REINSTATE THEM!

FORMER DLP MINISTER WANTS SUSPENDED TEACHERS BACK TO WORK!

By Jenique Belgrave

Attorney-at-law Michael Lashley K.C. is calling for the immediate reinstatement of two public school teachers who were disciplined for their participation in the January 2022 general election.
The former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) government minister is firmly of the view that with the recent High Court ruling that the General Order 3.18:1 that bans public officers from actively participating in politics is unconstitutional, the two teachers, Pedro Shepherd and Alwyn Babb should have already been reinstated at their respective schools with their full salaries restored along with retroactive pay.
“After the judgment that came out last week, by the next day Mr. Shepherd and Mr. Babb should have received their letters saying ‘come back to work’, reinstate them, and give them back their salaries. They are two promising young men, who have given years to the teaching service and should not have been treated in this way,” he said.
The two were sent on half-pay leave for six months for allegedly breaching General Orders 3.18.1 and Paragraph 2 (h) of the Code of Discipline after they contested the election on a DLP ticket.
In a wider-ranging presentation at Sunday’s DLP St. Philip West branch meeting in Four Roads, Lashley, a former minister of housing, also questioned the progress being made with the construction of the 150 steel-framed houses imported from China in 2021.
In May 2022, Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance Dwight Sutherland admitted that several challenges had been encountered in constructing the homes, but said they should all be completed by the end of August 2022.
However, Lashley said since the first house was set up in Brittons Hill, people would be hard-pressed to identify where others have been constructed.
“Make it make sense! Twenty-two and a half million was spent on bringing in these Chinese houses. Go through the length and breadth of Barbados and point to at least 10 of them. I want to know how many Barbadians are living in those houses? I want to know how many Barbadians are lying in their beds, opening a window and watching television from those houses?…
“I am asking the minister to take me on a tour tomorrow and show me 10 of them. I want to know where the houses are,” he stressed.
Touching briefly on the truce agreement between rival groups, the former MP for St. Philip North said it was time a victim’s compensation fund be set up to help support the dependents of those killed in violent acts. He explained this would be paid for by the perpetrators of these crimes.
During the meeting, Lashley also announced his intention to run in the DLP’s next internal election for the post of Vice-President.
jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb