Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good evening.

I am happy to bring brief remarks at this evening’s panel discussion as we celebrate 290 years of parliamentary democracy. Tonight we are honoured to have assembled before us a group of distinguished panelists, all of whom have made significant contributions to the development of our democracy.

Dame Janet Bostwick was the first women to be elected to the House of Assembly. Mrs. Ruby-Ann Cooper-Darling was the first female who registered to vote after women achieved the right to vote. The Hon. Rome Italia Johnson was the first female Speaker of the House of Assembly.v The Hon. Cynthia (Mother) Pratt was the first female to serve as Deputy Prime Minister and the first female elected as Deputy Leader of a major political party.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The Bahamas is the fourth oldest Parliament in the British Commonwealth. While we refer to our system for convenience as the Westminster model, what we have is really a parliamentary democracy with cabinet government. Parliamentary democracy has been the choice of many of the more progressive and developed countries of the world. The fundamental principles of the system are very much the same in these countries.

Our Constitution does not mandate political parties, but takes party for granted in its provisions.

“Many Bahamians ... frequently conflate our system of governmentwiththatoftheUnitedStates. Botharedemocracies, of course, but beyond that the two are structured quite differently. “The Bahamas is a parliamentary democracy and its executive branch, the Cabinet, is based in and responsible to Parliament.

“The Prime Minister and all of the Ministers must sit in Parliament, the overwhelming majority in the elected chamber, the House of Assembly.

“For our parliamentary democracy to work, there must be cohesive, disciplined political parties in parliament, parties whose members are bound together generally by a set of objectives and principles; generally because there is not likely any political party in the world in which each and every member agrees with everything the party advocates or does.” “In America party discipline is not nearly as important as it is in our parliamentary system.”

In a 2013 speech to young Bahamians in the Rotaract Club of East Nassau, former Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes outlined the development of parliamentary democracy in The Bahamas. He noted that it was under the royal governorship of Woodes Rodgers that: “a royal mandate was carried out to establish the House of Assembly of the Bahama Islands in 1729.”

Sir Arthur offered a number of historical markers, some of which I wish to briefly share with you as context for this evening. He noted:

“But not even Rogers could have imagined that the institution he established would last for over two and half centuries, and that it would become the centre-piece of an independent parliamentary democracy called the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

“When the House of Assembly was established in 1729, more than a hundred years of slavery still lay in the future of the Bahama Islands.

“So this institution was not intended for slaves, nor was it intended for the descendants of slaves who came to be the majority of the population of the Bahamas.

“There is hardly a single event in our history that has had such a profound influence on the future of the Bahamas as the establishment of the House of Assembly.”

Sir Arthur went on to say:

“This institution and its eventual assimilation by Bahamians have contributed mightily to our history of political stability.

“The House gave to the residents of these islands a measure of control over their affairs even though the imperial power, Great Britain, retained ultimate responsibility right up to the 10th of July 1973.”

He observed: “So the Bahamas had what was described as representative but not responsible government. To be sure, the House did not confer the status of a modern democracy on the Bahamas.

“That was a long way off”, he continued.

He then noted: “But the population, including the black descendants of slaves, recognized the possibilities that this institution offered, and that is why it became, and remains, the ultimate objective of political activity.”

Two hundred and ninety years later we enjoy a vibrant parliamentary democracy, which the Bahamian people have assimilated.

Our political development continues and we are still a maturing democracy nearly 50 years after achieving independence as a sovereign nation.

Our ongoing democratic development and maturation require a greater understanding by new generations of the genius and flexibility of our system.

I look forward to the remarks by this evening’s speakers and the discussion afterwards.

Thank you.