Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation the Hon. Chester Cooper said this generation of parliamentarians faces a new wave of tests.
“Citizens around the world are skeptical because they doubt institutions truly serve them,” the Acting Prime Minister said during the Opening Ceremony for the 47th Conference of the Caribbean, the Americas and the Atlantic Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) held at the Margaritaville Beach Resort on Monday, September 8, 2025.
He said, “Artificial Intelligence and social media, although they can be for the good, amplifies every misstep and spreads divisions faster than unity. In small states like ours, where politics is closed and personal, skepticism can harden into cynicism.”
The Acting Prime Minister said at the same time, global crises can move faster than the region’s deliberative systems.
“Hurricanes devastate with unprecedented rage. Rising seas creep towards our shores. Migration creates tensions. Economic shocks strike suddenly, without regard for parliamentary calendars.
“So, we face a dilemma. Parliaments are designed for deliberation, but crises demand speed. Parliaments are designed for compromise, but societies are fractured by division.”
He said the question before parliamentarians is whether parliaments will remain strong enough, moral enough and trusted enough to navigate these contradictions, these ‘tests.’
The Acting Prime Minister said if history teaches anything, it is that parliamentary democracy endures when it adapts without surrendering its core.
He noted that adaptation does not mean abandoning principle. It means applying principle to new circumstances, ensuring that representation remains genuine, that accountability remains real and that dignity remains protected.
The Acting Prime Minister said this means that Parliamentarians should speak for the whole, not just the powerful. “That requires reforms to widen participation, transparency to build trust and outreach to those who feel alienated.”
He noted that parliamentary institutions cannot cling to practices that alienate a new generation. “Openness, accessibility and digital engagement must be part of our future.”
The Acting Prime Minister also said that in parliaments, debates must be fierce but not demeaning and disagreement must be sharp but not destructive.
“The health of our politics is measured not only by the laws we pass, but the way we treat one another in the process.”
He said, “The CPA exists for this very reason, to strengthen each of our parliaments by linking them all.”
The Acting Prime Minister said without parliaments, democracy withers; without parliaments there is only raw power, unchecked and unaccountable.
He explained that parliament is slow because it must be thoughtful. It is noisy because it must be open. It is also frustrating because it must accommodate differences. “And yet, precisely because of those reasons, it is the truest school of democracy that we have.”
Also attending the Opening Ceremony were Governor General, Her Excellency the Most Hon. Dame Cynthia A. Pratt; Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Hon. Patricia Deveaux; President of the Senate, Sen. the Hon. J. Lashell Addereley; Minister of Education and Technical & Vocational Training the Hon. Glenys Hanna-Martin; Minister of Housing & Urban Renewal the Hon. Keith Bell; Minister of Labour and the Public Service the Hon. Pia Glover-Rolle; Minister of State for Urban Renewal, the Hon. Lisa Rahming; Mrs. Ann Marie Davis of the Office of the Spouse of the Prime Minister; Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition the Hon. Michael Pintard and Members of the Senate as well as delegates for the Conference.
By Llonella Gilbert/Bahamas Information Services
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