NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Constituencies Committee has been appointed and is now in a “position to begin its work”, Speaker of the House of Assembly Halson Moultrie announced this morning.
Committee members received their letters of appointment last Friday.
Moultrie, the member of Parliament for Nassau Village, will serve as chair of the commission.
Supreme Court Justice Deborah Fraser was named as deputy chair. A judge must be a member of the committee.
Minister of Health Renward Wells, the Bamboo Town MP, and Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Michael Pintard, the MARCO City MP, have both been appointed to the committee.
On the recommendation of the leader of the Opposition, Exumas and Ragged Island MP Chester Cooper will also serve on the committee, according to the speaker.
“This now puts the Constituencies Commission in a position to begin its work,” Moultrie advised Parliament.
It remains unclear when the committee will convene.
The committee or Constituencies Commission is mandated to review the number of boundaries of constituencies in The Bahamas at least every five years and produce a report on whether any changes should be made.
This includes creating additional constituencies, expanding or restricting exiting constituencies or merging them.
In 2013, the constitutional commission, which broadly reviewed the Bahamas constitution, recommended a constitutional independent electoral and boundaries commission to replace the current Constituencies Commission to “further strengthen democracy”.