Stories by Marlon Madden
Noted political scientist Peter Wickham has called for special benefits and privileges for former prime ministers, the removal of the Chaplain of Parliament, and a full review of the roles and function of the parliamentary committees, and a tweaking of the voting system.
Those were among the recommendations he made on Thursday night as the Parliamentary Reform Commission held the first in a series of town hall meetings to hear the public’s views about Barbados’ parliamentary system and make suggestions on how it can be improved.
Questioning the function of the Chaplain of Parliament, Wickham said: “To the best of my knowledge, we are a state that is not religious, we are secular. It has always been confusing to me that we start sittings of Parliament with prayers. To my mind, it has no place in a secular society.”
He suggested that the chaplain be replaced with a counsellor “or, alternatively, have several chaplains because it is entirely possible that shortly we will have a Member of Parliament in the Upper House who is a Muslim”.
“So maybe we should have a Muslim chaplain, we should have a Rastafarian chaplain, and all of the other religions will be respected. If we are going to do this and not respect all of the religions, then have none, and that will be an easy place to start,” he said to applause from those gathered in the Sir Hugh Springer Auditorium of the Barbados Workers’ Union headquarters, Solidarity House.
Wickham also suggested that former prime ministers have “certain benefits that are enshrined”.
He said that in addition to carrying the title of prime minister for life, they should have “a small staff”, including security and secretarial support, as well as access to nursing support if required once they reach a certain age.
“There ought to be official transportation given to a former prime minister, and I think there ought to be a situation where if we have two or three [former] prime ministers, it would be of use if they could continue to play some kind of role in the Standing Committee in Parliament to ensure you continue to benefit from that person’s participation in perpetuity,” the political analyst added.
Wickham further recommended that a mechanism be implemented for independent review and determination of salary increases for parliamentarians.
Stating that there were “some interesting roles” in Parliament, including that of the Speaker of the House and the Mother and Father of the House [the female and male MPs with the longest record of continuous service], Wickham added that parliamentary committees including the Privileges Committee and the Public Accounts Committee were not effective or truly independent.
“So, if we are going to talk about reform, we have to look at all of these roles and see if we can reform them in a way that takes into consideration the non-active politicians; broaden the pool,” he said.
He also called for a review of the role of the Senate, adding that it should focus more on constitutional matters or be used to ignite conversations of national interest
The pollster also suggested that in addition to funding, Parliament should provide additional support to political parties, in the form of guidance on building strong accounting and management structures.
Wickham said he also believed the work that parliamentarians do should be expanded based on the needs of constituencies. He supported the provision of constituency assistance and liaison officers.
“My idea is that we need to add to that by way of enhancing the financial grants to parliamentarians that would allow them to manage small projects in the context of a constituency, that would require not only finance but a staff to account and manage projects and so on,” he said, pointing to Jamaica as an example.
Wickham said while he supported the current first-past-the-post electoral system, the Parliamentary Reform Commission should consider others.
“There are two ways we can do it. The easiest one was recommended some years ago by [former Senator] Wendell McClean. His idea was that we should have a vote nationally as we do now, and then the numbers that supported the individual party should make up the Senate and that the Senate should be converted into a body which represents the political parties on the basis of numbers,” he said.
The other option Wickham said he was hoping would be considered, was the at-large representative model that is currently used in the British Virgin Islands. He said this worked best with small constituencies.
Contributing to the discussions, President of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) Edwin O’Neal suggested that Parliament be deconstructed and then reconstructed to make it “more relevant to today’s times”.
He said “a facility for a recall of the elected representatives” should be put in place.
Questioning the absence of a labour representative in the Upper House of Parliament, O’Neal also recommended a relook at the role of the Senate.
“Is it going to continue to be a mirror of the House of Lords, or is it going to move towards the American system? I think we’ve also got to look at the role as to whether ministers ought to be located in the Houses of Parliament or if you again borrow from the American system where members are elected to represent local constituents, and the Cabinet is drawn from outside of Parliament but is accountable to Parliament,” he said.
During the discussion on Thursday, some attendees also expressed a desire for greater youth representation in Parliament.
