Picture this: A slimmer States and island-wide voting
SHORTLY the States' deputies will be debating 'The Organisation of States Affairs' and I would plead that they do not diminish our form of government and the island in the eyes of the world. We have moved from government by committees headed by presidents to what is currently in place and we should be learning from experience that while it was worthy of a trial, it does not function well enough.
It is time to move on to a more acceptable and easily recognisable way to manage our affairs. This should also prove to be more efficient.
There should be fewer departments in place, with a minister to have political responsibility for them. Some of the existing departments should be merged. It would diminish the States, in my opinion, if these departments were called committees, especially if they were to be headed up by a president. We have progressed beyond that. The world expects government departments to be headed by a minister who is easily identified.
I understand that there is a proposal to reduce to 38 the number of deputies in the Assembly. I believe a minimum of 33 would be able to form a reasonable consensus of opinion for debating purposes. This further reduction would save money. To help departmental boards present fully internally debated proposals to the Assembly, up to two non-States members should be able to be co-opted.
I firmly believe that we should adopt a form of cabinet government with the chief minister being elected by the public at the general election, which would then need to be on an island-wide basis.
The chief minister should be able to appoint his team of ministers, whom he would be able to dismiss from their posts if they did not perform well enough a necessary requirement.
Candidates for the office of chief minister should be able to stand for election as deputy and be included on the same ballot paper.
I believe that a system such as this would be more manageable, with the chief minister having some authority over members of his cabinet without diminishing the democratic process.
Billet d'Etats should be debated firstly as a green paper when recommendations should be fully discussed and questioned, with amendments being put forward for the sponsoring department to either agree to or discard. The department's proposals would then be presented to the Assembly fully explained, to be agreed or not.
It is possible that this may lead to party politics, thus enabling potential voters to consider each party's mandate and vote accordingly. Others may prefer to vote for the candidate they know.
However, a different system needs careful thought in order to persuade islanders to once more take an interest in the performance of their elected body. This would also promote the need for candidates to be elected in an island-wide general election.
DAVID EVANS,
La Sarine, Fort Road,
St Peter Port, GY1 1ZU.
