The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is now waiting to see if the Constitution Amendment Bill will be passed in Parliament before making a final decision on whether they will accept the offer to appoint two Opposition Senators.
Interim president Steve Blackett, who last month rejected Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s proffer for the party to choose the two Senators on the grounds that she did not have the power to do so, said the DLP would be closely monitoring the debates scheduled to be held in the Lower House tomorrow and the Upper House on Wednesday.
“When it is cloaked in all the Constitutional best practices and regards we will look at it. It is nothing that I personally will look at but the organs of the party will look at it, so that’s where we are,” Blackett told Barbados TODAY.
Blackett admitted though, that the DLP, which received the second-highest votes in the recently concluded January 19 general election, would consider the offer once the party felt it was done within the confines of the law.
“It has to come properly before us before I even engage the organs. So that’s the period that we are in now. We are just waiting until the legislation is passed because it has to go to the Upper Chamber after it passes the Lower House tomorrow, so there is a little period before they get to us formally.
“When they write to us formally saying that this is the case then we will assemble at George Street and we will look at it. We will decide first if to accept it and once we accept it we will put a process in place to identify those senators,” Blackett further added.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Alliance Party for Progress (APP) Bishop Joseph Atherley has declined to say whether that party would be willing to name the two Opposition senators if the DLP declined.
PM Mottley had explained last Friday that if the DLP rejected the offer to appoint the senators it would fall to the party with the next highest number of votes, which would be the APP.
However, Atherley told Barbados TODAY the matter had not yet been discussed by the party.
“I haven’t seen the amendment that is being proposed and will be discussed in Parliament tomorrow and therefore, I have not discussed that with the APP so I am not in a position to comment on it. I would have to see the amendment first and would have to have a discussion with the APP. None of the two of those things has happened,” Atherley noted.
He contended that the appointment of an Opposition Leader in the Lower House was of even more importance than the appointment of two senators.
Atherley said if that was done first then everything else would fall into place.
“The bigger issue is the Leader of the Opposition. Once you solve the problem of the Leader of the Opposition the problem of the two senators takes care of itself…and that is why the legislative amendment should speak to that,” Atherley said.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb
