PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

the country. In St. Kitts and Nevis, reporting takes the form of oral questioning
of parliamentarians on their annual record in an annual town-hall-style
meeting called Face to Face:
This meeting takes place at venues other than Parliament but it brings
parliamentarians ‘face to face’ with the public at large.
Parliamentarians are hereby made to account for their stewardship.
This meeting is carried live on radio and television. There is also a live
audience and participation via the Internet and telephone. There is a
moderator who channels the questions from the Internet, the telephone
and the live audience to the parliamentarians who are given time to
respond. The questions are spontaneous and parliamentarians have no
prior knowledge of the questions that will be asked. This format has
proven to be extremely beneficial in the area of accountability and
education of the public as to the work of parliament.
While the examples from Luxembourg and St. Kitts involve countries with
relatively small populations, there is no reason why their example could not
be replicated by individual parliamentarians at a constituency level. An annual
report of a member’s activity and voting record sent to all constituents at the
end of each session, together with opportunities to question the member on his
or her record on line or through constituency meetings, could considerably
enhance confidence in the accountability of parliamentarians on a regular
basis, rather than just at election time.
Recall of parliamentarians
The belief that an election held once every few years is insufficient for
representatives to be genuinely accountable to their electorates lies behind
proposals to give citizens the power to recall in mid-term those they have
elected. Two jurisdictions where such a measure is in force are Uganda and
the province of British Columbia in Canada. In Uganda (article 84 of the
Constitution) a member of parliament may be recalled from office on any of
the following grounds:
■ physical or mental incapacity rendering that member incapable of performing
the functions of the office; or
■ misconduct or misbehaviour likely to bring hatred, ridicule, contempt or
disrepute to the office; or
■ persistent deserting of the electorate without reasonable cause.
A parliament that is accountable I 97