Knighthoods remain untouched as lawmakers move to change honours system

Lawmakers on Tuesday moved to rename several of Barbados’ National Honours as the country moves from a realm to a republic. But those who have been knighted will still be allowed to keep the title of Dame and Sir, Attorney General Dale Marshall told Parliament.

The Gold Crown of Merit and Silver Crown of Merit are to be named the Gold Trident of Excellence and Silver Trident of Excellence, under the Barbados National Honours and Decorations Bill.

In introducing the bill, Marshall also added that the Companion of Honour of Barbados (CHB), the highest honour below a knighthood which allows those bestowed with the title to be addressed as “the Honourable” will be renamed The Order of the Republic.

He said: “The Order of the Republic is to recognize that this country which has become a republic wants to make an award to Barbadians that recognize who we are and rather than the Companion Honour of Barbados we will now have The Order of the Republic.

“Many of our honours are limited in terms of numbers, so it is a little-known fact that in any year that you can only award two CHBs and that there is a maximum of 15 CHBs at any time. So, in order to be able to award somebody else another CHB, you literally have to wait for somebody to die so that you create a vacancy, a space.”

Declaring that the intention is not to cheapen the worth of the awards, Marshall said the number of individuals who can be awarded the Order of Republic will be moved from 15 to 50 to allow more Barbadians to be able to receive the award.

He also indicated that Government sees it as an important change to be able for the first time to award a group of individuals. Marshall said the group award concept allows for Barbadians who contribute to a greater cause collectively to be recognized.

Those individuals who have been already knighted can decide whether they to be called Dame or Sir and will continue to be granted the privileges that come with those titles, said the attorney general.

He said: “Now there are those who might feel that by going republic we should throw out those things. But I think that that would be the wrong thing to do to try to diminish the value of that individual and the value of the honour to that individual at the time when it was given.”

Marshall said over the next two weeks, once the bill is passed in the Senate, there will be advertisements encouraging Barbadians to invite nominations for National Awards. He said Barbadians must make it a responsibility to nominate individuals for awards, instead of waiting to find flaws in the process when individuals are selected.

He declared: “Help us to identify for recognition those Barbadians who have made a difference. It is not about money; nobody asks how much money they have. In fact, it is at this point… that we begin to level out people because we are not interested in your financial or other worth. We are not interested in who your father is or mother is or what reputation you might have elsewhere.

“We are interested in how you have served your fellow man. When the notices come out please take the effort to identify for a National Award, those Barbadians who in your view have served us greatly. It goes to a committee and that committee looks at all the information that is before them and they make a decision that I know that is made in good faith and made honestly.” (AH)