The members of the House of Representatives, who last Tuesday blindly rubberstamped the Dairy Development Board Act, owe the country an explanation.

Why didn't the learned legislators consider the bill, which inexplicably was not even before them, before saying 'aye'?

Without the proposed piece of legislation before most of them, the members ignored the most basic need to discuss the bill clause by clause and just voted - albeit in the dark.

Final approval

Luckily, there is still another stage the bill will have to go through before it becomes law. The legislation must be sent to the Senate for final approval.

But this should not be an excuse for the House not to have considered the bill clause by clause, as Parliamentary practice dictates.

Speaker Delroy Chuck must take responsibility for the manner in which he allowed the business of the country to take place when the House last sat. Following a healthy debate led by Agriculture Minister

Dr Christopher Tufton, on resuscitating the dairy industry, and to which Roger Clarke, Karl Samuda, Peter Bunting and Noel Arscott contributed, Chuck correctly instructed that the House resolve itself into a committee to consider the bill 'clause by clause'.

But, as he has done throughout his time in the Speaker's chair, Chuck was just too happy to get the bill out of the way.

"We will put clauses one to 40," he suggested to the House. The members agreed and the bill passed second reading, another step closer to becoming law.

Perhaps, for some, it is much ado about nothing but, for those of us who have to live with the implications of all laws passed, we would love to see our parliamentarians pay closer attention to what affects us.

This should never happen again.

thegavel@gleanerjm.com