Following clarification by the Statistics Department that up to date census information will be available for the Boundaries Commission by the end of the month, the Association for Due Process and the Constitution insists that does not go far enough.

The Association said last week in a Press statement that “the census data will not be ready before the Boundaries Commission starts its public meetings at the end of the month” and that would undermine the public's right to participate in the process of electoral reform.

Chief Statistician Janet Smith Bradshaw said the information requested by the Boundaries Commission was in fact ready.

At a Press briefing early last month, Commission chairman Sir Frank Blackman said the first of a series of meetings with the public would begin soon after the body meets again on January 28.

He told the media that several Government departments, including the Statistics Department had been asked to provide information that would be relevant to its deliberations and that the information will be available to the public at the first meeting.

The Statistics Department and the Parliamentary Registrar was asked to provide data such as the number of people qualified to be registered voters in each of the 20 constituencies, the number of registered voters as of the end of December and a breakdown of the numbers of registered voters in respect of each census district.

The information would also take into account people between the ages of 16 and 18 at the time of the census in May last year and who will become eligible to vote when the Commission is expected to complete its deliberations.

Sir Frank urged people who are not registered, or who have changed their names or addresses since last registration, to do so.

The Works and Engineering Department was asked to provide maps showing parish boundaries, constituency boundaries, census district boundaries and postal code boundaries.

“The information provided by the Statistical Department will be made available to the Works and Engineering Department for use in indicating the location of residences and the number of voters in each of the parishes shown on the parish boundaries map,” Sir Frank said at the December 6 Press briefing.

“All of this information will be available at the meetings we plan to hold with the public,” he said.

In addition the Commission had agreed to engage a psephologist (an expert in electoral systems) to help it with its work.

The public was urged to attend the meetings and prepare written submissions.

Yesterday, Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott would not say whether information requested from his department had been delivered - that, he said, was for the Commission to say.

“All I can say is we are capable of providing the Boundaries Commission just about any information - geographical or demographic - that they seek and we can do it very expeditiously.”

Warren Cabral, whose organisation Association for Due Process and the Constitution insists that a Constitutional conference be held before any further changes are made to Bermuda's Constitution, said yesterday that the public should be able to peruse the data before they meet with the Boundaries Commission.

“It's immaterial whether the Commission has the data in advance, from the perspective of the general public,” he said. “What the public is concerned about is that they too should have the same data well in advance of the public meetings. The data concerned is extremely complicated and it is impractical to expect people to absorb such detail at first reading during the course of a public meeting. It is generally the case, for example for company general meetings, that a shareholder package is sent out beforehand.”

He added: “The Boundaries Commission owe a duty of care to the public to see that they are properly primed before they come to the meeting.”

Sir Frank is off the Island and could not be contacted for comment.