Legislative Teams In All Ministries

Cabinet has approved the establishment of legislative teams within all ministries to help make the process of developing government policies more streamlined.

This is part of efforts by the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs to strengthen inter-Ministry collaboration, to advance the Government’s legislative agenda.

The teams will include the relevant policy officers, legal officers, and senior officers at the level of Chief Technical Director, Principal Director or Senior Director.

This was disclosed by Portfolio Minister, Hon. Marlene Malahoo Forte, during her contribution to the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on June 7.

She noted that one of the strategic priorities of the Ministry is to address the slow pace of legislative reform in the public sector by strengthening inter-Ministry collaboration.

“The aim is to improve operational efficiency, speed, and the quality of legislation promulgated, because the legislative review process has been affected by delays, culminating in critical pieces of legislation neither being amended, repealed and replaced, nor developed and subsequently passed in a timely manner,” Mrs. Malahoo Forte said.

Cabinet has also approved collaboration between the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs and the Office of the Cabinet in supporting and monitoring the legislative work programme, and implementing strategies to close gaps identified, using established and proven project management principles.

Mrs. Malahoo Forte said going forward, all ministries will be required to work within settled timeframes.

“We are cognisant that there are capacity gaps within the Ministries, and if these gaps are not closed, the desired objective will not be achieved. In this regard, my Ministry will partner with the Management Institute for National Development (MIND) to provide training in policy development and the preparation of cabinet submissions,” she noted.

The Ministry will also collaborate with the Office of the Cabinet to conduct sensitisation sessions to improve the quality of Cabinet submissions prepared by the ministries in respect of law reform proposals.