6 December 2024
A public meeting will be held on Wednesday, 11 December 2024, at Half Tree Hollow Community Centre at 19:00 to discuss the ongoing review of St Helena’s governance and ministerial system introduced in 2021.
This review, commissioned by the Legislative Council, supported by the Governor and the UK Government, aims to assess whether the effectiveness of constitutional changes made in 2021 are delivering good governance—ensuring efficiency, transparency and accountability for St Helena under a ministerial form of government.
The Review Panel consists of Dr Ronan Cormacain, Mr Steven Tweedie and Lord Robert Lisvane. Dr Cormacain and Mr Tweedie are currently visiting the island for two weeks and will be hosting the public meeting.
This public meeting will provide an opportunity for the panel to briefly state what their mission is on island and, more importantly, to hear directly from residents of St Helena. The panel wants to understand what is working well and what isn’t under the current ministerial system.
In addition to this public meeting, the panel is carrying out a range of interviews with various stakeholders during their time on St Helena. These conversations, along with input from the public, will inform a draft report to be produced in January 2025. The panel will return to St Helena to receive feedback on the draft and facilitate the preparation of the final report of findings, which will be presented to the Legislative Council. The panel is determined to consult widely and an important part of this is the opportunity for the community to speak directly to the panel.
Dr Cormacain commented that the panel did not want to hear from only those within the government structures but was keen to hear from the public generally. Mr Tweedie noted that it is also important to understand that the panel’s deliberations are focused on:
- the structures of government,
- the ministerial system, and
- the division of responsibilities between the different branches of government, such as the Governor, Executive Council, Legislative Council, and public service.
The panel will not be able to deal with matters that fall outside of this scope (for example, the merits of individual decisions taken by the government).
There is no need to confirm attendance—just come along and share your views. Should you be unable to attend or prefer to share views privately, the team can be reached by email: StHelenaGovernanceReview@gmail.com This email is only accessible to the review team themselves and comments can be made in confidence.
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