Govt’s motives questioned

Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn is accusing Government of using the Remote Employment work legislation to legally sneak same sex partners into the country.

The outspoken senator said he was troubled by a provision in the Remote Employment Bill 2020, which defines family as the person applying for the one-year residential certificate to work from Barbados, accompanied by their spouse or partner, and dependent or dependents.

“We in Barbados know what a family is. Our Family Law Act tells us clearly what a family is in Barbados. If we want to change that we should be bold enough to come out and tell the country this is what we propose to do, not sneak it in.

“Partner could mean a fella and he girlfriend, a fella and he boyfriend, a girl and her boyfriend or a girl and her girlfriend. This needs to come out of this bill because the only contentious part of this Bill that I am seeing is this. The Government is wrong for trying to sneak this provision through the back door,” he said.

Franklyn raised the point as he delivered remarks on the Bill in the Senate this morning, where he also said he was concerned that “partner” being included in the provision could mean that same sex couples are also being invited.

According to him, the provision should be debated as a country. He reminded the Chamber that Government has promised a referendum on same sex marriages.

“This is a way of bringing same sex partners into this country legally without the population having a say. So that is not fair to this country. Mind you, I am opened-minded. I am one of those fellas who don’t care who you live with or who you got. That is your business. But if you are running this country for the benefit of all of us and we have varying and various beliefs, you should let this country know what you are proposing, don’t sneak it in.

“That is a disservice to this country. It is certainly unfair and unreasonable, to sneak things like this in without the country knowing. I understand the concept of the Bill and I understand why, but I don’t understand why we had to put this in. This here was not in the original Bill, the one that I read when it first came out. This came out yesterday and if I weren’t vigilant, it would have slipped past me,” he said.

Franklyn said Government may have included the provision in the Bill to satisfy particular persons in society who may have been concerned that same sex couples were being left out of the initiative.

However, the senator insisted the churches in Barbados would not be happy.

“If the churches in Barbados had known about this they would have been speaking up today. We can’t do this. This is absolutely wrong,” he said.

Franklyn also said he was offended that he found out about the initiative through overseas media.

He maintained that if the Government is going to introduce a measure, citizens should be told first, before they tell the world. He however agreed that Barbados must move quickly to get the project off the ground because other countries are seeking to introduce the same programme.

However, Franklyn said he was concerned that Barbados has set a price on the certificate at $4000 per individual and $6000 for a family, while Bermuda which is also introducing the same initiative has priced their certificate at just US$263.

“Now if I have the option of coming to Bermuda and Barbados and I had to pay $4000, or $200 I might be tempted because Bermuda is still a paradise too. We might be pricing ourselves out of the market, a market that we took initiative on and then somebody else come in and undercut us not even by half. I think it is something relevant for the Government to consider the cost of the certificate,” he said.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb