Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn is calling for Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley to be removed from office.
Franklyn told Barbados TODAY that Mottley failing to accept that she overstepped her boundaries when she accepted a call from cook shop owner Ross Ashton on Good Friday when police attempted to end his special event at Deacons Farm, St Michael, is grounds for immediate dismissal.
In fact, the outspoken Opposition Senator said Governor General Dame Sandra Mason should be giving Prime Minister Mottley her walking papers.
In breaking her silence on the issue which has caused much public debate in recent days, Prime Minister Mottley has maintained that she did no wrong in accepting a call from the Deacon’s Farm resident, and indicated that the situation could be compared to an official from another section of society calling her with a query. She said that her interaction with the law enforcement and the cook shop owner was simply to seek information on whether Ashton was breaching the protocols.
However, a report circulating on social media claimed that Prime Minister Mottley asked police officers who attempted to shutdown the event to stand down.
“She shouldn’t be defending herself. She should admit that she made an error. And she knows that she made an error, it is just that she doesn’t care. All she is trying to do now is to justify her misconduct. She has no authority to call or to speak to any policeman in the performance of his duty. All the other red herrings that she is throwing up about, she talks to people all the time and people call her all the time, does not take away from the fact that she broke the law.
“She has no remorse, she is not sorry for her behaviour, and she said that she would do it again. She is showing that she has no regard for the law. The only person that a policeman should be speaking to is a senior police officer. The Prime Minister cannot speak to any policeman, including the police commissioner, in the performance of his duties,” he said.
Quoting Section 8 of the Police Act, Franklyn noted that the Commissioner of Police shall have the command of the Force, and shall be responsible to the Governor General for the efficient administration and government of the force and for the proper expenditure of all public monies appropriated for the service thereof.
“The Commissioner of Police does not report to a political person. The person who the commissioner is responsible to is the Governor General. That doesn’t say anything about the Prime Minister. She has overstepped her boundaries,” Franklyn said.
“I said, and I mean it, she should be removed from office and there is precedent for it. I am saying she broke the law. I am saying that there should be a sanction for breaking the law, especially at her level. And when it is dealing with law and order, she should suffer the consequences.
“But she knows she will get away with it, so she is doing everything that she can. That is why the former Prime Minister [the late Owen Seymour Arthur] called her a despot and he knew her better than most,” he added.
(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)
