TNAG-0925-FCO40-1143-Commonwealth-Parliamentary-Association-(CPA)-annual-conferen-1980 — Page 48

5TH PLENARY SESSION

PARLIAMENT, THE EXECUTIVE, AND THE CIVIL SERVICE

M

r J. Russell Ford, MP, Leader of the Bahamas Delegation, stated as bas constitutional principles: that parliamentary democracy was based upon the consent of the governed; that sovereignty resided in the people; and that they decided who should occupy the seats of power.

The Bahamas, which had had a bicameral system for 132 years, had one of the oldest Legislatures in the British Commonwealth. The Constitution of the Bahamas vested Executive authority in the Queen, and that provision had two implications: that the Bahamas was constitutionally a monarchy, and that the Queen of England was also the Queen of the Bahamas, with a separate and distinct identity as such. Executive authority was exercised by the Governor-General, who, with few exceptions, acted in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or of a Minister acting under the authority of Cabinet. Therefore, because in fact the Executive authority resided in the Cabinet, there always had to be a Cabinet.

The Constitution provided for the appointment as Prime Minister of the leader of the party that commanded the support of the majority of the members of the House, and the Prime Minister appointed his Cabinet from among senators and members of the House of Assembly. The Constitution made special provision for the functions of the Minister of Finance and of the Attorney-General, and, in particular, for the extent to which the Attorney-General might be influenced by political considerations in the exercise of his discretion to prosecute or not to prosecute. He should be completely independent and impartial, and, on any decision to prosecute, he would, in the words of Lord Simon, "absolutely decline to receive orders from the Prime Minister or Cabinet or anybody else".

Government departments were the main instruments for giving effect to Government policy, working through local authorities, statutory bodies, and Government-sponsored organisations under varying degrees of Government control. Therefore, education and training of public servants provided the best means of ensuring a capable and efficient administration. Henry Clay had truly said: "Government is a trust and the officers of the Government are trustees, and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people."

An Australian delegate observed that the principle of representative government was under attack throughout the world. It behoved every parliamentarian to keep in mind the dangers of the leadership principle, the need for wider participation in the process of government, and the dangers inherent in allowing the party machine to take over. The most important characteristics of a parliamentarian were personality, integrity, and intellectual

nerve.

In the view of a delegate from Himachal Pradesh, the Executive comprised those entrusted with the execution of laws passed by Parliament and the policies laid down by the Government. The judiciary was not included. He stressed that the Executive should be under complete parliamentary control, and that the political neutrality of public services should be protected.

A delegate from the United Kingdom, in comparing the Commonwealth system of government with the system of government in the United States, noted the different approach of the two systems to the separation of powers, and the tendency in the United States to replace civil servants after a change of government. In recent years the powers of governments had greatly increased, but the ability of parliaments to control governments had diminished to such a point that the concept of parliamentary government and the freedom of the individual were threatened. Parliaments were not involved nearly enough in the legislative process, and too much legislation was being passed, much of it poorly drafted. The answer to the problem lay in improved pre-legislation and select committee procedures.

A delegate from Malawi noted the different vocational requirements of the Executive and the Civil Service; and a delegate from Australia, though acknowledging that many people felt frustrated by the massive bureaucracy of total government, accepted the party system as an inevitable necessity in the pursuit of the democratic ideal. He referred also to the unique nature of the Tasmanian upper House.