By: Staff Writer
February 8, 2022
Barbadian Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, fresh off of her second consecutive clean sweep at the polls where her Barbados Labour Party (BLP) won all of the seats up for grabs on January 19, said that she will deepen the democracy “in spite of” the Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
Ms Mottley, who was speaking to reporters after the first sitting of the parliament this past Friday, said after that considering she has all of the seats in the parliament she will allow for the second-place finishing party, the DLP, to choose two senators despite the power being vested in the President to choose two senators as per Section 75 of the Barbadian Constitution.
Ms Mottley said: “In spite of the fact that the President of the DLP says he needs nothing from me and I can’t offer him anything. Let’s be very clear. We are thankful to the people of Barbados for the mandate that they’ve given this government, it is as comprehensive and complete a mandate as possible. But we believe that we have an obligation to our democracy into the deepening and protection of our democracy, to be able to afford the opportunity to the party receiving the second highest number of votes, the opportunity to not just appoint two senators.
“But if persons were reflecting and knew what they were talking about, they would know that what is at stake is not just simply the appointment of two senators. What is at stake as well, is the appointment of a number of commissions under the Constitution, from the electoral boundaries commission that will come up during the course of the next five years, to the various Services Commission, the administrative and General Services Commission, the Protective Services Commission, the judicial Legal Services Commission, a whole host of others.”
Section 75 of the Barbadian Constitution says: “During any period in which there is a vacancy in the office of Leader of the Opposition by reason of the fact that no Leader of opposition. person is both qualified in accordance with this Constitution for, and willing to accept, appointment to that office, the Governor-General shall- (a) act in his discretion in the exercise of any function in respect of which it is provided in this Constitution that the Governor-General shall act in accordance with the advice of the Leader of the Opposition; and (b) act on the recommendation of the Prime Minister in the exercise of any function in respect of which it is provided in this Constitution that the Governor-General shall act on the recommendation of the Prime Minister after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.”
Of course, the “Governor General” has been replaced by the “President” on November 30 after the country became a Republic, doing away with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state, but for all intents and purposes the names are interchangeable.
Ms Mottley also said: “Now, under the current provisions of the Constitution in Section 75, it would mean that I would have the right as Prime Minister, to choose all of those people and as much as I know that I will do it in fairness, and to protect the public interest, I do not believe that I should do so.
“To that extent, therefore, we are going to afford them the opportunity to not only be able to choose the two senators, but by extension, to be able to have a say in the appointment of the different Commissions.”
Marking the third time under her leadership that the country has limited the power of the Prime Minister, from first the selection of judges and the Chief Justice and removing the power of their appointment from the Office of the Prime Minister and putting in place and advisory committee that will advise the Prime Minister on who should sit on the bench, to secondly having an amendment to the Constitution that allows for parliament to choose the head of state as opposed to the Prime Minister making the decision without any consultation, Ms Mottley says that on matters like these she must act within the best interest of Barbadians even if the Opposition and former governing DLP can’t see clearly after having been beaten soundly in a clean sweep consecutively.
She noted: “Now, I do not believe in this day and age that as Prime Minister I should be choosing all five members of the electoral boundaries commission and therefore, even if the current leadership of the DLP may not be seen to clearly at this point in time the rest of us must see clearly for them, and for the deepening and strengthening of this democracy.”
While the position of Governor General/President in all former British Colonies are positions of sinecure with the real power within the jurisdiction being vested in the office of the Prime Minister, one can only hope that Barbados can move forward towards having full fledged elections for the President of the country in addition to having independent committees for the selection of judges that do not answer to the Prime Minister or are selected by the Prime Minister in any way, shape or form.