Something, Mr. Editor, didn't quite add up. The 2007 Annual Report of the Human Rights Commission was tabled in the House on the Hill on our last day of meeting along with that for 2008. No big deal?

Maybe, but maybe not: the 2007 Report featured a letter to the Minister which indicated that the report had been completed and delivered by April 1, 2008. By way of contrast, the record shows that the 2008 report was presented under cover of a letter dated June 18, 2009. So why the delay?

The governing legislation requires the Commission to produce a report for the Minister within six months of each year-end, and for the Minister to table it in the Legislature "as soon as may be" following receipt.

Yet here was this 20-month interval between production and publication of the Report for 2007, which hardly meets the letter of the law, much less the spirit. It is hard to think of any good reason or reasonable explanation for the delay unless it was for reasons near and dear to my heart, and to which I wish to once again draw attention: the need for improved governance in Bermuda.

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) believes it is long since time that the law was changed to give the body greater autonomy – from the Government of the day – and to ensure that the Commission is free from political influence both in appearance and in fact.

This is not news, I don't think. The Commission has been pushing for this for some time. The difference now is that the call was made loudly and clearly in the 2007 report to the Minister – and repeated in that for 2008. There is no indication where Government stands in either report. The two reports were tabled without Ministerial statement, which is the parliamentary vehicle by which Government sets out its position on issues and which is also often used when Government wishes highlight matters which are, shall we say, more favourable … to themselves.

But this time not a peep on the two reports or their recommendations. While we cannot be sure what message Government was looking to send by adopting the silent approach, although we can guess, the Human Rights Commission was pretty clear in its message. The Commission had been looking at best practice guidelines established by the Commonwealth Secretariat and according to those guidelines independence is the cornerstone to the effective functioning of any body with responsibility for the enforcement of human rights.

"In order for the HRC to be effective and maintain public confidence", we read in the 2007 Report, "it must be independent and be seen to be independent of Government and the political process and not be subject to pressure or influence from those who might have a stake in the outcome of complaint investigations or in the HRC's community activities and educational programmes that are designed to promote the equal treatment of all members of the community".

That was the reported summary of a roundtable discussion which had been held on the issue of greater autonomy for the HRC back in December, 2007. We are not told of any instances of such possible pressure or influence. We are however, reminded that Government is Bermuda's largest employer "and is bound to continue to be the subject of complaints of unlawful discrimination". The report goes on to state that while "there does not appear to have been any past incidents of interference" by Government in either HRC investigations or board of inquiry hearings, the current statutory framework should be changed for two reasons:

"First, there is always the possibility of interference and influence and secondly, it is impossible for the public to have confidence in the impartiality and neutrality of the HRC's investigations and board of inquiry findings."

Fair enough. Some of their chief recommendations for change are that:

¦ The office of the HRC should be established by the Bermuda Constitution Order in similar fashion to that of the Ombudsman;

¦ The HRC should report directly to Parliament;

¦ The HRC should draw up its own budget and be allowed to allocate those funds as it sees fit, subject to financial oversight by Parliament;

¦ Members of the HRC should be appointed for a fixed number of years and the selection process changed to "an objective and pluralistic assessment process" to ensure the Commission is made up of commissioners with diverse backgrounds and experience.

It's quite an impressive list, and a good one, and one which I support. It represents one more link in the chain of governance in Bermuda which is badly in need of an overhaul to provide for more effective checks and balances in the face of increasingly partisan politics. A more independent Human Rights Commission should be welcomed as an important part of a mature and modern democracy.

Three cheers this week for disclosure: one each for The Royal Gazette, the Judge and the person who "leaked" that Cabinet Memorandum.

My sense is that people were expecting much, much more when they first learned of the injunction. But while the purchase of property by Government may not be so unusual, a $25 million purchase at this time, a time of increased and presumably increasing Government debt, and on terms, which means interest payments, and all of it unbudgeted, amounts to an extraordinary step on any view.

If Government does believe it can save money in rents in the long run, let's hear all of the arguments and canvass all of the alternatives and study all the alternatives. Publicly. In fact, I could think of no more useful role for an active Public Accounts Committee, or a parliamentary sub-committee thereof, which could explore the pros and cons of the issue by way of public hearings.

It could literally change the way we do the country's business up and down the Hill and make such information routine and commonplace – as it should be – and worth neither the time and expense of court proceedings or threatened police investigations. Finally, Mr. Editor, something to think about over the holidays:

"Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary" – Reinhold Niebuhr.

Merry Christmas everyone.

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