ANOTHER PARLIAMENTARY term has ended, but The Gavel's microscope cannot uncover any major accomplishments by the House of Representatives over the period.

Our parliamentarians, instead of using the time in the House to debate legislation and motions - enough of which are stuck in the pipeline - were mainly caught up in a useless Sectoral Debate.

From as far back as April, when Finance Minister Audley Shaw presented an incredible Budget, the writing was on the wall that the affairs of the House would not have been pursued as robustly and purposefully as the conditions dictated.

Hell was breaking loose

It was clear that hell was breaking loose in economies around the world and that Jamaica's had fallen flat. However, we ignored the maxim, 'time wasted can never be regained'.

The leadership that is necessary from Parliament in dealing with the crisis has been conspicuously absent and, not surprisingly, we are no clearer about our fate now than we were when Shaw's composite numbers were presented.

The Gavel has been at pains to point out that the Sectoral Debate is a waste of time and that we should change the way the people's business is conducted if real change is going to come to Jamaica.

The Sectoral Debate, for the most part, has served only as a platform for members of parliament (MPs) to boast about the 'wonders' of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

The time has come for a new day in the way Jamaica is governed. The sweat of inefficiency that seeps though the walls of government departments and agencies is testimony to the mismanagement of the country since Independence.

The Gavel does not doubt that there currently resides in the Parliament the requisite talent and competence in building a new Jamaica. However, there is little evidence that most of these elected members are willing to rock the boat and make a clean break from governance of old. That is why very little legislative progress was made last term, and why we hardly hear of a clear, believable path for Jamaica's development.

Blame

We place the blame for the less-than-spirited approach to the people's business at the feet of those politicians who, despite wanting to do better, have refused to speak out.

None of them has rejected the barrel of pork called the Constituency Development Fund, and we know why.

With the CDF, MPs have effectively found a way to ignore the fact that the wheels of government are not turning properly.

In so doing, they avoid addressing, legislatively or otherwise, the various departments and agencies of government that currently operate as if they were on autopilot.

Only a few MPs complain when annual reports from state agencies are tabled in the Parliament three years late, and equally few bother to read them.

Those who contribute to debates are in the minority and very often, it is a small circle of MPs that seem concerned that something has clogged the engine of governance.

The Gavel would like to see a Parliament that is seriously committed to major legislative reforms, and a government that has the will and guts to structure organs of the State to yield optimal efficiency.

MPs' seemingly reduced roles

Instead, we get a Sectoral Debate which, fortunately or unfortunately, stands as testimony to the fact that most MPs have seemingly reduced their roles to ensuring that the $2.4 billion allocation under the CDF is spent in such as way that their constituents continually sing their praises.

The Gavel has not detected focus and silent determination by most members of the House to transform the rusty operations of the State through purposeful debate and careful policy direction.

It has been nearly one year since the six crime bills were first taken to the House of Representatives and to date, they have got no further than a roadblock created by laziness and an unwillingness to find common ground.

Many Jamaicans expected that the Strata Act would have already been debated and passed, but that has not been the case. Aside from the Sexual Offences Act and a few other acts to amend existing legislation and loan guarantees, Parliament has been a talk shop, lacking substance and direction.

Motions of critical importance

Central Kingston MP Ronald Thwaites has poured out his soul in taking motions of critical importance to the House day after day. Few have been debated.

Yet, despite the country facing its darkest days, it has been an absence of business - as usual.

The Gavel yearns for the day when lazy legislators will digest the venom of their own medicine after they return to the people for another chance to return to Gordon House.

Sadly, some of these jokers will return, especially if they used their CDF to their advantage, and entrench themselves in the House, thereby remaining a perennial stumbling block on the road to development.

Email feedback to thegavel@gleanerjm.com.