Normally when the Budget and Appropriations committee receives proposals from the Executive, it scrutinises them.
The Budget Policy Statement carries certain policies with huge financial implications in terms of numbers.
That is what we were looking at in the 2014-15 budget and the numbers were not adding up. We needed to do an audit of the 2010 Constitution to see how well it had served us.
It may have been a bit soon for a review but it was a good move.
There is a saying among our people that to eat early does not mean you are greedy.
We did not think we were doing the review early because if something has gone wrong, it is better to correct it sooner rather than later.
By and large BBI will address some of the 20 per cent pending issues.
My only concern is that it would have been good if we allowed for more consensus building. The church, for instance, has raised pertinent issues.
One issue of concern in the socioeconomic audit was the cost of running government.
Whether it is the Executive, the cost of representation, the cost of commissions—generally we thought the cost of running government was high.
Has BBI addressed it? I think there are those we could have done much better.
We had a window in BBI that we could have used.
But I do not want to take position one way or the other since I signed for the BBI.
I do not want to be hypocritical. I signed in support.
But as I signed, I was telling myself, we could have done better. But if it was between this and nothing, give me BBI anytime.
We could have improved it and moved as a country together. We cannot afford more divisions.
Secondly, one thing that we are not talking much about is the quality of leadership. Structures are important, constitutions and laws are critical, but to a point.
You can have the wrong constitution with the right leader and do quite well and you can have the right constitution with the wrong leader and fare badly.
So let us remind ourselves that when we are done with the changes, we should embark on discussing the matter of leadership. This will be very key going forward.
The former MP and chairman of the Budget and Appropriations committee spoke to the Star.