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Hinkson: MPs must take initiative to engage with constituents

by Barbados Today
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Prime Minister Mia Mottley should not have to demand that Members of Parliament visit their constituencies on a weekly basis.

So says St James North MP Edmund Hinkson, who declared that his record of representation since becoming a candidate back in 2010, far exceeds the modest benchmark.

During the swearing-in ceremony at State House on Wednesday, Mottley mandated that each sitting MP spend at least half a day each week in their constituencies unless ill or out of the island.

The 30 MPs, who are all members of the Barbados Labour Party, will also have to report to their constituents twice a year in a public forum.

However, Hinkson, who secured his seat with the second-highest percentage margin behind the Prime Minister, said that outside of the worst periods of the pandemic, he has been spending a full day in the constituency each week.

He recalled that former Prime Minister, the late David Thompson made similar demands of DLP MPs back in 2008, but very few followed through.

“Quite honestly, I don’t think that a Prime Minister should have to tell Members of Parliament who are elected by the people that they need to spend at least half a day in a constituency,” Hinkson told Barbados TODAY.

“That is a request or demand that should follow naturally to being a parliamentary representative and reporting not only to your branch members, but at a town hall meeting where all constituents can feel free to come and question you and put forward their ideas and proposals and be part of the governance of a constituency and a wider country.

“So a prime minister would not have to urge me to do that, and I think the results of the last two elections demonstrate that because people don’t express that overwhelming confidence in terms of percentage of the vote in their elective representatives unless they earn it,” he added with a chuckle.

Hinkson won a whopping 81 per cent of the vote in St James North, where he claims many residents consider him to be part of their family.

As he enters his new term, the backbencher is promising to tackle a range of issues.

He has vowed to partner with relevant agencies to implement a life and work skills programme, a single parents programme, construct a hardcourt in Weston, St James and address roads, which he described as “an embarrassment”.

“I already mentioned to the new Public Works Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw that I would like her to tour the constituency with me and show her the state of many of these roads. I have also told her that I will follow it up by writing her formally on the issue,” said Hinkson.

“One of my priorities, again, will be to try and alleviate some of the poor drainage in the constituency, particularly in the Trents area. Work is ongoing in Sion Hill to alleviate the drainage along the highway,” he noted.

Also on the list of priorities is the renovation of the Weston Fish Market and to seek a decision from the Ministry of Housing and Lands on the future of the abandoned fire station, also at Weston.

“As long as I have the capacity to serve, I will do my best for my people and I am happy that they have demonstrated their appreciation for the work I’ve done by their overwhelming confidence in returning me to serve in this capacity,” the MP concluded.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb

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