#BTColumn – Bim in a mess

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

by Marsha Hinds

The dust is settling after the snap election called in Barbados despite the worldwide fourth wave of
COVID-19.Despite concerns raised about the disenfranchisement of the eligible voters who were in isolation and quarantine the election continued.

This was no doubt a factor in the record low 45 per cent voter turnout. Barbados’s usual voter turnout has been relatively steady between 60 and 63 per cent, since 1994.

The election went on despite the risks to the staff of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

On Thursday, January 27, 2022 we learnt that this government department, which offers essential services, had to be closed due to an outbreak among the staff.

An election that was not due constitutionally until the middle of 2023 took precedence over the public health and economic state of Barbados.

Some of the staunch defenders of the ruling party indicate that the election had to happen in order to make clear way for the entrenchment of the new Republican status of Barbados.

We are now one week in with the cabinet having been selected and I am struggling to understand how the actions post-election get us anywhere closer to an emancipated, sensible and contemporary model of governance.

One of the concerns I had to begin with coming into this election is that we were doing so unclear about where the constitution of Barbados stood.Not that there is not a constitution on the books, there certainly is.

However, that constitution had been adjusted to facilitate the introduction of a President. That signals our intention to make some adjustments and changes to our constitution to facilitate what many view as the final stage in our colonial journey – full self-determination and a system of governance uniquely ours.

The next logical step after the ceremony of adorning a President of the Republic of Barbados felt like it should have been a comprehensive unveiling of our new constitution.Instead, we got a January 19 snap election.

In the early days after the outcome of that election it seems that the full mandate given to the Prime Minister enables more tinkering with our system of governance. I think the tinkering is unfortunate.

This period, which can be reasonably interpreted as a kind of ‘constitution lag’ between the old and the new, all with an overarching state of emergency in effect seems to be offering laterality to set aside practice for a new agenda set unilaterally by the Prime Minister.

Some may argue that the changes being implemented are good changes.Good intention does not provide abrogation for needing legal and established channels through which to usher change.

I also want to suggest that upon closer scrutiny, we may realise that what we read as good at a cursory glance is really old wine in a slightly different wine skin.

For instance, Barbadians may see the value in having an 18-year-old senator in the Upper house for the first time.The question is though, if we are truly empowering the youth of Barbados through a representative senate seat, why not allow the young people to be in charge of the process from top
to bottom?

Why not use the opportunity to deepen interest in youth participation in existing structures such as Youth Parliament and the Parish Independence Celebration by using those two pathways to field nominees for the Senate seat who youth then vote in.

That kind of system could have been used to increase the interest and understanding of young people in the electoral process. This is transformative action.

What we had instead, with the selection of the youth senator by the Prime Minister was an extension of the traditional system of patronage that has been a feature of Commonwealth Caribbean electoral politics.

wThis system is all about rewarding supporters for their loyalty to the party.

Another concerning adjustment to our practices of governance is the naming of two ministers of state who will not sit in Cabinet. This is the first time in my living memory, and seemingly based on recorded history as well that Barbados has had ministers of government without
Cabinet privileges.

In both cases, the ministers deprived of cabinet privilege are women. On both cases, those two ministers will report to men, who will sit in cabinet.

In the case of Sonia Browne, it will mean a trained medical doctor with responsibility for the lone State hospital and the major problem of non-communicable diseases in Barbados will have to send her messages to Cabinet via the non-medically trained substantive minister of health.

While my observation does not in any way seek to impugn the capability of the substantive minister of health, the decision of the Prime Minister to opt for this non-traditional arrangement seems cumbersome and strange.

What is the point of embracing more women in the Party to run at the level of constituencies, and then select them to be ministers but curtail their ultimate right to sit at the highest decision-making table in the land?

I know that there is the tendency in Barbados to dismiss every contrary voice as a bitter one.

However, I still feel it is necessary for some of us to try to draw attention to the fact that the Republic is seeming to have a definite flavour of banana in some of its wares!

Marsha Hinds is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Guelph and the co-director of Operation Safe Space.