Last Updated on August 15, 2021 7:34 pm by Editor
The stated intention of ruling Barbados Labour Party to convert Barbados to a republic on its next independence day celebration, 30 November 202,1 has sparked intense debate and controversy over such a move. Been here and done that several times before.
We wish to submit, however, that this present exercise boils down to being a mere storm in a teacup. The only real difference this time might be whether the teacup is a handled Royal Doulton or a coveted handle-less Yixing version, made in China. Follow the reasoning.
This time, around the BLP government of the day led by Prime Minister, the Honourable Mia Mottley, has signaled its intent to push on through with a promise made in its 2018 election campaign.
Incidentally, this is the same party that promised to take the country to the IMF in the 2018 election and having received a historic 30- 0 mandate, did exactly that while we watched from the comfort of our android TVs and Samsung smart phones.
Ironically, a cadre of women in the civil service, the stenographers, were the first victims of the IMF-inspired expenditure reduction measures.
Not So Fast, Elroy
The publication of a date and the provision of multiple opportunities for citizens to make have their say have all been put in place. Or so it appears.
In December 1998, a Barbadian constitutional review commission chaired by Sir Henry Forde, a senior member of the Barbados Labour Party, recommended republican status for the country. The proposal was adopted by Ms. Mottely’s party.
That report has been made available on the GIS (Government Information Service) website here for any citizen to read. Also available is an unpublished series of articles by Sir Roy Marshall, making a case for a republic.
But what we at Barbados Uncensored find interesting is that the (Barbados) Referendum Act 2005 has not been put on the GIS website. We ran a search on the same GIS website at 1.34 PM today, Thursday 12 August and got a “No Results Found” message. We have placed the full 7-page document here for the reader’s perusal.
A referendum is defined as “a general vote by the electorate on a single political question that has been referred to them for a direct decision”. In other words, for Barbados to become a republic, a majority of eligible citizens must vote – as they would in an election – and say ‘Yes” to “a single political question that has been put to them”.
Accordingly, the Referendum Act of 2005 clearly states the question to be voted on at page 1 (and again at page 7, the final page) as shown here. Therefore, unless we are missing something, we have to concur with Grenville Phillips , “no referendum, no republic” a conclusion he drew in a Barbados Today opinion piece, with the same title, on 19 September, 2020. Barbados Uncensored recommends that you read it.
A Troubled Brew
The Prime Minister is a lawyer by profession as well as a long-standing member of the BLP. Therefore, she must be aware of the presence of this piece of legislation on the statute books. If she is not, we are in deeper waters than we may think!
It follows, therefore, that if she attempts to declare Barbados a republic – because that is all she can do – it will be legally null and void; in which case, we may still have the Philandering Prince as our head of state (at least, technically).
To repeat, therefore, all the discussion currently in play on the move to become republic is a storm in a teacup.
Alternatively, using corporate investment lingo, the Mottley government’s republic proposition can really be described as a “red herring prospectus”. It has not been approved by the populace and therefore, has as about as much weight as a “golf ball”, the kind with which we were often showered while sitting on the old front bench at school.
Birds of a Feather
Looking beyond the issue, as is part of our remit, it would appear that the Prime Minister’s association with the totalitarian Chinese Communist Party has begun to fructify. We already have their vaccine, their Confucius Institute at the University of the West Indies and their 450 million dollars in loans (a subject we shall speak to more specifically).
The only thing missing so far, is Chinese surveillance cameras on every street (as they have in Xinjiang), mass arrests, Internet censorship (as the CCP practices in China) and rigged electronic voting machines, the kind used to produce the current impostor in the White House.
Therefore, we must “be sober and be vigilant” because our adversary, the fire-breathing dragon, “walks about seeking whom he may devour”.
Perhaps, the PM is playing a game which only she knows. We shall soon find out. It remains to be seen whether this government which has a 29 out of 30 majority in parliament, will flout the law. We call on those in her party with any integrity, to publicly distance themselves from this totalitarian and megalomaniacal enterprise.
As awake citizens, however, we shall ensure that none of these pernicious things happen “bout hay” because this is certainly not “who we are!”
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