PM says Constitution must be a tool of empowerment

Prime Minister Mia Mottley on Tuesday declared that her government was simply “doing the right” thing in amending the 55-year-old Barbados Constitution to change the qualifications for membership in both houses of Parliament.

She insisted that her government was “correcting a wrong” by reducing the age for eligibility to sit in Parliament to 18, and giving a voice to the opposition by allowing them to recommend appointments to the Senate even when they hold no seats in the House of Assembly.

Addressing a Lower House void of opposition members, occasioned by her Barbados Labour Party (BLP) winning all 30 seats in the January 19 general elections, Mottley stressed the importance of the Constitution reflecting the reality of society, and insisted that Parliament, often used in the past as an instrument of oppression, must be “a tool of empowerment for our people”.

“This government is doing this because it is the right thing to do, both for purposes of non-discrimination on the basis of age and for inclusion in terms of voices who have a legitimate right to be heard and to be represented in our nation, even if not in the Lower House,” she said in her contribution to debate on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2022 that was introduced by Attorney General Dale Marshall as the House met at the Worthing Corporate Centre for the first time since last month’s polls.

The most controversial of the amendments seeks to give a political party with the second-highest votes in a general election the opportunity to appoint two Senators where there is no Leader of the Opposition. The other reduces the age of eligibility for the Senate and the House of Assembly from 21 to 18.

“I believe that if we want our young people to be agents of fairness, if we want our people in society not to discriminate against each other, then the two principles that these constitutional amendments speak to are vital – non-discrimination on the basis of age and inclusion on the basis of relevance and participation, because the Democratic Labour Party and other political parties, even though they did not win the election, received support from citizens of our nation and residents of our nation and those citizens and residents have a right in a restructured Parliament and in a restructured Barbados to have their voices heard,” Mottley insisted.

The Prime Minister was adamant that despite its whitewash at the polls, the 67-year-old DLP, the country’s main opposition party, has a role to play in government and governance.

“If they choose not to play it, that is a matter for them. But I trust and pray that they will understand that this goes beyond the politics of the day and that this goes fundamentally to the strengthening of our democracy,” Mottley said.

Saying that it was to her “certain knowledge that during the course of this term there are a number of appointments and a number of commissions that will come up for reappointment”, she reiterated that the amendments go further than Senate appointments and also spoke to the opposition selecting members for critical positions.

“I do not believe that any Prime Minister should have the right to choose all five members of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission. I do not believe that we should ignore the requirements for the level of consultations across divides that would want us to have service commissions and other elected persons in our Constitution to reflect that unity of purpose that we would want to see on affairs of a national state.

“And it is against that backdrop, therefore, that even though the President has the right in her own absolute discretion to appoint two senators in the absence of an opposition, that that does not solve the second part of the equation – which is, how do we facilitate greater consultation, particularly in the appointments to posts or commissions that exercise great power in this country?” the Prime Minister said.

She added that despite being told that she was “giving people a whip to beat you” by extending the opportunity for Senate representation to the DLP, her government had to “do the right thing”.

“Principles only mean something when it is inconvenient to stand by them,” Mottley declared.

On the issue of the age qualification to sit in Parliament, the Prime Minister, who has proposed 18-year-old Khaleel Kothdiwala be appointed to the Senate, said it gave her great pleasure to “correct a wrong that really ought to be corrected”.

“To have a young man or a young girl be able to vote in an election, but to deny them the right to vote for themselves by being a candidate in the very same election is wrong, and where we see wrong things we have a duty to correct them wherever possible,” said Mottley who entered active politics at 21, was appointed to the Upper House as one of two opposition senators at the age of 25 and became Minister of Education when she was 28 years old.

“In this particular instance, it has been triggered by the desire of my government to appoint a young man who we believe has tremendous skill and ability, to share a perspective for that category of person in our society who, though Barbadian and young, do not necessarily feel as though they are engaged in the major discussions of our nation,” added Mottley. (DP)