The recent announcement by Prime Minister Bruce Golding of changes to the format of the post-Cabinet press briefings and the initial controversy over how decisions should be reported to Parliament before dissemination to the media, have served to turn the spotlight on the capability of the legislature to effectively provide information to the public.

As has often been pointed out, the legislature is woefully lacking in information processing and dissemination facilities. For some inexplicable reasons, the centre of political life in Jamaica has remained largely untouched by the information and technology changes sweeping the land.

It is scandalous, for example, that with the advance in technology and so many institutions having their own websites, the Jamaican Parliament has none from which members of the public can gain access to debates, decisions and documents emanating from the legislature.

A further scandal is the lateness in reproducing Hansard, the official records of Parliament, which have been several years in arrears.

Several years ago, then Information Minister Colin Campbell initiated the broadcasting of Parliamentary proceedings via a cable television station. This, apparently, ceased over time.

The new Information Minister, Olivia Grange needs to put this at the top of her agenda, and set up a television broadcasting service dedicated to covering Parliament. This could act as a fillip to the still-birthed Public Service Broadcasting network.

Other deficiencies in the dissemination of information at Gordon House include cramped library and media facilities. Allied to this is the absence of media specialists at Gordon House to relate to members of the press. We would expect that in the new dispensation, the Speaker of the House, as well as other parliamentary officials, will host regular or periodic press briefings. This would give journalists, especially the newer ones, the added opportunity to have complex parliamentary issues and procedures explained.

So, if the Golding administration is serious about the centrality of the legislature in the political process, then it should move with speed to make the legislature more communicative. And there is more to be done - construct a new parliamentary building.

For years, there has been much discussion about the merits of proposals to acquire land at the northern section of National Heroes Park for the purpose of erecting a new parliamentary building. In June 2005, the then Opposition leader, Bruce Golding, suggested that it would be better to acquire lands adjacent to the current Parliament on Duke Street and expand and improve its facilities. He contended that to remove the parliamentary facilities to another location would be disrespectful of the memory of the current locale.

We, however, see no reason why a new Parliament in another location would not, over time, acquire its own mystique, aura and history in much the same way that Gordon House replaced the Old Headquarters House, albeit in closer proximity. Of course, the locations could be preserved as national heritage sites. More important, the need for modern facilities to serve the needs of parliamentarians and members of the public is impatient of debate.

With all the many priorities which the Golding administration has to address, we suggest that this renovating and upgrading of parliamentary facilities be among them.