The "No One-Man Show" Act [Draft]

Made in coordination with my Request for Review, and possibly about to be made instantly obsolete depending on the outcome of that Request, I present to you the "No One-Man Show" Act for your consideration.

Section 7.5: Mandatory Ministries
41. There will be an Executive Officer charged with the North Pacific's foreign affairs. They will ensure the continued operation of any embassies of the North Pacific and will report on events in the region.
42. There will be an Executive Officer charged with military affairs. They will carry out such legal missions as are authorized by the Delegate, expressly or categorically.
43. There will be at least one Executive Officer charged with focusing primarily on matters of internal interest to The North Pacific.
44. The Delegate may not appoint themselves as an Executive Officer of any of the positions mentioned in the Section outlining Mandatory Ministries.

Click to expand...

Simple as. Discuss.

Never include section numbers in clauses as subsequent legislation may render it outdated. I would say "as an Executive Officer charged with any of the preceding duties" but that's just me.

In the last couple of years we have seen delegates struggle to staff these important roles, ones that every delegate has an active hand in doing anyway. For as long as I have been in TNP it has been a common belief that a Delegate always has this option to fall back on in a pinch. We never saw them actually do it until Gorundu made himself MoFA following the mass resignation of his cabinet, and now Ruben maintaining the role when the previous delegate resigned and Ruben had to step up despite being the MoD at the time. I am a believer in allowing for flexibility and accommodating tough scenarios like these. A delegate doing this wouldn't be doing it unless they felt they had to due to the circumstances they find themselves in. By all means, let's make a hard process even harder by encouraging delegates to appoint shells unfit for the role just because the law insists that they must have someone in it.

I am opposed, and will have my competing bill codifying the right of the Delegate to appoint himself up shortly.

The North Pacific has never really been put in a position where the Delegate had to take over one of the Mandatory Ministries, most of which used to be elected by the Regional Assembly back in the day as GBM recently reminded me. This current Delegate is the first Delegate who wasn't facing an immediate recall to ever appoint themselves to such a position. TNP has been far more inactive historically, and yet we were always able to find people to fill positions.

The Delegate appointing themselves to the head of a Ministry position stifles innovation and development and casts a very dark shadow of mistrust upon the entire Ministry. The Delegate is essentially saying "I don't like/trust any of you enough to be Minister". Furthermore, it's just bad practice from a organizational and governmental standpoint. Those three Ministries in particular require special attention that the Delegate, their mind already occupied with matters else where, should not burden with direct micromanagement.

That's not the region we are, that's not the culture we have.


I will take your advice about the section numbers in clauses, however.

Pallaith:

A delegate doing this wouldn't be doing it unless they felt they had to due to the circumstances they find themselves in.

Click to expand...

I can think of other reasons a Delegate might want to exercise total control over all the executive functions. The garden-variety despot with an authoritarian bent, for example.