Parliament Prorogued!!!

Deandrea Hamilton

#TheBahamas, August 14, 2023 – There was a surprise announcement on Saturday on the steps of the House of Assembly; in the role of Provost Marshall, the Commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Clayton Fernander announced on behalf of the Governor General, that the parliament was now prorogued.

“Now, therefore, I Sir Cornelius A. Smith, Governor  General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, do hereby prorogue Parliament as of Saturday the Twelfth-day of August 2023,” he revelaed.

It sent shock waves throughout  Nassau as this action, on the advice of the Prime Minister, can come ahead of a dissolution of parliament which means a new general election.  But there is no snap general election according to the government. The Philip Davis Led PLP Administration expressed instead, that its original election mandate after winning in a landslide at the polls in September 2021 has been delivered and now, with the 2023-2024 Budget Passed, it is on to new objectives… so parliament is prorogued and a new session is coming.

That new session has been announced as October 4, 2023 and at that time, it is also widely speculated that a new governor general will do the honours of reading the Throne Speech which will contain that new agenda of the Davis Administration.

A Prorogation marks the end of a parliamentary session. It is the formal name given to the period between the end of a session of Parliament and the State Opening of Parliament that begins the next revealed..