and transparent, whether or not this includes freedom of information legislation, is fit for purpose and does not impose to onerous a burden on government. 

Already in starting this debate I have been surprised by the lack of opposition despite what I was told before the election.  It may seem that I have modified my stance and in a way I have but what I have not modified is my commitment to  open and transparent government.  

St Francis and LegCo

Yesterday October 4 was the feast day for St Francis of Assisi. OK what does this have to day with the politics of St Helena?

I admit to great affection for St Francis. In fact when I was in my early twenties I thought for a time that I had a vocation to be a poor brother of Francis and I even made contact with a monastery in New Zealand where I was going to test my vocation.  I never did and in fact I ended up losing whatever faith I had.  However I still find St Francis a source of inspiration.

I do find him a very powerful role model for leadership.  It is his humility his commitment to peace and to the poor that I find challenges me to always try to be there for others.  Clearly most of the time I fail, as we all do, but his calling to serve others is one that I often reflect on.

Of course Christians and Catholics in particular  would be right to point out that Francis was a religious and that belief in God was as natural to him as breathing.  He preached and lived out a life based on the commandment to love.  It occurred to me today that this is the fundamental difference of a life of service through politics and a life of service through religion (or at least the Christian religion as I understand it).

Our 'bible' is the Constitution.  Constitutions are concerned with rights and freedoms and ways of organising the political system, and are designed to enable people to live together in an ordered way.  

This is taken from the preamble:

wishing to continue as communities of tolerance, with respect for government and 
the law, Christian and family values and protection of the environment;

committed to government in partnership with the United Kingdom on the basis of 
mutual obligations and responsibilities, to democratic principles and to promotion 
and protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms;

Powerful stuff.

I guess what a constitution does not do is tell you how an individual should behave.  That is a matter of conscience and though not being a person of faith I do find myself turning to those who have faith to be my guide.  

I expect I am a naive in my view that in some odd way politics is a form of a calling, a vocation.  Not a divine call but a call to serve, not just by those who voted for you, but in a broader sense by the community that you represent.  I need time to work this one out or it could sound really sanctimonious but I think it is worth reflecting on this.  

At the very least it must be better than seeing politics as all about power and prestige.  Francis gave up his power and his position and in doing so his life is still an inspiration, even for reluctant atheists such as myself.