#BTColumn – The journey continues

The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Suleiman Bulbulia

Prime Minister Mia Mottley described in the joint sitting of Parliament on October 20th that Barbados becoming a Republic is a “seminal moment’” in our history.

We are on the doorsteps of that day, November 30th, when Barbados will take the next step in its journey and fully rid itself of the umbilical cord that binds it to its former colonial master, the United Kingdom.

This is a journey. November 30th, 2021, is another junction in our journey.
November 30th, 1966, the day of Barbados independence, was a junction in our history.
Independence was not the end of Barbados’ journey nor will becoming a Republic be an end.

In fact, it will be a continuation of a journey of our country that recogniswes its maturity at 55 such that it is confident to say to the United Kingdom and to the world despite our size, in spite our limited resources, we can be our own shepherds, our own stewards.

And this journey didn’t begin in 1966. It began many years before. The struggle of our ancestors allowed for small victories along the way and proved that Barbadians have been resilient craftsmen of their fate.
Barbados becoming a Republic is a moment perhaps long overdue. As Khaleel Kothdiwala, opined in his letter to the media, “an idea whose time has come.”

It was in the Throne speech of her Excellency Dame Sandra Mason, Governor General of Barbados, on September 15, 2020, that government signaled its intention of transitioning Barbados to Republican status.
Following on from the Throne speech government set up the Republican Status Transition Advisory Committee (RSTAC) in March 2021 tasked with managing the process of the transition and to advise on the required reform measures.

RSTAC had its work cut out, as all of this had to be done in an extremely limited time frame and in the midst of a global pandemic. Nevertheless, the RSTA committee, made up of persons from a diverse cross-section of Barbadians, embraced this task as a sense of national duty, fully recognising the importance of this transition.

One of the major challenges we faced was while Barbadians were overwhelmingly supportive of Barbados becoming a Republic and having a Barbadian as their head of state, many were skeptical of what it really all meant and why at this time especially during a devastating pandemic.
And so, from very early we recognise that there was need for information that helped the average Barbadian to understand what type of constitutional system we currently operate under and what we were transitioning to.

Our committee drew on past commissions. One such, ‘The Constitution Review Commission’, appointed in 1996, headed by Sir Henry Forde, issued their Report in 1998.

This Report followed consultations with a wide cross section of Barbadians both here and abroad and several public hearings. This Commission recommended the following: “Our system of government should be a parliamentary republic with the Head of State being the President. Executive power should continue to be exercised by a Cabinet, with the Head of Government being the Prime Minister.

The advantage of this system is that it replaces the monarch with an elected president, while simultaneously retaining the present relationship between the formal Head of State and the executive arm of government. This system was the choice of almost everyone who gave evidence before us on this subject.”

It took us over 20 years to act upon these recommendations. “An idea whose time has come.” No doubt. The fact that this course of action was favoured for many years and an ideal for most Barbadians, didn’t prevent the naysayers in our midst to raise their objections.

Professor Sir Roy Marshall in his brilliantly written three-part article titled “The Case for the Republic of Barbados” explained in 2012 why he thought the Father of our Independence, the Rt Hon. Errol Walton Barrow did not choose to take that route in 1966.
“While this decision may seem puzzling to members of the post-independence generation, it was perfectly logical in the context of the times. Sentiment aside, decolonisation was a difficult and uncertain business.
‘It is also important to understand that Errol Barrow’s bold step towards self-determination for Barbados did not enjoy unanimous national public and political support.

“Opinion was in fact considerably divided among those who felt that our safest bet was to hang on to Britain’s coattails, those who felt another stab at federation, this time within the Eastern Caribbean, was the obvious choice and those, like Barrow, who were convinced that all other options had been exhausted and we should now seek to go it alone.

The Barbados Premier was hailed for his vision on the one hand and pilloried on the other as a communist and a dictator whose reckless frolic would destroy Barbados.

Fearmongering was the order of the day.
“In that volatile atmosphere a republican agenda might have been a step too far for the majority of that generation of Barbadians who remained fervently attached to tradition and to the British Crown.”

Our committee was issued with terms of reference which included reviewing the current constitution to bring it in line with the intended Republican status.
Our work began in earnest and while we reviewed the various parts of the constitution it was also clear that the Constitution of Barbados needed to be reviewed overall and that should certainly not be an exercise

without full and thorough public consultations.
Government therefore stated that it would change only those provisions that were needed to have a President elected, take office and function and that public engagements on overall changes to the Constitution would take place from January 2022 and take its time in deliberating.

Government did signal from very early there were no intention of any plans to change any of the national symbols, including the flag, coat of arms, national pledge and national anthem.
Equally Government also indicated there would be no attempt to change November 30th from remaining Independence Day or relegating the rightful ownership of the day to our National Hero, the Right Excellent

Errol Walton Barrow.

One of the significant proposals coming out of our committee that found favour with Government and equally found acceptance by the public during our consultations was the idea of a Charter.

The Charter recognises that a republic “signals the beginning of a renewed commitment to nation building and national transformation.”

“And building a transformed Barbados requires us all to have a clear understanding of who we are and our respective roles in creating the lives we want, as well as the Barbados we wish to live in and leave for our future generations.”

November 30, 2021, is not the end, it is the beginning of a new era. An era that all Barbadians must take pride and take ownership.

It cannot be for a select few. Any Barbadian can aspire now to be our Head of State. This is our land, our island. How we treat it, how we nurture it, how we respect ourselves and others in this beautiful country will determine the kind of republic we become.

Suleiman Bulbulia is a Justice of the Peace; Secretary of the Barbados Muslim Association; Muslim Chaplain at the Cave Hill Campus, UWI and Chair of the Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition. Email: suleimanbulbulia@ hotmail.com