In recent years, previous States Assemblies have singularly failed to make the important decisions needed to safeguard the future of both our community and our vital economy. Issues still remain largely unresolved in important areas such as housing, education, taxation and connectivity, all having a profound and potentially negative impact on our economy.
Guernsey needs to develop a more effective decision making process in the deliberations of the Assembly and this has to be the introduction of cabinet government.
Presidents of the key committees should form a cabinet, which is then charged with making collegiate decisions and formulating policies. This new cabinet, chaired by the chief minister, would debate, amend or reject any proposals from the different States committees, before they are laid as propositions before the whole Assembly. This would help to eliminate the need for endless amendments and long debates, which have often led to inconclusive resolutions.
Also, this cabinet committee would coordinate issues that impact more than one States committee, such as finance, housing and connectivity.
In effect, this empowers the chief minister with the ability to lead on policy in the knowledge that he or she has the collegiate support of the key committee presidents.
Experience from the last Assembly shows that consensus government and effective decision making appear to be sadly incompatible.
Jerry Girard
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.