#BTColumn – PM’s action worthy of censure

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.

by Reverend Joseph Atherley

The broader concern to which I have been pointing over the past two and a half years is the dangerous emerging trend of inordinately significant power being concentrated in the hands of the Prime Minister, one person, through legislation passed in Parliament.

This applies particularly so with reference to The Emergency Management Act of 2019; but predates that, and applies to things like legislation on Planning and Development and Anti- corruption.

With respect to the issue at Deacons, if the intention of the Prime Minister was to in anyway interfere with the Police in the exercise of their duty, then this is absolutely wrong and worthy of reprimand. If the intention of the Prime Minister was to give the comfort to individuals that they stood in such favoured standing with the office of the Prime Minister and the person of the Prime Minister herself, so that not even the law could touch them, that too would have been wrong.

If the intention was to prove to individuals that they have immediate recourse to a Prime Minister who is their benefactor or protector no matter what their behaviour, then that is wrong. Any of the three or all three would be worthy of censure.

The receipt of the call is one thing. How one handles the issue and the subject matter would be another.

From what is reported I would have handled it differently.

Finally, the missing element in all of this is information from the Police Force itself. I would wish to have had the benefit of full disclosure from the Police on the matter.

Reverend Joseph Atherley, Leader of the Opposition