Some encouraging news today. A cross-party parliamentary committee reviewing how educational reform is being implemented in the wake of the Hopkins Report wants to hold its meetings in public, according to its chairman, PLP MP Neletha Butterfield. She said that its members were determined to be “accountable and transparent”.
In June the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee recommended that the Bermuda Government strengthen its transparency measures by ending the practice of House of Assembly committees sitting behind closed doors.
Apparently the committee needs the permission of Speaker Stanley Lowe to conduct these open meetings. He should grant it enthusiastically. If he will not, he must explain why.
Let’s face it, we need more bipartisan work in our Parliament. And only bipartisan cooperation will make a dent in many of Bermuda’s problems. This committee seems to be cooperating well, and it’s topic is of substantial public interest.
Open the doors!
