#BTEditorial – Republican status needs full explanation

“Come leh we break away from de Broken Trident, and show we really independent” – John King, 1988

It’s official! After years of debate and promises from many of our Prime Ministers over the years to truly chart our own destiny by removing the Monarch of Great Britain as our Head of State, Barbados is expected to become a republic by September 2021.

As she made that announcement during the Throne Speech to mark the start of a new session of Parliament earlier this week, Governor General Dame Sandra Mason unofficially stated not only that her term in office was coming to an end, but it will also represent the end of an era, in which Barbados had 68 colonial Governors between 1627 and 1966, and eight Barbados-born Governors General between 1967 and now.

While many rejoice at the fact that “Barbados will finally be rid of the British monarchy which did nothing for the country anyway”, some are fearful that we will lose certain privileges in the international community or even that we may be paving the way for a dictatorship with a supreme leader who also has political power.

What is a republic? Basically, a system in which the head of state is NOT a monarch; that is, “a form of Government in which the country is considered a ‘public matter’, not the private property or concern of the rulers. Primary positions of power within a republic are not inherited, but are attained through elections expressing the consent of the governed.”

With no monarch, most modern republics use the title “President” for head of state. Originally used to refer to the presiding officer of a committee or governing body in Great Britain, the usage was also applied to political leaders. The first republic to adopt the title was the United States of America. If the head of state is also the head of Government, it is called a presidential system. A full presidential system has a president with substantial authority and a central political role.

In other states, the legislature is dominant and the presidential role is almost purely ceremonial and apolitical, for example, in Germany and India. These states are Parliamentary republics and operate similarly to constitutional monarchies (like Barbados) with parliamentary systems where the power of the monarch is greatly circumscribed. Semi-presidential systems have a president as the active head of state, but also have a head of government with important power. Prime Minister Mia Mottley has indicated that the parliamentary republic is the model Barbados is planning to follow.

In that vein, Barbados will remain a part of the British Commonwealth, and in fact, of the 54 member states, 31 of them, including Dominica, Fiji, Gambia, Sri Lanka, Guyana, India, Cameroon, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago and Malta are republics. Mauritius was the last Commonwealth country to remove the British Monarch as its head of state in 1992.

The announcement brings to fruition a number of measures taken over the years to establish Barbados as a republic. The first such moves were made in the 1970s, then in the 1990s under the Owen Arthur administration a Constitutional Review Commission was set up and it recommended Barbados go the route of republicanism. In fact, the Barbados Labour Party’s 1999 General Election campaign hinted strongly that we would indeed become a republic, and the party even commissioned an ‘anthem’ called “Our New Republic” sung by John King and Marissa Lindsay and used it as one of its campaign songs. The matter also came up for debate in the House of Assembly in 2005, when Members of Parliament agreed that the question on any national referendum held on the topic should be “Should the Head of State be a Barbadian?”

During the 50th anniversary of independence celebrations in 2016, the then Prime Minister Freundel Stuart also hinted at Barbados becoming a republic by saying that after 50 years, we needed to take our independence to the next level and that he was ready to do so. And over the past year, we saw a change in our National Honours where the former colonial titles of “Sir” and “Dame” have become optional for those receiving the highest level of recognition for their contributions in different fields of endeavour.

It is a major step we are taking and one which many say is long overdue. But what does it mean to the average Barbadian? During his tenure in office, the late Owen Arthur said it would not result in any significant changes to our lifestyle and system of Government.

We will have to make some changes to the Constitution to facilitate it, and determine how the President or whoever we designate as Head of State will be chosen, and a public education campaign will be very important in order to remove any fears of a dictatorship, or any grandstanding on the part of those who want to do away with all facets of colonialism including historic buildings and place names referring to royalty. It is a major step we are taking; let us all ensure we are on the same page as we go about it.