GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Darryl York has formally written to President of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams requesting a status update on, and the immediate release of, the overdue 2025 Parliamentary Annual Report.
With Parliament expected to convene in the coming weeks to hold government ministers accountable for the significantly delayed 2026 budget, MP York said the legislative branch cannot credibly demand timeliness and accountability from others while failing to account for itself.
The Parliamentary Annual Report is Parliament’s official record of members’ attendance, participation, motions, amendments, legislative initiatives and formal letters sent to ministers. Despite repeated media inquiries regarding the eight-month delay, the 2025 report has not been published, and the Presidium has remained silent on the matter.
While the continued absence of the 2024 Annual Report raises broader concerns about Parliament’s reporting practices, York’s request specifically seeks an update on, and the immediate publication of, the overdue 2025 report.
“The Parliamentary Annual Report is not an administrative formality. It is Parliament’s yearly report card to the people,” MP York said.
“Parliament regularly demands that government justify its spending, explain delays and operate transparently. Transparency is not a standard you enforce on others and suspend for yourself,” he said.
York said the explanation that Parliament is understaffed should be examined rather than automatically accepted. He noted that, in most years under previous Presidents of Parliament, annual reports were produced even when Parliament operated with fewer staff members than it has today.
“This report does not evaluate ministers. It evaluates members of Parliament,” York said. “It records who showed up, who participated, who introduced legislation, who questioned ministers, who requested meetings and who fulfilled their parliamentary responsibilities.”
He said the continued delay naturally raises questions about why the public has not been provided with Parliament’s official record of its members’ performance.
“When Parliament’s own report card is delayed month after month, legitimate questions arise. Is the delay purely operational, or is there another reason the public has yet to receive Parliament’s Annual Report?” York asked.
He said public confidence in Parliament depends on the institution’s willingness to hold itself to the same standards of openness and accountability it expects from every other public body.
York said President Wescot-Williams, together with Vice Presidents Christopher Wever and Ludmila de Weever, are in the best position to explain the status of the report.
“If the 2025 Annual Report has been completed, there is no justification for withholding its publication. If it has not, the public has a right to know what is truly holding it back,” MP York said.
“Rule for one must be rule for all,” he concluded.
