But the AG said that while the unions' fight is a noble one, it's misdirected, since this government has been working on several pieces of good governance legislation. She listed the few that have already passed through the House - none of which was campaign financing, which Plan Belize promised would happen within the first 100 days. But, according to her, they're working on it.
Magali Marin Young, Attorney General
"Several good governance measures have in fact been enacted, recently with the PAC, the standing orders were amended to allow a joint committee where the social partners were included so that's one measure. The other one is we have sought to impose time limits on the delivery of judgements, that's a good governance measure. We have also tabled a public contracts commission bill, that's another good governance measure. So it is a priority, we have to get it right, it is just a measures of being understaffed, under strain, but I can also tell you that the governance legislation are complex pieces of legislation for example, the civil asset recovery bill involves the setting up of a civil asst reco very unit and we would have to find the public finances to set up that unit to be able to go after any proceeds, etcetera."
Reporter:
"What about the campaign finance legislation?"
Magali Marin Young, Attorney General
"That's not off the table, but we are only in government for five months, how many House of Representatives meeting have we had? Three. I was reminded by the Cabinet Secretary just recently, within the short period we have had 80 Cabinet papers. So this government is being very proactive but the legislative part take legal drafting, legal drafting takes consultation with all the stakeholders, that takes time. We cannot just import legislation, we have to make sure it fits adequately within out legal system."
