Opposition complains about getting too much info in answers to questions in HoA
Hon Turnbull was at the time speaking at the Fifth Sitting of the Second Session of the Fourth House of Assembly on February 25, 2020, when he expressed dissatisfaction with the answer to a question by Minister for Health and Social Development, Hon Carvin Malone (AL).
Answers ‘muddied with nonsense’ – Hon Turnbull
“Mr Speaker, I understand what the Minister is saying or trying to say and then it gets muddied with other nonsense if you ask me,” Hon Turnbull said.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) who noted that the trend of answering questions in essay form, was started under the previous National Democratic Party (NDP) Government and questions are specific for information gathering.
“The people who are preparing the answering to these questions need to be taught the proper way to answer the questions, a question is asked in six parts, or four parts or three parts for a specific reason… when you’re going to answer part A with all the answers for B, C and D, it loses the effectiveness of the question and answering period,” Hon Fraser said.
He said if the Government does not want to participate in information gathering, the section of the HoA will be lost; however, Premier Andrew A. Fahie (R1) noted that his government has been forthcoming with information.
Gov’t has been proving information – Hon Fahie
“I’m not going to sit down here and let that casual statement that the government doesn’t want to participate in this,” Hon Fahie said noting that his government has been providing information and promising to bring more when necessary.
The Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Government's style of providing large amounts of information on various issues in the HoA via statements and answers to questions is in stark contrast to that of the previous National Democratic Party (NDP) Government, who often blatantly refused to answer questions or provided misinformation.
According to the Speaker, Hon Julian Willock, the House will now be looking into having a streamlined approach towards answering questions at the next sitting, in order to follow the line items as indicated on the HoA Order Paper.
9 Responses to “Opposition complains about getting too much info in answers to questions in HoA”
Under ndp just too much lies
The blah blah man sister forced him out...............School chirren say patsea wuking hard to get rid ah de islandman i88ak
I must say the speaker is doing an excellent job