Leacock wants to be considered for Senate pick

One of the youngest candidates in last January’s General Election is making a last-ditch appeal to President Dame Sandra Mason to exercise her power under the Constitution and appoint two opposition senators.

Donald Leacock, 25, who ran as an independent candidate in the Christ Church South constituency, is also making a case to be named among the president’s selections.

In his first Barbados TODAY interview since being defeated by Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate Ralph Thorne Q.C., Leacock challenged a pending constitutional amendment granting the two opposition Senate seat nominees from the Democratic Labour Party (DLP).

“In our opinion, they should be chosen based on the best person, the person with the highest burning desire for public service,” Leacock declared.

“We have a lot of respect for the current president. She has had quite a distinguished legal career.”

“But we need the 21 senators for Parliament to legally open so that they can change any laws that they feel need changing. So at the end of the day, we think she has to appoint these people,” the young finance professional added.

With all of the current MPs sitting on the Government’s side, an amendment was tabled to allow the political party amassing the highest number of votes in the election to nominate opposition senators. This is a function ordinarily carried out by the leader of the opposition in a system of governance that does not recognise the legitimacy of parties within the context of Parliament.

Leacock, like the team of lawyers currently challenging the amendments in court, believes the Constitution already makes provisions for the President to appoint the opposition senators.

“On January 19th, 104 people ran in the election and they all ran independent campaigns,” said Leacock, who is the son of the late Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Charles Leacock.

“So why on earth is the government now trying to get members of one of these fictitious parties to have all of the opposition power?

“I think we can only work with the structures that are in place, and what we are going to try to do is go through the proper legal channels, reach out to our president and try to get an audience with her. We want to explain to her that we are ready to work, we have some great ideas and a burning desire to do public service,” he added.

Leacock is qualified at the bachelor’s degree level in finance, economics, accounting and international business and claimed that he turned down many lucrative offers overseas to build up the country instead of becoming another brain drain statistic.

Since 2017, he has worked with the world’s largest beverage producer Coca-Cola, American multinational investment institution Citibank and at two of the four largest accounting consultancy firms – Ernst and Young and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

The young man, who was heavily criticised for making disparaging comments about PM Mottley years ago, is intent on starting a new chapter.

“When we spoke to [Barbados TODAY] during our campaign, the headline of that article was ‘young candidate wants to break up the devotion to party politics’. We are doubling, tripling and quadrupling that message and telling our people here in Barbados that we are of the opinion that the entire Westminster parliamentary system needs overhauling.

“We are ushering in a new age of politics where it is mandatory to be both an influencer and a politician all at once, where it is mandatory to never insult people’s character, but more so to offer solutions to Barbados’ problems.

“If there is criticism to be given as there always will be a plethora of, it will be done in a precise, matter-of-fact way,” he added.

Despite his opposition to the manner in which the current constitutional amendments are being made, Leacock supports in principle, a move by PM Mottley to have outspoken 18-year old youth activist Khaleel Kothdiwala appointed as the youngest ever senator.

“His entry into the political arena will shift many paradigms that needed shifting a long time ago, and we can’t wait to see his legal and political career.

“As a voice for the youth of Barbados, we endorse him as one of the best 18-year-old role models our country has to offer, and we urge our youth to look up to him and we commend Prime Minister Mia Mottley for making such a stellar choice.”
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb