Raphael: People’s Assemblies could replace Upper House

A member who once served in two forerunners to the short-lived constituency council has called for the planned People’s Assemblies to be set up in such a way that they could replace the non-elected Senate.

Roy Raphael was the first chairman of the then Community Council for the St Michael North constituency more than three decades ago.

Also a member of the then Regional Council, which lasted about five years until the early 1990s, he has urged the Mia Mottley administration to rethink the People’s Assemblies which are to succeed the constituency councils created by the Freundel Stuart administration.

Raphael said: “Those senators that are in the Senate… are not voted for, and most of them are chosen on party affiliation and association and some are independent with political views.

“I am thinking that those 30 members should be elected by their constituency to sit at the level of the Senate and those persons should also be chair of the People’s Assembly in their community, and yes, they should have representatives for the same portfolio that government ministers have.”

Declaring that the assemblies should be made up of professionals, Raphael also suggested that the members chosen should be paid a stipend as an incentive and they should be made to declare their assets.

He said: “I am hearing that the people that will be chosen will not be paid. That is a backward step. If you are very serious about this you can’t ask people to come and volunteer their time. Most of the times you have persons sitting with you and they are not paid they don’t show because for them it is not a priority.

“You must not treat it as another community group or youth group, but treat it serious enough that persons are paid and they enjoy the same of what Government propose for the Parliament.”

He added: “Obviously with a People’s Assembly and people having rights and power they will be approached by others to seek favours. So they should also be accountable under the new legislation that Government put before Parliament”.

He proposed that the people’s assemblies would be able to consult with members of the communities “and bring back the views that reflect the public” when laws are being put in place.

“Sometimes these bills are not really reflective of what the community are and sometimes the community themselves do not get an opportunity because somebody comes up with [an] idea without consultation with the people it will have a direct impact on,” he said.

Raphael said he was hoping Government would find a way to create more community groups to help steer the youth from a life of violence and deviance.

He told Barbados TODAY that decades ago when the country had “close to 300 community groups” the crime rate was a lot lower.

“So I am saying you need people to go back to the church and get involved in more spiritual activities. We need to get more community groups and youth groups. The Government need to do more for young people at this stage if our crime rate is to go down,” he said.

Acknowledging that many young people may prefer to use technology, he said authorities should come up with creative ways to “get the youth together and get them involved into activities that would [stop] them from going on the streets and getting involved in violence”.

The Thorne Commission on Local Governance is expected to submit ideas it has gathered from Barbadians online and from town hall meetings held to promote the People’s Assemblies by November 30.

The proposed community-based People’s Assemblies are to be made up of elected members to engage residents, establish standards in the public service, improve accountability in governance, deliver services to communities, contribute to public affairs administration, and protect neighbourhood welfare, among others.

Some 20 assemblies are proposed, with one each in St Lucy, St Andrew, St Joseph, St Thomas and St John; two in St Peter, St George, St James and St Philip; three in Christ Church and four in St Michael.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb