by Randy Bennett
Questions are being raised regarding Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s recent announcement that there will be a series of live political debates ahead of next month’s by-election in St George North.
Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn, Opposition Leader Joseph Atherley and political scientist Cynthia Barrow-Giles, have all suggested that it is the role of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission to arrange such an event.
In revealing the Nomination Day and election dates last Friday, Mottley said candidates contesting the by-election would have the opportunity to impress during three debates which will be aired live on the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
However, the outspoken Franklyn told Barbados TODAY that Mottley did not have those powers.
Section 41C of the Constitution of Barbados states: “The registration of voters and the conduct of elections in every constituency or any matters that appear to the Commission to be incidental to or consequential upon either, shall be subject to the direction and supervision of the Commission.
“In the exercise of its functions under this section the Commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority.”
Franklyn said Mottley was wrong for directing the Barbados Association of Journalists and Media Workers (BARJAM) to organize those debates.
“The Prime Minister is out of order and the Prime Minister cannot manipulate everything in Barbados to her liking or to her choosing. She has no role in this matter whatsoever.
“She can call an election and she has done that, that is the extent of her roll. She can’t get into everything and control everything… If there is going to be any political broadcast or anything like that that is the Electoral and Boundaries Commission. It is outside of her purview, she can’t do that,” the trade unionist argued.
“She is looking to give her candidate an edge and she is using state resources to do it.”
Atherley said he was shocked that none of the political parties had been consulted.
He said depending on the final schedule of the debates there was a possibility the PdP might not take part.
“The Prime Minister does not have the responsibility for making arrangements like that and then specifically to say that the Cabinet has agreed to these things, these things don’t fall to the purview of the Cabinet or the Prime Minister. There is an entity which is given responsibility for those things,” he pointed out.
“The Government is suggesting that BARJAM will take the lead in organizing that, but take the lead in organizing what? What was agreed among the political parties that we would have a debate?
The Prime Minister can’t give BARJAM a mandate to organize anything.”
He also suggested that Cabinet was not aware of any discussion surrounding the political debates.
Atherley further charged that BARJAM’s president Emmanuel Joseph had showed “partisan sentiment towards Government” by lauding it for allowing the local media to organize the debates.
“We are not happy at all with how the arrangements are likely to be although we haven’t seen them yet . . . There is a possibility we will decline to partake in the debates, but I will have to see what comes out of it before we as a party take a position, but obviously that is a possibility if it is not satisfactory to us and if we do not think it is just and fair,” Atherley said.
Barrow-Giles, a senior political scientist at the University of the West Indies and former Deputy Dean of Social Sciences, told Barbados TODAY the Electoral and Boundaries Commission was responsible for everything in relation to any election.
She said anything mandated had to go through that body.
“The simple answer to that is the Prime Minister doesn’t have the authority to do so. All she can do is suggest that there is a debate but the people who organize elections are the Electoral and Boundaries Commission. They are the ones who are totally in control, it is not the Prime Minister’s call,” she outlined.
Barrow-Giles said debates of that nature normally involved political leaders and it was unusual for political debates to take place involving “ordinary Members of Parliament”.
However, she said it would not be the first time it had happened in Barbados.
“If you recall many, many years ago we had a young Richard Sealy debating Deputy Prime Minister Billie Miller so this is not a first for Barbados but it is certainly unusual,” Barrow-Giles said.
Former longstanding chairman of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission Sir Philip Serrao was contacted and asked about the issue and he responded that he would have to check the legislation on the matter since he had not been involved in such matters for a long time. He suggested that Barbados TODAY
call him back. However, up to publication time and after several calls to him there was no answer.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb
