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Press Release - Parl Election Committee Report - 10 Mar 2014
Press Release - Parl Election Committee Report - 10 Mar 2014
Press Release - Parl Election Committee Report - 10 Mar 2014
collected various media reporting from December 2012 through October 2013. We also attended public hearings of the Committee and reviewed the transcripts of those hearings. This material, together with the relevant law, formed the basis of our opinion. After seeking independent legal advice, our conclusions to the above-posed questions are as follows: (1) The provisions of the Act are not inconsistent with the Constitution. (2) The Constitution obviously prevails, and the significance of this is that the dominate provision is that there must be disclosure of an interest in any Government contract. This is subject to the exemptions and limitations contained in the Act, which should be interpreted narrowly so as to detract to the minimum extent possibly from the dominant requirement. Justification for any lack of transparency must be clearly demonstrated. (3) The legal obligation for a candidate to declare an interest in a Government contract is that he or she must do so under the Constitution unless they come clearly within one of the exceptions in Section 10 of the Act. (4) When disclosure is required it is mandatory. The sanction of disqualification for nondisclosure is automatic. The obligation does not apply only if the situation comes four square within one or more of the exemptions or limitations within the Act. (5) There is no distinction between political insiders and outsiders as no such distinction is made by the Constitution or the Act. The law does not refine what a Members interests are, just the circumstances in which an interest must be disclosed. To that end, there is no obscurity in these legal obligations, and no qualification to the duty of disclosure is made by reference to the concept of outsiders. Centre for Justice would make the following recommendations in respect of the above issues: (1) To the extent that there are ambiguities in the Act, it would be appropriate to legislate promptly so as to remove them. (2) The legislation should also provide for by whom and how the requirements are to be policed and enforced. (3) Prominence should be given to the requirement of disclosure on the nomination papers which Parliamentary candidates must submit to take part in an electoral campaign. Our full opinion is annexed to the Committees report. Centre for Justice wishes to thank the Committee for engaging us as part of its work.
A first for Bermuda, Centre for Justice was established in 2011 as an independent, non-governmental organization with a mandate to promote and advocate for human rights, civil liberties and the rule of law through independent research and analysis.
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